A rainy and wet day after Easter. Since I couldn’t work outside all day I decided to trim the horses’ hooves. This is something that needs to be done about every 5-8 weeks and if I hired someone else to do it it would cost me around $40 per horse.
I don’t consider myself an expert farrier but I’ve taken a couple courses on hoof trimming; starting back when I was at agricultural college.
It usually takes around 30 minutes to trim the feet on one horse but that varies with the animal as some hooves need extra attention. It also takes time to catch a horse and lead it to the barn, prepare the hoof for trimming by using a hoof pick and wire brush to clean the hoof. The actual trimming involves a nippers, a hoof knife (which has a little curve on the end), and a large file. The hooves are like fingernails in substance so it doesn’t hurt the horse to be trimmed; they just don’t always want to stand and comply which is when trimming gets difficult and also takes a longer time.
There are some basic guidelines I try to follow in doing a barefoot trim on a horse. This is different than if you’re preparing a hoof for a horseshoe as a horse shoe needs to fit on a perfectly flat base and on a barefoot trim I want the pressure spread on as the hoof walks with most pressure on the hoof heels (but not the bulbs) as well as the front of the quarters. I want to keep the front “toe” from getting too long so the animal can “break over” with the foot easily and land smoothly with the heel first when it walks. Two other major things I’m watching is to keep the hooves balanced at correct angles and to make sure there are no flares off to a side of the hoof as that can cause problems with cracks or interfering with how the horse moves. Sometimes I think a horse hoof is pretty standardized so there shouldn’t be too many ways to mess it up; but you shouldn’t simplify it too much. The horses just have to stand there. Which means they need to trust me as well as to have learned how to stand and balance on three legs.
I did the trimming in the indoor ring, bringing in two horses at a time. They are used to being trimmed and stand pretty well although I expected they wouldn’t be perfect today because of the way the rain and wind disturb the roof in the indoor. They stood reasonably well, though, and I get all of them done today except Bloopie and Gypsy who will be easier to do tomorrow in the outbarn. I also saved Sage for tomorrow because he has shoes on his front feet (Our vet suggested shoes would provide better support for his tendon issues) so I need to take the shoes off, trim the hooves down, and nail them back on. An old timer in Arkansas taught me how to shoe horses when I lived there for a year and a half in the late 1980’s.
For those of you that know the Mesa Farm horses and want to make some friendly family bets: Who do you think were the three horses that stood the best? And who do you think the three were that stood the worst today? Answers after the next paragraph.
Fortunately, Ann had made a great soup (leftover ham from Easter yesterday) for dinner which warmed me back up after I finished the trimming and chores (soaking wet) this evening. Although I’m tired with some sore muscles I always feel like I “stole a day” when I can accomplish a big project when the weather is terrible.
Now the winners of the standing for trimming competition:
The best:
1. Dixie (who didn’t pull back at all and had each hoof lifted up ready and waiting when I went to pick it up to trim).
2. Topper (wind and rain never phase her).
3. Tucker (A surprise winner, he fidgeted while I did Charlie, but stood perfectly while I was trimming him).
Honorable mention goes to Judy who stood great but is just so heavy and she leans on me a little when I trim her…
The worst three of today:
3rd worst: Simon (but he has an excuse because of that deformed hoof.)
2nd worst: Jake (who usually does well and didn’t snatch his foot away or anything but just couldn’t kept making tiny movements which throw off my ability to balance; and remember he weighs a ton).
The worst of today: Shammi (who just had one of those days where he couldn’t get beyond the idea that the barn was going to be blown down in the wind at any moment.
As usual, Allie was a respectable winner in the “standing for trimming” donkey competition.
Hope you were all able to have a productive day today as well. If you were able to successfully socially distance yourself, consider it so!
Second photo:
Hoof trimming tools: File, hoof pick, nippers, hoof knife, and wire brush.
