Hoof trimming -- ARE YOU SH***ING ME? :-)

[SharonA]

Hoof trimmer comes every 8 weeks, zips up the driveway, spends about 20 minutes, appears to easily swipe a rasp around the fella’s feet while chatting about hoof anatomy and equine diet and world peace or whatever, and zips cheerily off into the sunset. Horse’s feet look wonderful. Trimmer is always smiling, horse is always smiling, all good. Trimmer can’t come more often, but fella’s feet get a bit long and chipped between trims, so I thought I’d get a rasp and just do a swipe or two every week or whatever just to keep things tidy.

ARE YOU SH***ING ME? I rasp away with my new, shiny rasp and in return, only the merest miniscule faint dusting of hoof comes off. Horse sighs happily and rests his 1200 pounds on my back, nibbling lovingly at my belt buckles, clearly communicating, “I wuv you, Mom.” The big jerk. More rasping, rasping, rasping, and gasping on my part… still, only the merest gossamer drift of hoof graces the floor of the barn aisle…

I am giving the trimmer a big fat raise. Those feet are like iron. Jeez! I am making no difference at all with the rasp. What is the secret technique amongst trimmers that lets them actually achieve something?

[B_and_B]

LOL!! I know the feeling! I have no idea how they do it. I do know that farrier’s rasps are razor sharp and professional quality farrier’s tools are quite different in quality from what one can get regularly at the feed store.
I also know that my farrier likes to do things like spear fishing, rock climbing, and other such athletic feats in his spare time…

[Saffron_Rose]

This is so relateable. My mare’s hooves were a bit chipped so I figured I’d give them a light rasp. After all, it never took the farrier more than 5 minutes.
Fifteen minutes later, wetter and saltier than the ocean thanks to the tsunami of sweat sliding off me, having achieved precisely nothing, I gave up.

[Marla_100]

Couple things helps: Good, professional grade tools, fresh not rusty and sharp- fairly new. Your trimming muscles
must build up and get stronger- fingers, hands, arms, legs, back all contribute. Technique- you will learn how best to hold tools
and the angle to use.
The more you practice, the better you’ll be and the stronger you’ll be.
Yes, give your trimmer a good tip.

[drafting_dots]

yup. i started using kevlar tuff to stop the chips because a brush, i can handle.

[JB]

What rasp do you have? That makes an enormous difference. Bellota Top Sharp is quite biting enough for most anything us ammies need to do

And ask your farrier to show you how to do this (pay of course for his time). What you describe shouldn’t happen. A good sharp rasp may take some effort to take off significant amounts of a brick-hard foot, but it shouldn’t take all that effort to smooth out some chips.

[2DogsFarm]

My shoer of some 20yrs gave me an old rasp of his.
I use it rarely to rasp across a crack to prevent it going farther - as shown to me by shoer - or to smooth rough edges before next visit for a trim.
It is nowhere near as sharp as when I first got it, but still has enough edge to do a credible job for me.
Probably good it’s a bit dulled, as I have been known to rasp my own knuckles… :rolleyes:

Shoer is in his 70s at the least - his Late 40-something son comes with him.
Watching him work is amazing.
Shoer the Younger complains & groans, Dad works w/o chatter save for chatting the whole time about people & horses we know in common.
I offered to build him a sort of “milking stand” so the mini would be up off the ground, but he said No Need & does him from kneeling.
Which would kill late-60s Me. :dead:

[cayuse]

@2DogsFarm

My shoer of some 20yrs gave me an old rasp of his.
I use it rarely to rasp across a crack to prevent it going farther - as shown to me by shoer - or to smooth rough edges before next visit for a trim.
It is nowhere near as sharp as when I first got it, but still has enough edge to do a credible job for me.
Probably good it’s a bit dulled, as I have been known to rasp my own knuckles… :rolleyes:

Shoer is in his 70s at the least - his Late 40-something son comes with him.
Watching him work is amazing.
Shoer the Younger complains & groans, Dad works w/o chatter save for chatting the whole time about people & horses we know in common.
I offered to build him a sort of “milking stand” so the mini would be up off the ground, but he said No Need & does him from kneeling.
Which would kill late-60s Me. :dead:

My farrier has to kneel to do the minis too, he had an assistant once that would sit down on the ground, crossed legged, and trim them. I dunno how safe that was but it worked for her, she said it was how she did all the minis on the route and my minis LOVED her. Oh to be twenty again!

About the rasping, being a lefty it took me awhile to get the hang of it. It was not somethimg I was much good at. I can’t do it anymore because of the arthritis.

[2DogsFarm]

@cayuse

About the rasping, being a lefty it took me awhile to get the hang of it. It was not somethimg I was much good at. I can’t do it anymore because of the arthritis.

I’m a Southpaw too.
Never noticed the rasp to be Right or Left-handed
I just watched shoer, then handled the rasp my own bass-ackwards way.

So far Arthur-Eye-Tis is still letting me do this.
Other things, not so much :no:

[cloudyandcallie]

There is a reason why some of us went to grad school so we could work in air conditioned buildings. (Except one time in over 28 yrs when the AC failed in courthouse in Atlanta and I had to fan my pregnant court reporter during one of my trials because Anita was so great.)
Farriers work in the heat and cold and have to deal with whining owners and leaning horses. Leaning big warmbloods who put all their weight on the farrier.
I always freak out when anyone says farriers charge too much or think they are gods, etc.
Farriers deserve more than what they charge.
I’m still ticked off that all of the farriers got run off from COTH or got banned for being so arrogant. They are worth their weight in gold.

You can buy the same tools used by your farrier from the farrier supply companies. Or get the slightly dull ones free from your farrier. BTDT to both ways.

[rubygirl1968]

I feel your pain! lol

My farrier was in a bad accident a couple of months ago and I rasped my guy in between due to scheduling issues. Luckily I had asked her the last time she was out before the accident to show me how to rasp in between trims.

Anyway, she gave me one of her old ones to use and before the first hoof was done, sweat mixed with blood was dripping on his hooves and I was thanking the Lord that I don’t have to do this full time!! My hands will never be the same - I rasped as much off my knuckles as his hooves.

I did go buy a new rasp and it went much easier the next time. I got a Sav Edge and I like it a lot.

I always tried to have them brushed and fly sprayed before the farrier got there but now I make sure I have cold drinks ready, a chair to rest if needed and I should probably have a hot tub on stand by too - they earn their money!!

[goodhors]

I second buying Farrier recommended tools, rasps, because the quality is so much better. Hellen Legend rasps are popular here for their sharpness. New, no-name rasp is not as sharp, evendors wit no use. Husband is a Farrier, says if he has to lean on a rasp for smoothing, he needs a new rasp. True even on hard hooves. He may get a couple days use from a rasp, but often only one day. He resells them to other folks at a discounted price. Still sharp enough to make those folks happy.

Leaning on your rasp to smooth or remove hoof will make them uneven, may get hi-low sides from eneven pressure, not using the entire length of rasp each pass. You need to be ambidextrous in handling the rasp, so as not have hooves display “right-handed horshoers disease” with unequal sides or rasping down the quarters lower than other hoof parts. Be able to use the outside arm, whichever side of horse you are working on.

[McGurk]

I remember the time DH wanted to try trimming the pony because it looked easy and it would save money…hah! DH is a very fit guy with a lot of upper body strength, and I have one of my farrier’s old rasps in my emergency kit.

Let’s just say that it was a one time occurence and DH never suggested this particular money saving tip again.

[mvp]

@Marla 100

Couple things helps: Good, professional grade tools, fresh not rusty and sharp- fairly new. Your trimming muscles
must build up and get stronger- fingers, hands, arms, legs, back all contribute. Technique- you will learn how best to hold tools
and the angle to use.
The more you practice, the better you’ll be and the stronger you’ll be.
Yes, give your trimmer a good tip.

Indeed.

You can buy the same quality tools your farrier uses.

The fitness piece of farriery is non-trivial.

When I was around Cornell, the farrier students (who already were apprentices/worked 40 hours a week under horses) would remark on how they lost fitness over the weekend. Oy!

And so every time I hear someone say they are going to trim their own, my arms, back and shoulders hurt. Imagine how much fitness you lose in between the times you’ll rasp one or two horses’ feet!

[Scribbler]

I do touch up rasping on my mare between trims primarily to make sure her hoof boots fit.

I have an old rasp I was given, but suspect it’s time to get a new one!

I honestly cannot take off that much in one session. If maresy’s feet have gotten long enough to make the Renegades twist, I need to rasp a couple times a day for a few days to get them sorted out.

Any farrier could fix that in three minutes. Pete Ramey could fix it in 30 seconds one handed while keeping up a good humored and highly detailed account of recent research in the field (just went to his clinic). Takes me 3 days

On the other hand I’m unlikely to take off too much foot.

In summer ive started rasping at the wash rack after hosing down after a ride. I try to stand her so she’s not in the big puddle as I don’t really want to soak her feet. But even that amount of wet seems to give the rasp a little more traction at least on the outer layer.

[IPEsq]

Quality rasp, hoof stand, and to roll the edges, rasp at a 45 degree angle. The last part is key to actually taking off anything worthwhile without just thinning the wall. Once my farrier told me that, it made all the difference. Also, you can rasp just the corners of some of the parts that are starting to chip (have smooth side up, rasping like you are rasping into the chunk he is about to take out of the foot) to stop the chip from getting bigger. You basically take weight off the corners of the chipping piece.

[walkinthewalk]

I’ve been trimming since I was 12, when my grandfather gave me trimming tools for that Christmas and all the lesson I needed to use them.

Do not just grab a rasp and start filing away. If your farriers are worth their salt and they can’t trim sooner than 7-8 weeks, have THEM show you how to properly use a rasp.

1. No. There is no left or right handed rasp but there ARE to sides to a rasp, that will each cut the hoof different.

2. There ARE left and right handed hoof knives.

3. Everyone who owns a horse should know their horse(s) hooves and how to trim in a pinch, or rasp the rough edges off but PLEASE, let your farrier show you, or at the very least, look at a Pete Ramey video on YouTube.

Do not take instruction from an Internet forum. Everyone means well but, if you sore your horse up from listening to the wrong information for your horse. You’ll want to smack yourself with that nice newhoof rasp.

4. Which, you don’t really need a new rasp. Have your farrier GIVE you one of his that is too dull for his hands, but will work fine for you.

if you insist on a new rasp: Bellotta, Heller, Vallorbe’s mild cut are all fairly priced good quality rasps.

[SuzieQNutter]

You have no idea how strong those guys are.

I was ‘helping’ hubby put the tow ball on the ute. He hands me a piece of wire and a pair of pliars. Says put the wire through there and cut it off and he leaves.

I am not a small girl. I run the farm when he is not here. I lift horse feed bags etc.

I tried. I had sweat running down my face and arms. I could not cut that wire. I bent it out of the way instead.

When he eventually came back. I mentioned I couldn’t cut it.

He took the pliars off me, said “neither can any of the apprentices,” snipped it off, handed the Pliars back to me and left.

He bought some fairrier tools. He has a play with all 4 horses hooves. I don’t even think about doing it.

[Scribbler]

Hmmm, a foot stand. Hadn’t considered that. I’m always trying to rasp from the bottom of the hoof, to maintain the bevel and take off any flare. Could I get that effect using a hoof stand? I visualize the farrier rasping from the top that way. But maybe also from the bottom.

Would make the job much easier.

[tinah]

I do the barefoot members of my herd. Even with years of experience, I still don’t do more than 3 a day. I’ve got scars over knuckles that I opened myself to the bone. Use gloves.

I still use a hoof stand, but have progressed to the point I really need an apron because it’s easier to work a hoof on my thigh/knee or between my legs, depending on if I’m doing the top or bottom.

I’ve recently started using the Cody James rasp, and I’m not going back. My farrier liked them so much he had me order some for him.