Yes!!! And don’t go cheap gloves. Invest in a good pair. These are my go to, due to toughness & Kevlar:
Also, for the newbie to grinder, invest in Kevlar lower-arm shields … lest you wind up looking like me with scars a’ plenty. My dermatologist gave me the hairy eyeball the first time I went, thinking I was self-harming 
And I’ve never even heard of cut proof gloves. Maybe this is all easier than I thought? So glad to have you all in my life. 
The Hoof Boss works well for me. It’s more like holding a dremel.
That’s what I got. At least I keep the skin on my hands where it belongs now.
Got em in my Amazon cart thanks!
Thanks! Do those Ironclad gloves give you reasonable dexterity? I’m always looking for good farm work gloves.
I see on the Cody James Diamondback the option of fine, medium or aggressive? I’m inclined to order the fine?
I have pretty good dexterity. I have trouble doing some things in any gloves.
I would probably do the medium. But you get what you think you’d like. I’m conservative to begin with so it would probably take me forever with the fine rasp.
Holy cow.
I couldn’t cope with trimming more than 2 of my own horses, LOL.
Yes!! I have bonsai nippers too!!
@FjordBCRF, they work great, don’t they? I forget where I saw them recommended but they have come in handy.
Truly, if I had to trim them all via rasp, I’d have quit long ago cuz I’d be near dead too… especially with the hot & super humid Georgia summer air.
As it is, now that I’ve remarried, I’m winding down my business. Right now, I’m at 30 horses a month, some I passed on to another trimmer, some moved out of my work zone and, sadly, some I’ve lost to euthanasia. I’ve lost 3 alone this year to The Bridge.
I’ll keep a handful of super local, super easy trims but by April 2023, I’ll be down to 19.
Yes! Easy to work in and I still have enough tactile feel to skim my index finger around the underside of a hoof to feel if they’re even.
What did you wind up getting? Its time for me to get a new rasp too. I did leifs yesterday and I let them go too long, he needs a touch up weekly or biweekly, and I worked up quite a sweat. Lol
Ok, I’ve been eyeballing those Hoof Boss tools. I had a farrier that used a small angle grinder at times (best farrier I ever had, and was patient as a saint introducing the tool to the horses). How loud is it? Do you manipulate it with one hand or two?
I’ve been in a similar boat to other here; trimming my own retirees at times for lack of better farrier options and did find it to be achievable and a little bit fun! (But also, pretty physically demanding!)
The medium. I’ll report back with my review too. Thank you!
Reading the posts, I have to think that most folks trying to trim have dull tools. It makes a huge difference. A rasp, nippers or hoof knife is not supposed to last months and YEARS!! Especially if YOU don’t sharpen them often or replace the rasp. They gouge you precisely because they ARE SHARP!! Sharp actually means you work easier, with less effort, can go faster in gaining desired results!
I trimmed and shod horses part time for about 10 years after going to horseshoeing school. Met husband the full time Farrier at the Michigan Horseshoers yearly Jan clinic. I learned that being “cheap” in trying to use cheap, dull tools, worn rasp was way more work than the job needed. Husband said if he had to push down on a rasp, it was dull. Weight of the rasp should be enough to smooth the edges. We both used nippers, but upgrading to GE nippers was eye opening!! Like a hot knife thru butter, soft or hard hooves made no difference. If the GEs were having cutting problems, they needed to be sent back to GE for resharpening. He carried a couple pairs on the truck, in case pair 1 suddenly was not cutting well.
We never used the grinder tools, saw horses trying to recover from burned hooves after the previous trimmer got hooves too hot, burned them. Sad to say some did not recover from that.
I went on to take a regular daily job with benefits! Quit shoeing. Husband stayed a full-time Farrier until he retired. I just kept getting him repaired! Ha ha The daily morning routine was stocking his truck, sharpening several hoof knives from use the day before. He used the grinder, cloth wheel and a polishing paste to sharpen them. You could shave with them! Most days he got out a new rasp to use. They were usually dulled enough from the previous day that he could tell the difference, wanted a new, sharper rasp for the new day. Said he didn’t have to work as hard with a new rasp!
Daughter went into Farrier work, attended school and worked under her Dad apprenticing. He is a hard boss! But she says the same thing about using sharp tools, easier on you than fighting with dull tools! You can do a more precise job in a much shorter time. Get tools that fit YOU. She has smaller hands, uses appropriately sized GE nippers, tongs, reshapes hoof knife handles for her hands. Diamond farrier tools found at TSC and farm stores are too heavy for small hands, overlong handles, will NOT hold a sharp edge very long. Rasps dull up fast. I resell husband’s “old” rasps at tack sales for reduced prices. They are still plenty sharp for home trimmers to hurt themselves on! Ha ha
If you really want to get into trimming your own equines, use SHARP tools.
Just an update from OP here…I am keeping him on good terms (I did finally get him out to do them), but I am in the process of getting good, sharp!, tools of the right size. Enough is Enough. There were some issues with his visit that really drove that home, I know I can’t do as good a job in terms of hoof balance. But, there are other factors that make me comfortable if still nervous to take the plunge because I think I can have happier horses. Also, he jacked his price again. I’m sorry but $100 per horse per trim, the two drafts I get it, but the pony?? Plus multiple cancellations? I’ve got the message, I’m afraid. He said call when I need to, which I will, but that won’t be in six weeks if I can help it.
Now, off to make my eyes bleed studying hooves.
I don’t find it too loud, and use one hand to operate it. I do not use the chainsaw blade at all, as it is way to aggressive for my needs. I mostly use the orange heavy grit dome top accessory. I use a regular rasp to take the heels to the appropriate length, and the radius rasp to smooth off the roll when I am done. I could change to a fine disk instead of the radius rasp, but am too lazy.
This is the truth! When our old farrier retired, after many years doing our horses, he decided to move across the country to be near his grandkids, but offered to teach my husband how to trim our horses (which he described as “they don’t come easier than these”) before he left.
One of the first things our farrier did was to take my husband to the farrier supply in the nearest big city (a store that we hadn’t known existed) to help him select the proper, professional grade tools.
As for rasps, another long-time farrier of ours told me that he always had to use a fresh rasp on our horses, due to their hard hoof quality – that a rasp only lasted for five or six horses of mine. He’d give me an occasional rasp, so that I’d have something on hand.
During the beginning of the pandemic, it was very convenient that my husband could keep up with the horses, since our current farrier is quite advanced in age, with health issues, and didn’t come out for a while during the worst of it. Even now, my husband can stay on top of things, which enables us to stretch out the farrier visits a little – that helps because this farrier travels from out of town, not to mention that the current cost is double that of our previous farrier at the time of his retirement.
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