It does make it faster and easier to rasp a roll and it’s more comfortable to hold. But its uses are limited so a regular rasp should be on hand too.
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Yup, I trim my own now, started when we moved away from civilization and the availability of skilled farriers. The local talent here terrified me. Still does. The DH, who had been a successful and popular farrier before our move was determined that he was “officially retired” with our move. So, not much choice with this.
It’s funny, I thought about learning how as a teenager, 45 years ago, and our lovely farrier and family friend and mentor at the time, said “sure”, and passed me the tools one day. I tried, and failed, the physical demands will turn you to jelly at first. He told me that girls weren’t strong enough. He also felt that girls weren’t strong enough to gallop racehorses, which of course, was also proven not to be true. He was “old school”, and a brilliant horseman, who I was very fortunate to spend time with, and learn from. And he was also wrong about female farriers. But he didn’t live to see that.
Doug Butler’s book, Principles of Horseshoeing, is great, even if you are only trimming. And having critical eyes on you as you fumble around with your early efforts. You won’t be perfect, especially at first. But barefoot horses will wear such that minor trimming issues will wear smooth, especially if you have abrasive firm ground.
In a moment of hilarity, I’ve had local horsemen remark how nice my horses’ feet look. I do the best I can.
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It’s not illegal to trim a horse.
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My mares were a little jumpy the first time, but got used to it. My gelding is more of a pansy, so I have had to stand near him and grind on a little piece of wood so he could get used to the noise. I did successfully use it on his feet by the third session.
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The. Best. Tool. Ever.
I watched Rob Sigafoos use on at New Bolton Center decades ago, and was amazed. It is particularly useful on horses and ponies who have foundered. They push out a bunch of useless foot, and you can take it off without causing any discomfort. They actually like the vibration once they get used to the sound.
The only downside is that you really, really smell like horse foot when you are done, because you are covered in hoof dust.
ETA- I forgot to mention that I prefer the flap disks. Also, my rasp of choice is a Belotta Razor. Great rasp.
Gosh, I’m loving reading all of the responses. There is so much wisdom and help here. I’m going to be looking at the resources that have been shared. I think I’ll start with just wanting to be more educated. I’m already more educated than I was thanks to my current trimmer. She’s kind of a controversial figure in our local horse community. Some think she’s the best, others think she’s horrible. She’s literally only the second farrier/trimmer I’ve had in the past 30 years. I had the same farrier for so long, and he was a wonderful guy and very reliable, but the truth was he wasn’t doing my horses any favors. I didn’t know any better and lots of people used him and liked him, so…meh.
Current trimmer only does trims and glue-ons. The controversy with her is that she has a bit of a history (including once with my horse and now with his pasture mate) of trimming way too short. She does it in an effort to keep the horse tight and correct, especially if she’s going to have to push the next trim out to six weeks (she goes on vacation or something). But with my horse, it nearly crippled him for a few days and he stayed tender for about a week. I said something to my trimmer and politely suggested that we have to be more conservative with my dude and she has done so ever since. She’s very humble and willing to listen to her clients’ concerns.
Now my horse’s pasture mate has had the “too tight trim” and bless her, she was seriously sore and would hardly move at all afterward. It was so bad that a vet who was out for another reason saw her and called the trimmer and sort of reprimanded her for it. It’s been over two weeks since that trim and the mare is still tender on some surfaces. Her owner isn’t happy (she’s away at college, I take care of the mare for her). She has let the trimmer know how unhappy she is. She’s also influenced by her trainer, who is not a fan of the trimmer.
But…with the exception of that one time with my guy (which we discussed and shouldn’t happen again), she’s done wonders for his feet. They look awesome, and before they were a chipped, cracked, ragged mess by about halfway through a cycle. Chips and cracks are super rare now and his angles are much better.
All this to say, I just started thinking about what would happen if my trimmer could no longer do my horse and I was in search mode. It’s hard to find a good one around here that is reliable. I prefer the 5-week schedule (old farrier did 6 weeks), and now that his feet look so good, I would hate to see them regress. So, I wondered if I’d be able to do enough to keep him in shape at least.
At the same time, I know my physical limitations (back not the best, honestly, but I’m not TOO decrepit yet). My guy is pretty good to work on, so I don’t worry about that. But I do worry about messing up his feet myself. Heck, I’m anxious about trimming my dog’s claws! LOL!
Anyway, thanks, and I look forward to reading more posts on this topic!
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If it helps, I think that’s way more likely to end poorly. You would have to go really really wrong to draw blood trimming your horse! Whereas I was fine trimming the dog until that one time I misjudged or he moved and there was blood and consternation all around.
I think that’s a good start.
I like the ELPO resources quite a bit myself. I was dealing with a foundered navicular horse and found their information helpful.
I do not trim my own horses. I have previously, when I was far less educated but my back was less compromise (or less symptomatic at least).
In your situation, being able to swipe between visits might be a good secondary goal. If there is an issue, now or in the future, that benefits from more frequent trimming being able to touch at two weeks could be invaluable.
I like a 4 week schedule for regular maintenance. My farrier will come more often as needed. Once he came daily for a week. So we always opt for a shorter rather than longer cycle, when at all possible, if scheduling conflicts arise.
I second dog nails being riskier.
Before current farrier, I used the local controversial trimmer 
He did, and does, good work. Never trimmed so short my horse, or any other I heard about, was lame though. I needed more shoe options for the foundered navicular horse though and his scheduling flexibility was zero so here we are. He was a 4 week cycle guy too. Scheduled 4 weeks in advance no backsies.
As an aside, my horses were fine the first time with the grinder. My younger horse was slightly concerned but gave zero resistance. If I had known prior to the appointment that we would be using a grinder, I would have worked with the horses on it in advance. As it happened, I had enough time to grab a handful of treats and while the farrier was grinding and I was holding, I did a quick and dirty mix of clicker training (tiny hand targeting) and Warwick Schiller mindful type horsemanship. There was exactly 0 impact to the farrier. Horse was a champ and at the end quite relaxed. The old horse gave two farts that we used the grinder.
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I am embarking on the do-it-yourself trim journey. My trimmer, who has been doing my horse for
15 years decided to retire after having several injuries this year. The barn farriers that come every six weeks did her last spring. Just kind of a meh trim and not very balanced. The other guy did her in June and holy cow, he trimmed her short. Her boots just kind of flopped around on her feet for like 4 weeks. She was a little cautious with the short feet but seemed to come out the other side OK. 2 other horses in the barn that he trimmed are dealing with bad abscess issues due to how short he trimmed. He also straightened out her natural toeing out and within 4 weeks she had big flares on the lateral walls on both hinds 
.
I finally got my trimmer to come and do a tutorial session. I had already tried to do a little when my back seized up on me. There happened to be a different farrier at the barn and I asked him if I could do a quick trim. He did chunk out a bunch of hard retained sole that my not very sharp knife could get (since gotten a new knife) and declared her feet were fine. They had been 8 weeks and once the retained sole was gone, she had a lot of wall.
Like I said, I had tried to do a bit…she grows a lot of heel. A couple days later, I looked at her from behind and her right front was at least 1/4 inch higher than the left. But her feet her fine 
…
I figure that I can’t do any worse than anybody else that calls themselves a farrier. Trimmer did a tutorial with me (and my mostly recovered back). Horse was a saint as we worked on her nearly 2 hrs. I would do some work, Julie would check and tweak then I would finish things up.
I plan on doing some every couple weeks. I can text her pictures so hopefully nothing will get way out of whack. I too, bought a grinder but I am going to have to do several sessions before she is comfortable with that but yeah, high desert here and her feet are like rocks in the summer so I am sure it will be handy. I can go get grinder lessons from outerbanks77.
I plan on doing fronts one day and hinds another to take it easy on my back. No plans to take on any other horses…just my own that I have watched the same person do an excellent job on her for 15 years. I just have to give it a go. Since her last trim, she has been moving very nicely. I think she appreciates being in balance.
Susan
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I did my mule for a year when he took a dislike to my new farrier after we moved. He was good as gold for me and I was never so happy when we moved and I could happily hand him off to my new farrier ( who he obviously liked) .
Farrier said I did a real good job ( a miracle as I had no clue beyond internet) but so much, can go so wrong, so fast . I prefer a good professional do it, if your lucky to have access to one.
If your horse has easy round feet, you have a good trim established, it’s easy to keep up with the walls with a rasp. It takes more skill and education and dexterity to manage heels, you need a knife (or maybe a grinder!) to open up heels and bars.
IME beginner owner trimmers and self taught “professional” trimmers often fail to maintain heels and the heel runs forward with resultant bad results.
I think a beginner trimmer will have trouble diagnosing and fixing feet with major pathology
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I mostly trim my own (because with my brother as my farrier I am always the client that gets pushed off the schedule lol). I did take a 6 month intensive class several years ago and I can shoe also (but I haven’t for years). If you are physically capable and can understand what to process/ angles, etc- I say go for it.
I use boots more than shoes and trimming my own is really helpful for maintaining the correct fit for the boots 
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You can do it!
Seriously though, if you are interested in learning and have a good trimmer currently, it’s the best time to learn. Presumably your trimmer is doing a good job and your horse’s feet are in good shape. And if your horse stands well, then that’s a lot working in your favour.
Start by having your trimmer show you how to do some maintenance rasping in between trims so you can get used to using the tools etc. It’s physically demanding and will be a learning curve but it can be done. But if you can ease into it slowly, that’s the ideal way to do it.
You don’t want to be in a position where you are learning from books or videos, with no one to help you in person, and your horse’s feet need corrections and you have no idea what you don’t know.
Okay so the follow-up question is, has anyone learned to nail a shoe back on? I think that’s a bridge too far for me but sometimes it’s tempting. One of mine half-pulled his shoe (the week before a show, of course) and if I just had the confidence to nail through the same holes I could save myself a lot of hassle… but more likely, cause a vet bill.
That is much more technical and it is very easy to make your horse lame with a close nail. Learn to take off a shoe, good idea. Have boots, good idea. But if you are going to pound nails into your horses hooves do a farrier course first
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I’m still enjoying the replies. I think for now I’ll just pay very close attention and ask lots of questions when I’m present for the trims. As luck would have it, I won’t be there when my trimmer comes next Friday, so my education from her will have to wait. I’ll read and watch what I can in the meantime.
I could never nail a shoe on. I could hardly stand watching the farrier nail shoes on when I had shod horses. Makes me flinch just thinking about it. Eek!
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Another thing you could start doing to develop your eye is documenting with photos. Take a set of photos pre and post trim and compare the differences. It will help you see what your trimmer is doing.
And it can also be useful for tracking your horse’s foot over time.
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