Does anyone use anything like a riders rasp, evo pro rasp, or other to maintain barefoot horse between farrier visits? If so what is your routine? Thanks in advance.
Never have with our barefoot horses unless needed. A few times over the hears one would get a chip or some other small “ding” in the foot and we’d rasp it smooth and that did the job.
G.
I have found the Rider’s Rasp to be mostly useless. Of course this is desert and my horses hooves can be rock hard.
I use a regular rasp. My trimmer leaves me some of her older ones. I mostly just clean up chips (in the summer time). I do occasionally work on her heels. I just knock off a mm or two and recover a nice heel purchase but it keeps things from getting away from us. She is on a 5-6 week cycle.
Susan
Riders rasp is expensive and useless. Get a real rasp. The advice above is perfect.
Yep. Ask your trimmer for an old rasp. It will have plenty of bite left for little touchups.
I’ve never needed to.
Once in a great while, someone will get a chip or something random, and I’ll use a nippers and/or rasp to touch it up until the next visit. Once in a while, if I get a bent shoe, I’ll use the same tools to remove the shoe before I can get them to farrier for it to be fixed. (I’m slow and I stink at removing shoes, but I can do it!)
It’s just a normal ol’ rasp. And a normal ol’ nippers. Just like my farrier uses. No, I didn’t buy the most expensive one, but chances are I’ll probably never need to buy another one.
Same here- occasional smoothing between trims, during times of ridiculous growth. Generally, mine are still pretty (even when ridden every day) at the end of the cycle. I would go 4-5 weeks in Spring/Summer, but my trimmer travels, and her other clients aren’t on board.
Again - same conclusion found - Rides Rasp USELESS !
Buy a real farrier rasp - infrequently used but a must to have when needed.
Have your trimmer show you how to hold it at the correct angle and practice before you need it - takes a bit of practice - IMHO .
I have a rasp. I am thinking that a hoof jack would be useful in that case.
I use boots on my barefoot horse as he is still transitioning from being shod for many years and recovering from laminitis. The laminitis was what began the barefoot journey!
I have to rasp on his feet maybe once a week to keep his hooves sized to fit into his boots and to encourage his feet to gradually quit flaring and his heels to move further back.
Yes, having a good hoof stand does help. I would have liked a “Hoof Jack” but the price was a bit high. The “Farriers Ultimate 2 in 1 Hoof Stand” on ebay is a bit lower priced and looks like a handy design. I found a used hoof stand and saved even more.
If you have your horse trimmed on a 4-5 week schedule and do not use boots you may not need to work on them yourself but learning to do is very useful and empowering!
I use an angle grinder to keep the edges rolled and prevent chipping. This is a reasonably priced hoof stand; https://www.horse.com/item/high-country-plastics-farrier-stand/E003008/
I also use an angle grinder. I touch up every 7-10 days. There is so little to take off that it takes about 10 seconds per hoof and I do not even bother with my hoof stand.
The angle grinder method sounds fast. What type of disc (as in “grit” of sander) do you use for it?
An angle grinder is heavy, even a small one. I have one which I bought for “trimming” hooves, and it just is too heavy for hoof use, even using both hands. Plus it doesn’t give you the ability to do the fine adjustments you can use with a lightweight farrier file - you make a mistake with an angle grinder, the mistake will be huge. If you slip and it cuts into your leg, you’re also screwed.
Unless you use power tools a lot - and I do - I wouldn’t advise using a carpenter’s power tool for “sanding down” a hoof unless you have to do over 20 hooves a day that are long and have been untrimmed for too long a time, or just rough cut with nippers. A few swipes of a thin, easily held and easily manipulated steel file on a maintained hoof is so much more efficient, and a heck of lot less deadly.
Mukluk - Get a hoof stand. Your back will thank you.
If you don’t already have one, get a handle for your rasp, too. It makes it much easier to hold and push the rasp against the hoof surface, and prevents you from getting accidentally poked by the pointed end (which is pointed because it is meant to be covered by a rounded wooden handle)
Also if you don’t already have them, buy yourself a set of nippers, and a hoof knife (or two or three - they’re fairly inexpensive and with only minor use it is easier to just toss and replace them when they get a bit too dull). Really good nippers are expensive (my newest set cost over $400 and cut through hoof wall like a hot knife through butter) but you can get away with a cheaper $120 pair that will require just a bit more “oomph” from you to cut down excess hoof wall.
My gang of four get a look daily to see how their barefeet are doing, and if they need the attention of a rasp, or not. During non-work time, trims are just done on an “as needed” basis. When they are in work and wearing boots, the hooves are done every other week like clockwork. Sometimes it is just a gentle swipe of a rasp, always checking to make sure the angles remain correct, and the edges of the hoof are beveled.
[QUOTE=gothedistance;9019216]
An angle grinder is heavy, even a small one. I have one which I bought for “trimming” hooves, and it just is too heavy for hoof use, even using both hands. Plus it doesn’t give you the ability to do the fine adjustments you can use with a lightweight farrier file [/QUOTE]
I bought a light weight angle grinder for trimming (from the Abrassive Trimming site - Phil Morarre’s site I think) and it’s fairly easy to handle. I can work it with one hand and it’s set up with a metal piece screwed on it so that as soon as you let go, the grinder stops. No, you can’t make fine adjustments say for trimming bars but, when the feet are rock hard, it does make things easier and then you can go in with the knives.
[QUOTE=Mukluk;9019159]
The angle grinder method sounds fast. What type of disc (as in “grit” of sander) do you use for it?[/QUOTE]
I use 40 grit zirconium disks (4" size).
If they’re trimmed correctly they shouldn’t need anything
My guy slightly toes in so I will sometimes even out the inside corners of the fronts between trims with a rasp.
Cheap hoof stand–if you can find an old top load washing machine that doesn’t work, take out the agitator and bolt it to a heavy piece of plywood. Not as versatile as a real hoof stand but good for doing the fronts.
I intend to have my farrier do the actual trims on a regular schedule- however just wanting to be able to make sure her feet are fitting the boots properly between farrier visits. The renegades have arrived by I haven’t been down to check the fit yet. It’s way muddy/rainy hear so not like she is going to get ridden anytime soon
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