Any thoughts on the “Rider’s Rasp” from Weaver Leather or the “Radius Rasp” from EVO for use between trims to help maintain a more optimal length and tidy, rounded edge in barefoot beasties between professional trims? If one is used should the emphasis be on the toe/breakover region? All over? Toe/breakover ONLY and leave the back completely alone?
I tried the Rider’s Rasp and found it just useless. My mare has very hard feet and there was no bite at all. My trimmer gave me several of her old regular rasps. Not very efficient for her doing trimming all day but plenty of life for in between trim cosmetic work.
Susan
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I, too found Rider’s Rasp completely USELESS !
Went back to struggling with a regular rasp •
riders rasp is useless. so was the radius rasp
I find it much easier with my little hands to maintain between trims with a plane rather than rasp- I prefer my full sized one but I do use the little one too.
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The Rider’s Rasp is good enough to dull a point after a chip, but that’s about it. Tractor Supply will sell you an inexpensive regular rasp. I’d go that route.
I also found the Rider Rasp to be useless. All this time I thought it was because I’m an uncoordinated lefty, good to know its not me.
I have an old rasp my farrier gave me, I have better luck with that.
Ditto on the Rider’s Rasp complete lack of utility. I always thought I wanted one, until I received one as a gift and actually tried using it.
Yep riders rasp is a waste. Get a regular rasp and a handle. Wear gloves! Ha!
One more vote for a regular rasp with a handle.
Will make your job simple.
Don’t mess with an old one, get a new one and smile wide.
A new one not used on many horses daily should last a lifetime.
I was given an old rasp, maybe time to upgrade. I heard similar negative things about the riders rasp and when I saw one in a tack store after I was already using a real rasp, it seemed flimsy.
Make sure you get a handle for the rasp.
Pssssst!
Trade Secret:
A rasp is really just a standard hardware file - called (I kid you not) a Bastard File
You can get one small enough to be comfortable in your hand & still do a decent job of rasping between trims.
Of course, they will not last as long as rasps made for farriers, but then, how many of us use them that often?
DO get a handle & wear gloves, or be prepared for rasped knuckles
from Home Depot:
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The rasp issue has been addressed 
If your farrier is willing to give you an old one he’s not going to have sharpened (anymore), or even sell it to you cheap, do that, because you also want him to show you how to use it.
As for where you should use it - ask your farrier where it’s most appropriate for your horse. Typically, the outer wall should be relieved from quarter to quarter. If there are any special areas on your horse the he thinks would be beneficial to pay more attention to, he should be able to tell you.
You do want to make sure you are rolling just the outer pigmented wall, not the inner unpigmented wall, unless he gives you specific instructions for, say, a bit of a rocker at the toe.
And yes, gloves that are relatively heavy duty but still allow you to feel and grip.
If you are going to be rasping regularly, get a HoofJack or other stand. At least for me, when my horse is behaving reasonably well, I would need the sling more than the ball stand, as it’s easier for me to rasp from the front by pulling the leg over my thigh, but I can’t figure out how to hold the leg the other way well and use the rasp with both hands. Especially rasping the quarters, which is where my horse would need it most. It goes much faster if you can use both hands instead of one. get a good, sharp rasp. It will last you a long time and be easier to use.
I spent 9 months learning from a master farrier, that had taught many apprentices in his long time as a farrier.
When I trimmed a horse ( to shoe it, we hot shod all our horses) and he would check it, some times he would pick a foot up and give it a few swipes with the rasp and it was obvious the horse stood there better.
When I asked what did he go by, what measures he used, he would say, being a farrier is to be visually aware, to see what you have and know what doesn’t quite fit and can be improved on and how.
If you have to think and measure and try a bit here and there all the time, you can’t just see and feel what you need right off, you need to spend more time at it, until it becomes second nature to get it right first time around.
He said many people could learn, some just never did get it, could not see, against their mind picture of what is correct, what was wrong and needed correcting and how to make it right.
I think he was right.
Have seen farriers that tweak time and again their basic first trim until they are happy with it and still end up with inconsistent results and others that trim and tweak rarely and are ready to move on with good results.
One of the best farriers I know is a veterinary. He paid for vet school as a farrier.
He can have an apprentice pull shoes while he shapes the shoes.
He trims in a few swipes and puts the shoe on before you have time to follow what he is doing.
Extremely fast and an impeccable job, it seems more like a magic sleigh of hand.
I would say, try to find a really good farrier and ask it guides you to what would fit your horse best, when it comes to any touch-up trim between trims.
Yes, what Bluey said. You should be rasping to help address whatever ongoing balance problem your trimmer or farrier is aware of.
Maybe you are trying to rectify hoof wall separation and flare, or run forward heels, or the horse pronates and wears one side more than the other.
Tidy rounded edge isn’t really a goal in itself. Work with your farrier to identify issues.
Some horses “splat” (not really sure a good word to use here) their outer wall so that it’s weight-bearing, sooner than even a 4-5 week trim cycle, and it doesn’t even have to mean the foot is any more out of balance than would be expected as it gets 3-4-5 weeks after a trim.
So sometimes, all that IS needed is to refresh the roll, so that chipping doesn’t start to happen.
Sometimes it’s more. The farrier should be able to guide most owners in doing some basic touch-up work, such as a swipe every week on the heels, or something basic.
Yes definitely ask your farrier for tips. When mine was barefoot, he went through a phase of flaring at the quarters. Having the farrier tell me at which angle to rasp made all the difference.
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I borrowed a riders rasp from someone when my horse lost a shoe and really liked it. So I bought one (using a 20% off code at Riders Warehouse during their memorial day sale). I really like it so far for keeping up between trims (my horse toes in slightly so that his front feet wear unevenly). And my guy has ridiculously hard draft horse feet.
I wouldn’t try to use it to do a complete trim, but that’s not what it’s for, obviously.
