How to Trim Your Horse's Hooves with a Natural Trim
Natural hoof care advocates trimming based on the actual structure of the horse's hoof, thereby enabling the hoof mechanism to function at its most efficient. True, wild horses never have their feet trimmed and they get along fine. But domestic horses' living conditions and activities do not mimic that of their feral counterparts, who might cover 10 to 20 miles a day in search of food and water. In the absence of such conditions, owners must play the role of nature. Give your horse a "natural trim" every three to four weeks to ensure optimal health and performance.
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Instructions
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Clean out the foot with a hoof pick. Remove all dirt and debris, including any packed around the frog.
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Expose the white line where hoof wall meets the sole. Scrape all crumbly, overgrown sole away from this line. Start at the toe and scrape toward each heel using a hoof pick or, if necessary, a hoof knife. Watch out not to pare away living sole (which is firm and elastic, not powdery and easily scraped).
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Use nippers to remove outgrown hoof horn. Start at the toe and work your way along the hoof wall back to each heel. Support one blade of the hoof nippers flat on the sole. Maintain this position without angling as you begin to shorten the hoof, setting the blade just above the white line in the outer hoof wall to avoid trimming too deep.
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Trim bars if needed. Taper from level with the sole to even with newly trimmed heel buttresses. Leave frog and heel bulbs to wear naturally through contact with the ground.
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Rasp freshly cut hoof rim. Smooth nipped edges and remove excess wherever the length exceeds 1/8 of an inch. Check that the heel buttresses are level with or just above the frog, the quarters are level with or slightly less than heel and toe, and the sole is passive (not weight-bearing) to the hoof wall.
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Finish a natural trim by putting a mustang roll on the outside edge of the hoof rim. Use a hoof rasp in a downward action (not up and down), rounding off the edges of the hoof wall at a 45-degree angle to prevent raveling. Stay a 1/4 inch away from the white line at all times to prevent weakening the hoof wall and reducing its ability to support the horse's weight.
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Remove any bulges in the outer wall of the hoof. Rasp them with the coarse side of the rasp until the hoof surface is uniformly even. Finish with the fine side of the rasp in a back-and-forth motion sideways along the contour of the outer hoof wall.
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Tips & Warnings
Recruit someone to help hold the horse's hooves for you and to help keep the horse calm.
Trim every three to four weeks and you'll be able to do most of the work with the rasp.
Aim for length of the hoof (from hairline to toe) to be not more than 3-1/4 to 3-1/2 inches long.
Obtain the help of a professional if you are not confident in handling your horse's feet. Trimming a horse's hooves can be dangerous if the animal is agitated or unwilling.
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Resources
- Photo Credit hufschmied image by Heiner Witthake from Fotolia.com
