Barefoot Trimming for Dummies 101

For those of you starting out:
This is by no means a how to trim video, just wanted to give you all a close look and how I personally go about trimming a hoof for barefoot.

There is really no set pattern or formula for what order things should be done in, what direction to rasp, how to hold your tools etc. Its all about doing a neat and FUNCTIONAL job in the way that is easy for the horse and for you. If that means you hold your rasp or your nippers different to someone else then so be it.

For all you pro's out there:
As you will see this hoof has gone out of balance, and he has some bruising on his lateral heel platform as a result. he also has some hoof wall separation in his toe region as a result of going to long between trims. This horse also normally does a fair bit of road work and self wears his toes a bit in this manner - for this reason i haven't stressed too much about the toe sep as he'll grow his feet and wear the sep out in just a few weeks so long as I ensure the toe is backed up.

BARS: Bars are such a controversial topic. Do we leave them alone or don't we!? I'm a firm believer in leaving them alone in a freshly transitioned horse to help support the internal structures - especially on those with soft, thin soles. However I do believe they must not be sticking out beyond the hoof wall and loading as I have seen numerous horses with severe bruising in the bar region or impacted bars from this happening. As the horses in my area generally live in soft paddocks and work on hard ground I like to take their bars back to the sole plane but never beyond the sole plane (They will not wear them down in their soft paddocks and then they develop bruising from the work on hard ground). I'm from the school of thought that the functional sole plane should never be invaded (unless for veterinary reasons).

We hope to do further videos in the future looking at balance, hoof wall separation, seedy toe etc and as such did not cover anything but the basics in this video :)

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• instructional
• barefoot
• trimming
• horse
• hooves

[KRequestrian]

This is awesome Sare! Would love to see you do more videos like this with rescue/founder cases etc. Absolutely loved this, great job :) x

[IskanderRun]

@KRequestrian thanks lovely! I'm certainly planning on it. will be doing some on a founder horse soon and have just finished filming for one on laser tips and a comparision on bare, boots and tips. boots still win out on rocks. bare and tips were quite comparable but tips were better on gravel than bare. i think Earl was more forward on the road totally bare tho, but he's already used to it. think it will be a big help to transitioning horses.

[HoofTech]

Good job Sarah. Love the accent & video work was great as well

[IskanderRun]

@HoofTech hahaha thanks Bill - although i maintain it is you who has the accent (and drives on the wrong side of the road) :P ;) Will hopefully do some more adventurous ones in the next few weeks / months (as I find time!!!)

[VenusSavvy]

Where do you get those hoof picks with the wire bristles! I need some of those! ;)