 Sheep and goats may need to have their hooves of feet trimmed when there's excessive growth of the horn. The basic instruments used for hoof trimming include a hoof trimmer. Care should be taken on the placement of the hand that holds the hoof to avoid accidents. A hoof knife and a hoof nippers for hooves with severe overgrowth and hard hooves. These hooves are badly overgrown and will affect how the animal walks and can even cause pain. The nipper is used to remove the greater part of the overgrown hoof. This should be done in stages. Once the hoof has been cut to a manageable level, the hoof trimmer can be used to continue cutting down the hoof until it looks near to a normal hoof presentation. The rule of thumb is that the farmer can continue to trim until he sees the pink undertones from the bottom of the foot. The pink area indicates that the blood vessels are near the surface and cutting deeper will cause bleeding. All four hooves should be trimmed on the animal with an aim of restoring normal gait and balance.