barefoot trimmer prices

[No_Angel]

Just out of interest, how much does everyones barefoot trimmer charge?

[Bay Mare]

Student EP is about £25, qualified about £40. If they have to travel then there's travel expenses on top of that :)

[Yann]

EP was £40, UKNHCP also £40 per horse, seems to be the going rate.

[Bobbin]

Yup I pay £45 inc travelling costs

[MelanieD]

£40 per horse.

[capalldubh]

YEs, £40 plus travelling expenses (and she comes a long way to get to me - EPs in Scotland are pretty rare).

[mayoguinness]

£25.

[gwyngyll]

Might sound stupid but what is the difference between a farrier trim and barefoot trim? We pay the farrier £18 per trim.

[mayoguinness]

A LOT................................ there are loads of types of different barefoot trims. Depends on which barefoot trim to what differences there are ;)

[gwyngyll]

...

[Bay Mare]

Might sound stupid but what is the difference between a farrier trim and barefoot trim? We pay the farrier £18 per trim.

Theoretically there shouldn't really be a huge difference. In practise though and speaking purely from my own experience ... the farrier doesn't seem to concentrate on balancing the feet and working to improve the structure. It really is a 'pasture trim' for a horse that is going to be turned away or who is just in light work. If they did a proper trim you wouldn't see so many horses with loads of flare, infection, thrush and out of balance.

My farrier would take about 10 minutes max to do a trim, my EP takes between about 40 minutes to an hour.

I've also found that EPs/barefoot trimmers take more time looking at nutrition with regards to the hoof, infection control and giving advice on conditioning.

I don't believe that Saffy would still be barefoot if I'd have stuck with a farrier trim.

I do know that there are some good farriers out there, unfortunately none of them live in my area! For me the £40 is worth every single penny.

[capalldubh]

I don't know what the technical differences are, but I do know my horse shares his field with three farrier trimmed horses and the difference in hooves is noticeable even to my untrained eye.

You can see Jackson's feet in another thread in this section ;) , and although he has had problems with his feet, they are beginning to look good - after two EP trims. The EP gives me a lot of advice on keeping the feet looking good (from inside and out) as well as trimming.

The other horses in the field share the same conditions as Jackson - they are out 24/7, eat the same basic diet (but with different supplements) and have pasture trims. They all have very long toes, flare, rather peculiar shaped feet and one has very underrun heels. After farrier visits, I do find hoof parings around, but the balance of the feet has never changed, they're just a bit shorter all around. None of them are expected to go out on roads at all, so they probably do fine, but I want to be able to hack Jackson, so I'm happy to put in extra effort on conditioning.

If concavity is your key measure, mind you, all the pasture trimmed horses have lovely concavity (even the long toe low heel mare), just their feet are peculiar in other ways - I would attribute this to the good underfoot conditions in the field.