How often do you get farrier/barefoot trimmer out?

[Vez]

Hi, just wondered, when your horse is barefoot, how often do you get the farrier/barefoot trimmer out? I really need to get mine out more than I do :o

[Nik-n-Kia]

My farrier comes every twleve weeks to do Kia.

Nice and regular and not getting left til last moment.

Nikki xxxx

[KateWooten]

joePony is trimmed every 4 weeks, Summer and Rosie 5 weeks, and Tiny 6. Which is awkward, since they're at home - nobody to share trimmer visits with !

[Vez]

Do there hooves not end up wearing down to quickly if you keep trimming them that often. I always leave Willows hooves long but not sure if its the right thing to do....

[KateWooten]

They don't seem to ! I'm working with my trimmer to get joe's feet better - he's had vertical cracks ever since I've had him as a 3 yr old. The two mares can go 6 weeks if needed, and Tiny Pony doesn't really need trimming at all.

[KarinUS]

I find it's much better (especially for barefoot) to take off a little bit at a time rather than wait until they are way out of balance and then chop off a bunch. I mean part of what made us chose barefoot is that we want to improve the balance/hoof etc. Letting them get all funky and out of whack would be totally counterproductive
Ours are trimmed every 4 weeks. My trimmer lives onsite so that makes it easier, too. :p We've even had them on a 3 week schedule, but my trimmer says he wants one weekend off ... wimp! (we got 3 horses and he does one every weekend)

[RobaDob]

We get the farrier out every 5 weeks for Honey, as she is shoed.
Fanta has the farrier out every 5 aswell.. but needs them trimmed more than Honey as he has cracks on the inside of his hoof (right hind) and needs the shoes on to keep his foot together at the minute.

[Daffy Dilly]

Daffy has the farrier every 7-8 weeks, timed to fit in with myself and the farrier's schedules and the start of the month if we can manage it.

Have left it 12 before now, and god knows how the shoes were still on afterwards. Have also had him out once a fortnight before for 6 weeks to replace shoes. :rolleyes:

[coss]

mine were done roughly every 8 weeks last year but the farrier barely did anything... have had to change farrier, have only had him once and he asked me when i thought they'd need doing again... i said try 12 weeks as they wear their feet down themselves a lot and appear to remain in balance - the farrier takes an even amount off all the way round each hoof. before the current farrier came out the horses went 22 weeks :eek: without a farrier and there wasn't that much to come off but there were out of shape :(

[Yann]

Depends on the feet, how much work they're getting and the time of year. I was previously on a 5/6 week cycle with both mine and tidied up myself a bit in between. This time of year they're ready after 4 weeks as both sets of feet have issues that are being worked on and leaving them any longer would be counterproductive.
My new trimmers have actively encouraged me to start taking more on myself which is brilliant of them, so we've started going longer between visits with the idea of them checking and correcting what I've done when they do come. So as Karin says I do little bits regularly, at least keeping the wall rolled weekly, whilst trying not to interfere too much in whatever else is developing :)

To answer the question about making the horse sore, regular trimming shouldn't, as there are definite parameters about what should be trimmed and what should be left alone. If you pick a foot up and there's next to nothing to do, because the horse has good feet and is self trimming, then you do next to nothing.

[Sandi_Mac]

Hi there
My farrier comes every 6 weeks have one barefoot an one shod.

Sandi xx

[mayoguinness]

3 weeks and rasped in between:)

[Bay Mare]

5 weeks and I do the roll and take the height down inbetween.

[MelanieD]

I usually have an EP out every 6 weeks, though might be trying to go longer the way they've been going recently, almost sorting themselves out so I can do the little bits that needs doing myself easily. I do some trimming between EP visits so they usually end up getting trimmed every 2-4 weeks, though quite often its just little shaping type things that need doing there's not usually much length to take off.

[Iron Maiden]

5 weeks between EP trims but I have homework to do inbetween!

[Grace O'Malley]

My trimmer comes about every four weeks. Sometimes a bit longer. Often he doesn't need to do much but check how things are going and tidy up. I don't do any rasping myself.

[Cupcake]

Skye's never seen a farrier. It would take Skye's hooves to have fallen off to convince my parents to fork out the money.

Luckily she has fantastic hooves, requiring no work at all. I give them a little rasp if the edges come uneven, she just doesn't seem to need any extra help.

[KarinUS]

Skye's never seen a farrier. It would take Skye's hooves to have fallen off to convince my parents to fork out the money.

Luckily she has fantastic hooves, requiring no work at all. I give them a little rasp if the edges come uneven, she just doesn't seem to need any extra help.

:eek:

I hope she continues to be lucky.

[Vez]

Yeh, I hardly ever get my farier out due to both Willow and Lisa having excellant hooves is it a bad thing?:confused:

[KarinUS]

It's not a bad thing if they are truly wearing exactly in the right places and staying balanced all by themselves. Most of us are not that lucky. ;) I have never seen one that stays completely perfectly balanced all by itself.
What would be a worrisome thing is if the owner was not prepared to provide hoofcare if needed simply because they don't want the expense.

[Bay Mare]

Saff has excellent hooves too but they still get out of balance especially if she's tweaked herself and is moving differently. Maybe I'm just programmed but I would always have my trimmer out regularly.

[Vez]

I'm getting the farrier out soon, as they have redone one of the bridleways to make it horrible, I used to be able to canter loads down, now I'm lucky if I get to trot. It's wearing her feet down quicker! :mad: It's annoying when its only on one hoof, like Willow front left is uneven but the rest are fine !

[Jaimee]

12 weeks!!! How long do they get in that time??

Geez I have an OTTB gelding, Standy gelding, and a crossbred mare I do them every week in the spring and up to every 3 weeks the rest of the year.

Letting them get too long just does too much damage for mine, I need tight healthy footsies to go anywhere.--- But then mine are all barefoot.

[Cupcake]

What would be a worrisome thing is if the owner was not prepared to provide hoofcare if needed simply because they don't want the expense.

That explains my parent perfectly. Luckily I'm good at nagging. And just after I wrote that last post, Skye's hooves have gone extremely brittle, that'd be right.

I know where my birthday money is going this weekend.