Who does their own horses trims?

[Cheeky]

I got a dvd on barefoot trimming, how to balance and get it all right.

I thought i'd give it a go (it's a once a week trim, so no need for the cutters (saves my back!)) :) Gonna wait til the next farrier visit, then it's a once a week rasp and hoof knife (if required)..

Anyone else do their own? How often? :D

Cheers :D

[Sammii819]

I have a feeling it's illegal to do your own horses feet a less you are a trained farrier.
Be careful. It doesn't take much to mess them up. But takes ages to get them right again.

[Cheeky]

Not in Aust .. heaps of my mates do their own horses feet :) All barefoot ofcoarse, I personally wouldn't dream of doing shoes *oh my back*.

Yep, am going to do it under supervision, ofcoarse ;) and get it checked out by my farrier after a few weeks :)

[Sammii819]

Sorry should have looked to see where you were. :o

[Cheeky]

Hehhee no worries ;) Shame to hear that you guys can't do it though. Didn't know that :confused:

[Sammii819]

I'm pretty sure of it, i know we defo can't shoe them legally.
Hope someone else will be able to confirm. :)

[Yann]

I have a feeling it's illegal to do your own horses feet a less you are a trained farrier.

It isn't, the only thing that is illegal in the UK is the preparation of a foot for shoeing and the application of a shoe if you're not a registered farrier.

I trim my horses, it isn't complicated, but it is important to have a grasp of what you're doing and why and the tool and leg handling takes a while to get to grips with properly. I started out under the supervision of my trimmer, and I still get my horses feet checked by a professional on a regular basis to make sure everything is on the right track. It is a serious undertaking.

What DVD is it? Trimming once a week, if you mean more than just refreshing the roll on the hoof wall sounds way too much to me, even in summer. Mine normally get trimmed at an interval between 4 and 6 weeks depending on how much work they're doing and the time of year.

[Sammii819]

Thanks for clearing that up.
Never really looked into it that much as mine are all shod, and i know i can't do that. :D

Learn something new everyday on here.

[Cheeky]

Ok, well you don't have to do it every week (Hons feet grow pretty fast though), he recomends rasping every 2-3 weeks, to save from using the cutters.

Would deff get my feet checked by pro's regularly, I know it's a huge thing to take on.

[Wally]

You'll have belly muscles and hamstrings of steel by the time you have finished!

I think once a week rasping is way too much, even with the fastest growing feet.

Be careful, the farriers reg council lot would LOVE to cover barefoot trimming in their ever widening registry! You need qualifications and registrations to fart these days!

[MelanieD]

Which DVD have you got?

I trim my own and trim for a few friends. Taking a bit of length off generally good feet is pretty simple as long as you understand balancing a foot and are careful to avoid taking too much off. Slightly more 'interesting' feet are a lot more of a challenge! I trim mine every 2-8 weeks depending on when I see something that needs doing, and even at 8 weeks I rarely get the nippers out.

[Pickles]

I have a barefoot cob and I rasp the back of his front feet a couple of times a week. I wouldn't really call it trimming as I don't take much off each time, but if left between farrier visits he wears the toe down in his roadwork and the heel gets too long.

I would still have the farrier or barefoot trimmer out if I were you, not sure if you can learn to balance a hoof properly from a DVD and if you get it wrong your horses movement/joints etc would be affected.

[Cheeky]

Oh no .. not just learning from a dvd ;) wont be touching her tootsies until I fully understand it all :)

Going to go learn how to balance feet in the next 2 weeks (not sure of dates yet), and also getting a farrier to show me the ropes (just rasping and the knife) :)

Will get the farrier out too .. but she'd trimmed every 5 weeks, so theres no prob there :)