Proper hoof trimming is the most important
part of horse foot care, but first you need the tools necessary to do
a proper trim—not just tools you can get by with, but tools to do the
best job you are able to do for your horse. The tools you need, and
how to use them, are:
Apron or chaps. You need chaps to protect your legs from the horse's
hoof and legs. Chaps also help you hold the hoof firmly between your
knees.
Hoof pick. A hoof pick is used to clean debris from the bottom of the
hoof, along the grooves on the sides of the frog, and from the sole
area. This debris, if not removed, will dull your hand tools and may
hide injuries to the hoof.
Hoof knife. A hoof knife is for trimming away loose dried-out sole.
Do not cut into live flesh or the sole will be sore and may bleed—not
a good thing. The hoof knife is also used to trim off loose and ragged
frog.
Do not trim live frog.
Nippers. Nippers are used to trim the outgrowth of hoof wall from the
hoof. Although toe length varies with the horse's size and breed, in
general a full-grown horse of average size should have between 3" and
about 3-3/4" of hoof wall at the toe. Toe length is measured from the
top of the hoof wall to the bottom, or ground, at the center of the
toe of the hoof wall.
If you are trimming a front foot, hold the hoof between your knees;
if you are trimming a rear foot, hold the hoof across your lap with
the hock under your arm. Keep the nippers' cutting blades parallel to
the bottom of the horse's foot. With one handle in each hand, hold the
handles perpendicular to the bottom of the foot, not at the angle of
the hoof wall.
Start at one heel and trim off the hoof wall to the toe, then stop and
go to the other heel and trim to the toe. For a nice even trim, make
each cut with the nippers only one-half the width of the nippers' cutting
blades. With practice you should be able to trim from heel to heel and
get an even cut.
One of the biggest trimming errors is digging out the quarters, which
happens when the person doing the trimming cuts the hoof wall too short
at the quarters. Instead of following a straight line from heels to
toe, the person follows the line of the sole. The sole cups at the quarters;
be careful not to cut the hoof wall to the sole at the cupped quarters.
Popular practice is to trim the heels to the widest part of the frog.
In general this practice is okay, but if you're not sure leave a little
more heel. Do not cut into the sole with the nippers it's that blood
thing again.
Rasp. A rasp used correctly can be your best tool, but used wrong can
be your worst tool. Rasps have been known to take out hands, knuckles,
fingers, lots of skin, and sometimes hoof wall; that could be your blood
dripping on your boot.
After trimming with the nippers, use the rasp to level the bottom of
the hoof wall, remove burrs, and smooth and round the outside edge of
the hoof wall. Pull the rasp with one hand and push with the other hand,
using equal downward pressure from both hands.
Do not move the rasp until you have it flat to the hoof and making contact
with both sides of the hoof wall at the same time. Do not cut across
the hoof from side to side at the quarters, which again will dig out
the quarters. To avoid digging out the quarters use the rasp from heel
to toe and then from toe to heel. Check your work after every few strokes.
A rasp cuts so fast that before you notice, you can have an uneven hoof
or get into the blood.
To check the bottom of the hoof for levelness, hold the horse's leg
by the cannon bone and let the hoof relax. Look across the hoof from
the heel. The bottom of the hoof wall should be flat, without dips or
high spots. The bottom of the hoof and the back of the leg up to the
knee should form a T.
When you're happy with the bottom of the hoof trim, move the horse's
leg and hoof to the front and put the foot on a hoof stand or on your
knee and use the rasp to round off the bottom edge of the hoof wall.
Now's the time to remove any flares or dishes in the hoof wall. When
removing flares and dishes, do not rasp the wall thinner than one-half
the thickness of good wall. Do not rasp the hoof wall up to the hair
line, which would remove the hoof's protective covering (periople).
Calipers. Use calipers to measure the hoof's length at the center of
the toe. Most of the time the two front feet will be the same length
at the toe and the two hind feet will be the same length at the toe,
but all four feet may not be the same length.
To make this measurement, find the top center of the hoof wall--not
the hair line, but the place where the hard hoof wall meets the soft
coronary band. Put one leg of the calipers at the top and the other
leg of the calipers at the bottom, or ground side, of the hoof wall.
Before you start trimming the opposite foot use the calipers to mark
the amount of hoof wall you need to remove to make a matched pair. After
you have trimmed the hoof, measure the toe length again. Some people
use calipers to measure heel length, but this measurement tends to be
inconclusive.
Hoof gauge. The hoof gauge is used to match pairs of feet in their angle
to the ground. The angles of the horse's shoulder, pastern, and hoof
wall at the toe should be relative to each other. The front hoof angle
in a full-grown average horse is generally between 50 and 58 degrees.
In most cases the rear hoof angle is about 2 degrees higher or steeper
than the front hoof angle. As a rule the front pair should match and
the rear pair should match.
Horse with four feet. The horse must be trained to stand quietly while
you work on its feet. Horse wrestling and hoof trimming are not compatible
activities; you can get hurt. The feet should be trimmed on a schedule
from four weeks to 10 weeks, depending on the horse's needs. Don't let
the hooves grow out too long before cutting them back; the feet should
never get more than 1" longer than normal.
As for that bleeding thing, if you happen to make a bad cut and the
horse bleeds, protect the wound as best you can and call the veterinarian.
Without exception, call the vet.
