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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
  
| Since my horse has been on Cur-Ost Total for a month and a half, the sole of his foot is growing like never before! So my question is if I decide to forgo shoes, how do you trim your horses? I tried a natural trimmer several years ago, but although she talked a good game, she wasn't very good and he wasn't on the feed regimen and Cur-Ost he is on now. Now I am revisiting the idea of trying to go barefoot since he is growing so much sole and my new shoer is telling me his feet want to be good, strong hooves. Is there a special way of trimming for performance horses, or is the Pete Ramey method the way to go? |
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  Friendly horse swapper
Posts: 4122
Location: Buffalo, TX | My horses are barefoot...my Designer Red has never had shoes on. I use John Tucker, a natural trimmer who uses a variation of the Ramey method....My horses have been done for years this way, so they are easy maintinence, and I can do my own in a pinch, so it might be something you want to learn.
Keep in mind that going barefoot is a lifestyle that includes a little different method of husbandry...I haul in smooth rock that goes around the areas that my horses cross daily and around the water tanks so they can experience a different feel with their feet. I have stalls but my horses are out on 10 acres and can come under the barn overhang if they want to, but standing in a stall or small pen is a killer on feet...movement on different surfaces will create the best environment. I realize this isn't possible for everyone, but barefoot horses need whatever you can do to encourage the natural cup that correct trimming will create and to keep the toughness in the feet, and lifestyle does that, not trimming alone.
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Cindy Hamilton - 2015-11-19 10:14 AM
My horses are barefoot...my Designer Red has never had shoes on. I use John Tucker, a natural trimmer who uses a variation of the Ramey method....My horses have been done for years this way, so they are easy maintinence, and I can do my own in a pinch, so it might be something you want to learn.
Keep in mind that going barefoot is a lifestyle that includes a little different method of husbandry...I haul in smooth rock that goes around the areas that my horses cross daily and around the water tanks so they can experience a different feel with their feet. I have stalls but my horses are out on 10 acres and can come under the barn overhang if they want to, but standing in a stall or small pen is a killer on feet...movement on different surfaces will create the best environment. I realize this isn't possible for everyone, but barefoot horses need whatever you can do to encourage the natural cup that correct trimming will create and to keep the toughness in the feet, and lifestyle does that, not trimming alone.
I don't have stalls, but they have run ins to get out of the wind and weather and they are out in a 2 acre lot and another is a brushy 4 acre lot. Due to a severe drought there is very little grass. My ground is a mix of black dirt and some patches of sand. I am trying to decide if it would be workable. I am willing to make some changes in their lots, but I am not sure I can do it at once because we are doing some much needed home repair. The other thing is if I can't find a good natural trimmer, can I learn to do it myself without crippling my horse? |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | You probably can do it yourself....I do 2 of ours most of the time by myself....I've been trimming for a long time though. While I agree with the smooth rocks in their "standing around" area's I don't think its a requirement. One thing I've found over the years is don't trim them too short......easier said than done some times. If you're going to do them yourself invest in a hoof jack and a good set of nippers/hoof knife and rasp. Unless of course you're a super strong backed and hand person! It's a lot of work if you're not used to it. We do all our own-except for one that no matter what we do he needs shoes on the front-he will not develop the concave foot. I do a lot of rasping in between trims so at the very lest invest in a good rasp. If I can rasp to prevent a trim I will too......because I'm a wimp :)
We try to follow the Ramey method as close as possible too.
Edited by LMS 2015-11-19 11:14 AM
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| LMS - 2015-11-19 11:12 AM
You probably can do it yourself....I do 2 of ours most of the time by myself....I've been trimming for a long time though. While I agree with the smooth rocks in their "standing around" area's I don't think its a requirement. One thing I've found over the years is don't trim them too short......easier said than done some times. If you're going to do them yourself invest in a hoof jack and a good set of nippers/hoof knife and rasp. Unless of course you're a super strong backed and hand person! It's a lot of work if you're not used to it. We do all our own-except for one that no matter what we do he needs shoes on the front-he will not develop the concave foot. I do a lot of rasping in between trims so at the very lest invest in a good rasp. If I can rasp to prevent a trim I will too......because I'm a wimp :)
We try to follow the Ramey method as close as possible too.
How did you learn? Does he have any dvds and/or books? This highly interests me, but I am not sure about the best way to learn. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Barefoot trimming takes time. You won't see the real results for approx a year after you pull shoes off.
When riding in rocky/gravel ground for the first few times, you may need hoof boots.
To accelerate the hardening of the feet, I used iodine, soaked a breast pad vet wrapped it onto the sole, and change as needed.
Your horses feet will be healthier for it.
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Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | My dad and uncle trimmed all of ours....handed down but then improved when I learned about Ramey. I think you can watch a lot of videos and also, the best farrier around here actually is OK with me watching asking questions and trimming my own when I feel a little like I'm not on my game. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | GLP - 2015-11-19 11:18 AM
LMS - 2015-11-19 11:12 AM
You probably can do it yourself....I do 2 of ours most of the time by myself....I've been trimming for a long time though. While I agree with the smooth rocks in their "standing around" area's I don't think its a requirement. One thing I've found over the years is don't trim them too short......easier said than done some times. If you're going to do them yourself invest in a hoof jack and a good set of nippers/hoof knife and rasp. Unless of course you're a super strong backed and hand person! It's a lot of work if you're not used to it. We do all our own-except for one that no matter what we do he needs shoes on the front-he will not develop the concave foot. I do a lot of rasping in between trims so at the very lest invest in a good rasp. If I can rasp to prevent a trim I will too......because I'm a wimp :)
We try to follow the Ramey method as close as possible too.
How did you learn? Does he have any dvds and/or books? This highly interests me, but I am not sure about the best way to learn.
I believe there is a book and seems like they are pretty easy to maintain after correct growth with a rasp though occasionally needing a trim. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| thanks for all the information. I am thinking about learning how to do this. I have some old retired ranch horses I could practice on this winter.
I would appreciate any other thoughts or experiences.
Edited by GLP 2015-11-19 11:42 AM
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Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | I'm not sure where you're located but there have been a few barefoot trimming clinics in Western ND or Eastern MT in the last couple of years. You could look to see if you could find something like that. They also taught a certain type of shoeing. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| LMS - 2015-11-19 12:14 PM
I'm not sure where you're located but there have been a few barefoot trimming clinics in Western ND or Eastern MT in the last couple of years. You could look to see if you could find something like that. They also taught a certain type of shoeing.
I am in South Texas.  |
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Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | I would highly recommend visiting in January then....give you a break from the heat! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 320
Location: Dubuque,IA | There used to be trimmers listed on petes website but it isn't hard to learn yourself. I went to pete clinic over ten years ago and have done all of my own since. . Check out you tube videos, also natural hoof sites, The horses hoof also used to have a lot of info. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 851
Location: West Texas | You can learn to do it. If I can, anyone can. It is fairly easy once you get the hang of it, and over the years I have become very good at it. I have my own way of doing it. There are several barefoot trimmers, in my area, that I have seen, that haven't impressed me much. I generally take off as much heel as possible and really shape up the side flare, and put a roll on the edge so that it doesn't break off.
Generally, I use the Pete Ramey method.
Edited by Tdove 2015-11-19 3:52 PM
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 Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | I have been doing my 2 and 3 YO this summer myself, and it's gone ok. I need to do them more frequently, but there are times when I get home from work that i'm just worn out and the thought of wrestling a baby around is not my idea of R & R. HAHA I only have front shoes on one horse and they will come off soon for the winter. I may leave them that way in the spring if all goes well. This wet weather we're dealing with so far sure isn't helping with hoof health! I loaded up on thrush treatment at the feed store yesterday. Ugh.....
Edited by Herbie 2015-11-19 3:41 PM
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| LMS - 2015-11-19 12:25 PM
I would highly recommend visiting in January then....give you a break from the heat!
I'd probably freeze up there in January! |
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Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | GLP - 2015-11-19 3:44 PM LMS - 2015-11-19 12:25 PM I would highly recommend visiting in January then....give you a break from the heat! I'd probably freeze up there in January!
Haha! I will probably freeze up here in January......
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | GLP - 2015-11-19 3:44 PM LMS - 2015-11-19 12:25 PM I would highly recommend visiting in January then....give you a break from the heat! I'd probably freeze up there in January!
Us South Texas people cant handle that cold, heck it can get to 40 and I'm freezing my behind off.. I'm a big winnie  |
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Expert
Posts: 2121
Location: The Great Northwest | Pete Ramey has a good web site for those curous about the barefoot trim. There is a good dvd available. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12704
| Balanced trimming is balanced trimming. If you learn to do your own you can mostly keep from having to use any tool except rasp since you can rasp back into balance once a week or so. I'd love to have the back-power to do this with my crew, but at 50+ that isn't going to happen.
When I went shoeless I did have to have my trimmer over every 4-5 weeks at first. It takes time for the feet to change and you want those changes to happen in small steps. Frequent trimming helps the hoof adjust to it's new freedom quicker. If you let the hoof go too long (not length but time) then it's a little like starting over each trim.
After several visits the hoof will start holding the balance better. Flares won't happen as much, frogs will spread, heels will grow and spread, soles will toughen up. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 349
Location: texas | My horses are barefoot, we use a natural trimmer, we are down here n south texas
Yes its all about the balance....
And the feet are tale tale sign when ur horses body is out, u can see the wear pattern on the feet |
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 Poor Cracker Girl
Posts: 12150
Location: Feeding mosquitos, FL | I've been trimming my own for about two years now. I use an air-powered grinder with an auto body sanding pad on it. It's easier for me to handle then the big plug-in grinders and the speed is more adjustable. I try to stay as faithful to the natural shape of the foot as possible, trim to the water line/white line, and make sure it's balanced and level all the way around. Cut off all flare like a maniac and watch the foot grow and expand.
I'm amazed at the difference I've seen in their feet. My old guy has historically had a problem with long toes and underrun, contracted heels. He grows a lot of foot and was being trimmed every four weeks with front shoes to attempt to keep the running forward under control and keep him sound on some of the hard clay ground around here. Once I started trimming him myself, his feet have literally expanded to probably twice their size. They look like they belong on a draft horse. His frogs are huge, his heels are no longer contracted and he's sounder than he's ever been. I still have to keep his toes trimmed back pretty hard but he's moving better (now that's too hurt to run barrels on again... of all the rotten luck) than he's ever been. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| teamthompson - 2015-11-20 7:36 AM
My horses are barefoot, we use a natural trimmer, we are down here n south texas
Yes its all about the balance....
And the feet are tale tale sign when ur horses body is out, u can see the wear pattern on the feet
I am in the Corpus Christi area. Could you PM your trimmer's number if they are taking new clients?
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Expert
Posts: 1409
Location: Oklahoma | I have the pete rameys dvd set best investment i ever made! Barefoot trimmers and shoers was making my horse sore so made me learn! I try to do every 10-12 days easier on my back! |
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 Veteran
Posts: 287
| You can learn pretty much everything you need to know by reading everything you can possibly get your hands on and watching youtube. I trimmed ours for years cause we had so many, it was the only cost effective thing to do. And ours were trot and lope on gravel sound. People get nervous about it, but the vast majority of horses are not complicated to trim if you just pay attention to the horse and it's foot. Horses have been getting their feet done for eternity by fellas that ARE NOT rocket scientists, lol. Read your brains out, get decent tools and have at it. And also, I very much agree with the person who said to not get the to short. Especially if you are in fairly dry country like I am. Cause they will wear down even more with any kind of riding and they'll get sore. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 396
| All our horses are barefoot. We even bought a new horse this summer that had been shod his whole life. Pulled his shoes, put him in our program and actually haven't noticed any tender foot or any problems. |
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 Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
Location: NC | bump. Would love to hear more about this. I have always tried to keep my horses barefoot and never realized there really is a difference to a 'bare foot trim' until I had a 'Barefoot Trimmer' do my mare last. I am down to one horse that I am just getting going so would love to learn to trim her myself. Would love to hear what books, youtube videos and dvds you guys used. |
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Veteran
Posts: 287
| Go on YouTube and search barefoot trimming. And google. There is seriously a ton of info. Once you feel like you wanna try it yourself, just go slow and take a little off at a time. Especially with just one horse, there's no need to rush. Just rasp a little off every couple days and don't really get to ambitious with the hoof knife. I don't trim the frog at all unless there is flaps trapping fungus. More shoers are starting to leave the frog alone more around here which is good. And the other difference in a BF trim is the Mustang roll. The other thing to pay attention to is the bars. You want to make sure those are compacted and holding false sole in there that needs to shed naturally. It's not to complicated, though it seems that way at first. Just get your hands in there and do it. |
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question for those of you who run your horses barefoot