What About Trimming the Bars?
Very few hoof trimming issues are as controversial as trimming the bars. Opinions vary greatly, from not touching them at all to cutting them down all the way to the sole level or beyond...
A Barefoot Hoof Trimmer’s Guide to Tool Use
Now that you've selected your hoof knife, nippers and rasp, you're ready to actually use them. But for a lot of folks, the first trims feel really awkward, and the tools unwieldy. Natural hoof...
How to Check Hoof Balance
Would you like to impress your trimmer? A fun exercise to try at home is determining if your horse’s hoof is balanced. All you need is a ruler and a permanent marker.Hoof care professionals...
So How Do My Horse’s Feet Look? Learning to Evaluate Your Horse’s Hooves
It seemed like every day I trimmed horses, I was asked the same question, over and over again: “So, how do my horse's feet look?"It wasn't long before I had an epiphany: Why not...
The Truth About Equine Hoof Abscesses – Part One
Submitted by Patricia Morgan Wagner, Hoof Rehabilitation SpecialistHoof abscesses can be much more serious than most of us realize. Abscesses usually are misunderstood, misdiagnosed, mistreated and cause our horses unnecessary suffering, loss of use...
When Your Frog is Down: Repairing Prolapsed Frogs
A prolapsed frog is where the frog, sensitive frog, and digital cushion have fallen below the height of the wall in the heels, basically the heel arch collapses. This is more than just a...
Bringing a Sole Back To New Life Through Shorter Trimming Cycles
The healing art of a smooth transition from a distorted pathological foot to a sustainable bare foot and then on to a well developed barefoot lies in the knowledge of proper form and recognizing...
The Mystery of the Collateral Grooves
Original article by Maria Siebrand of The Thoughtful Horseman.Measuring Uniform, Adequate Sole Depth Using the Collateral GroovesThe above image is from Marjorie Smith's barefoothorse.com (thank you, Marjorie!) but I've relabeled the image because...
Shoe A Horse With Super Glue
Believe it or not, super glue will hold a horse shoe for a 6-8 week trim cycle! I personally didn't believe it at first, but I started playing with some of the glue-on tab...
Trimming the Toed-Out or Toed-In Foot
I wrote an article on how to maintain your horse's trim between your trimmer's visits for this week's On the Hoof entry. But I saw a horse yesterday that brought up an issue I...