How many of you trim your hooves?

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jdomep

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I was wondering how many of you trim your little guys hooves?

I tried to run a search because I remember seeing this posted before but the search kept stalling so I am posting again. If I remember correctly there was a helpful video and if you have it can you share your experience.

Thanks so much!
 
Lee has been trimming our horses hooves since about 1987. We lived in Ohio & ran a public horseback riding facility. The 60ish year old farrier trimmed our mini a couple of times then handed Lee the tools & said get over here, "You are going to learn to do this". Over the next couple of years he kept working with Lee until he got it down.......... We moved to Kentucky & Lee started trimming hooves for other people. He was doing several dozen horses but it got too hard on his back. Now he just does our horses. Through the years he has showed several people that bought horses from us how to trim their own horse hooves......................... Wanted to add - when we ran into a problem hoof we would get a farrier to do the horse or explain the situation to Lee. Horse owners need to understand it is more than like trimming toenails; the hooves do need to be trimmed correctly.
 
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I trim mine.. Before I ever got into miniatures, I started learning from a farrier freind.. I would go and watch her trim her big horses, and then she would do the minis. I found it facinating, and wanted to learn all I could, as I realized how much the horse benifited from regular, and proper trimming. She would point out how the angle, of tha actual "snip itself" was important, and the reason for dishing out the hoof, as well as rasping and dressing off the hoof. She coached my first 6 or so trims and then I was on my own.. I now realize how blessed I was to have such a willing to teach farrier friend, as I have been trimming my own for several years now. It can be challenging on the back, and I usually limit myself to one horse a day, unless time allows.
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[SIZE=14pt]Barry has been doing ours.... If we have a problem we get Linda Best to fix it at a show or tell us how to fix it. Alice Nelson in NC is very good and we get her to come to VA when Barry is too busy to do them.[/SIZE]

Lyn
 
I do mine. I didn't really want to as I am so pressed for time these days (and have a bad back to boot), but I couldn't find a farrier I liked or one that liked to do minis. My father was a blacksmith and he taught me to trim my big horses hooves when I was a teenager and I did it for about 5 years. I did have a farrier over and watch me the first time I trimmed the minis (since it had been a few years), he gave me the A - OK and I've been doing them ever since. I did purchase a video (can't remember what it was called - it was for minis)...the quality was so terrible and the instruction was terrible, I sent it back. It is not hard to do, but instruction from a knowledgable farrier (hands on) is way better than a video IMO. I myself would not attempt it with a horse that has special needs/problems.
 
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I do mine and use a farrier......kinda like CathyH I was working on a HUGE pony/horse farm and we had a regular farrier and a specialty farrier(he did fancy shoes on a couple) our farrier had me start filing and trimming in between on a few foundered ponies who needed to be done more often than her 6 week rotation
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then my first mini tends to not grow much hoof but he rolls off to one side on the front so I worked with the farrier to learn to do him he gets done once a year by our regular farrier and I file 3 times a year to keep some normal shape (he doesn't grow hoof and he is a pacer)

I think the very best way to learn is to work with a farrier who knows what they are doing......my back is so bad I cannot do all of mine HECK I can barely do one horse in a sitting
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so I rely on my farrier to come do good trims and then I kinda keep them tidy until he can get back out.......
 

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