Hoof Care Need Not Be Difficult

My natural trimmer, as far as I know, doesn't spend a lot of time digging out the sole.  In fact in my special needs boy he trims hoof walls down so he walks on his soles, which isn't optimum but it takes the pressure off the hoof walls.  The others have nice concave sole structure for the most part.  I'm happy to put my horses' feet in his hands because I don't have the back to do the work myself.  It's nice having a professional visit every 6 weeks and give me his opinion on my horses' condition.  Keeps me on my toes.
If I could do it myself just as well and save the money I WOULD!!!  More power to ya!!!

That's pretty much what I do, too. In a dry climate such as this, the sole is as hard as concrete, and digging it out can be a major undertaking. I trim down the wall, and eventually the sole will begin to flake out on its own.

I'd just make sure he's also rounding off the edges or they could crack and split. Wild horse's hooves are rounded from their constant running. Thus the term "Mustang Roll".

Here's his web site. http://www.dragonflyfarmshoofcare.com/

I don't have to make sure of anything Steve does! If I did I wouldn't use him.

But I'm glad you're becoming a good trimmer for your own horses' sake!!

No, you shouldn't dig out the sole. It's there for a reason. If there is any excess sole, it will show itself by becoming mushy when it rains or ground gets moist. Then you are taking what is ready to come. If you don't scrape it out with a hoof pick, then you are leaving perfect thrush food behind. If you pare it out before its ready, you will have a sore horse...especially if the ground is hard.
There's also more than the sole on the solar side. There's also the bars. They can get splatted over the sole, then it jams into the sole with every step and thins the sole under it and is the cause of many an abscess. They can also jam right up into the hoof like a pile driver. Everytime you take them down, they pop back up again...that's the bars unloading itself out of the hoof.
Sometimes the bars can cover the whole sole, so you have to know if you are looking at sole or overgrown bars. Bars are a harder material that won't mush out in wet weather and must be shaved down. Its very important to know the difference.
So have another look at your feets and see what is sole and what is bar material. The bars should merge with the sole 1/2 way back on the frog and ramp straight up to meet the front of the heel platforms dead on, with a surface on them that is flat to ground. No bar should stand higher than the heel platform or quarter walls to the side. 
On one of my anatomy quests, I learned that the lateral cartilages on each side of the hoof are attached to the bars as they take on an "L" shape and go under the hoof. I used to think that sidebone was from medial/lateral imbalance or shoes that did not clear the quarters, but with those bars attached to the cartilages.....another reason for all the sidebone I saw on practically every horse I studied in xray class.
The best way to really see a hoof and study it, is to take a picture and put it up on your computer.
When I'm dealing with a hard hoof, I put a soaking boot on for 10 minutes. Makes a big difference. Then I transfer that boot to the hoof ahead of me while I'm trimming the first one.
Hope this helps!

Hi,

There is a caveat, and that's that she spends most of her time in a dirt pen of hard, dry ground. This helps to keep her soles naturally worn down. I also do only minimal clipping of her frog, just enough to make filing the sides easier. Her trimmings come out to about three inches in the front each time and pretty flat in the back.

Yes, generally speaking, frog & sole shouldn't need paring, certainly not routinely. But living in a pen, regardless of the state of the ground is unlikely to wear much of anything down - you wouldn't need to trim walls if that was the case. I don't get what you mean about 3 inches in front?

Whether or not a person wants to do the trimming themselves or have a local 'expert' do it, I think it's vital to learn the principles & factors yourself. There's MUCH more to hoof health than 'correct' trimming. But after learning the principles, despite there being so many ifs, buts & maybes, people generally come to the conclusion that the basics are not rocket science after all!

There's also the bars. They can get splatted over the sole, then it jams into the sole with every step and thins the sole under it and is the cause of many an abscess. They can also jam right up into the hoof like a pile driver. Everytime you take them down, they pop back up again...that's the bars unloading itself out of the hoof.

I agree that the above is very *possible* But I don't think it's always the case. So good illustration of the need to understand the principles behind the practice. Re the bars, I think it depends much on the terrain a horse finds himself on. For eg. most of the wild horse feet we see are from semi-arid environments - horses live on rough, stony ground & cover many miles a day to keep their feet worn short. But that is not at all the only model for a healthy foot and in softer environments, bars can overgrow without problems, even providing extra necessary protection to soft soles in the wet. In slippery conditions, the bars standing above the sole plane can help stability. On flat ground like asphalt, a horse's bars may need to be longer in order to provide support to allow those lateral cartilages to 'bottom out' on this unnatural footing. When something is trimmed & it 'pops right back' I often(not always) take it as an indication it needed to be there & I was perhaps incorrect or too severe in trimming it.

I'd really love to put rocks around my water trough so they will do some walking on rocks every day. 
I SOOO agree with knowing the basics.  For me the very least you should know is what a well trimmed hoof should look like. 
I had a problem with a local trimmer and a LOT of people use him. Honestly, I've heard so many of them say "I love how he handles my horse".  um... okay.... how does he do their feet?  I don't think they really LOOK.  When I know someone uses him I always scrutinize their horse's feet and more often than not you can find something obviously "wrong" such as flares, uneven hoof wall lengths, non symmetrical feet when you pick them up and look from the bottom.  As a matter of fact, someone published a picture of a hoof that he trimmed to demonstrate a before and after picture.  His after picture didn't look really symmetrical to me.  I'd like to find it and show you. Also, when the flare is so obvious that the hoof, when flat on pavement, has a bow in it so it doesn't meet the pavement flat all the way around....  DON'T PEOPLE SEE THIS STUFF?  After he did my horses the LAST time, my teenage son said "mom their feet don't look right".  duh.   Anyway, water under the bridge.  Thank goodness they've recovered. 
He trimmed the first time when Steve had them looking good.  The second time, if he actually DID them, which he claims he did, I was out of the state for 6 weeks. When I got home they were so bad I called him immediately and he joked and laughed it off like it was no big deal.  He came and trimmed them and THAT's when I realized how horrible he is.  I called Steve right away and he came back and took measurements.  My horses were walking on 4 different feet.  Not a one of them had two feet that matched.  I felt awful! Steve reported him.

Our farrier trained us how to care for our horses feet and we have him come out 2x a year to make sure we are on the right track. Whenever I come around other horses the first thing I do is look at the feet. I have seen so many horrible feet it is really sad. They are mainly due to ignorant owners, not bad owners, just ignorant. The feet are so critical to a horse and people just don't understand that. When started learning ourselves mainly to keep things from becoming issues. As our farrier came he was happy with what we were doing and the time between his visits grew and grew.

They're all barefoot, Paul?   Sounds like you've got a great farrier!

Sounds like Paul has become his own good farrier. Congratulations, Paul. The way you've learned is the best way, with hoof in hand and guidance along the way.

With a strong hoof on hard ground, I would be loathe to touch the frog for any reason, other than the odd flap. That's very important callous that's needed for that ground. I have learned to become ambidextrous and am able to change the position of the rasp to avoid the frog.

As for the bars, yes, they do many different things, depending on what the current stress/torque and pathology is. They can squiggle like worms, look like logs, invade the quarter, get buried in false sole, get buried in the hoof and grow complete necklaces around the frog. They smash into the frog and create bar bridges under the frog itself. They can also fracture. They smash into the groove and sit there looking pounded in....all sorts of things.    The bars should merge with the sole 1/2 way back on the frog and ramp straight up to meet the heel platforms dead on, with surface flat to ground. This ramp should not be higher than the heel platforms or surrounding walls. To me, this is a bar that doesn't jam up and is ALL support at the back of the foot.
I used to think less is best, but not so much any more. We do not have mustangs that travel umpteen miles a day. In reality, these are domestic horses that need changes in diet and horsekeeping and are faced with an incredible amount of pathology in these early barefoot trimming years. When I see a properly trimmed healthy foot, its a breath of fresh air. Our horses need help to get over the hump. I want a coaxed, forward-moving transition and do not condone needless discomfort along the way.
What I started to see with overgrown bars is the lameness from it, hoof contortion and a serious jam into the corium. Its an awful stress that's worse than flare torque at the toe.
I just instructed an owner via xrays and pics that showed a hoof that was "almost there" but had suddenly gone lame. Beautiful trim...the only problem was the bars. This hoof had excellent concavity, yet the sole was thin at the apex. The bars were splatted all over the sole and only the toe was actual sole...the rest was layers of bar. The hoof from the side view showed a jammed up coronary band from back to front. The toe wall profile was slightly convex. The bar material over the sole had thinned it underneath...flattened down the growth tubules of the sole and smashed them into a no growth situation. This sole had not built thicker with transition despite the concavity. I certainly did not instruct her to ream the hoof out. This has to be done gradually, slowly taking the jam out of the bars, but still leaving some as a bandaid until the sole recovers.
This is the worst crime committed by bars. I'll try to explain what was happening.  The bars were higher than the heels. The forward roll of the hoof had to get up over the bars after the heels landed. Like the hoof having to get over 2 breakovers in one step. The horse lands harder and lower on his heels to avoid and pushes the heel platforms forward...in turn splatting the toe forward and lengthening breakover. The white line/P3 connection is being pulled back off the wall. The back of the hoof becomes sunken and the  heels lose their support. The tension to both the DDFT and the Extensor tendon is awful.  Soon, the horse is walking on the back of his heel platforms...until the whole heel breaks out...then you're in trouble. What you have going on is a negative palmer angle. But the real crime is upwards, vs. forward. When that hoof tries to get over that highest jamming part of the bar (pinch point) it jams right up into the corium. Like the arched coronary band above it, the hoof is landing and pushing the heels forward, a big jam to the middle of the hoof and leaves the toe hanging. The whole hoof is trying to fold itself in half from heel to toe and starting to look like it belongs on a Geisha girl. The groove will be really deep at the back and then 1/2 way forward, suddenly vault to shallow and stay there to the apex.
  If you look at the outside of the groove and follow the bar wall from the groove to the top, you'll get an idea of just how tall a wall it is. The jam goes right down the wall into the corium. That bar wall also retains sole at the heels and seat of the corn. As long as you're trying to obey sole, that wall will never let the sole exfoliate and allow you to bring the heels down.
I have uncovered embedded twigs, stones and old bruises in the process of shaving down bars. To me, that's a bar screaming for relief.
When that jam up into the middle of the foot is relieved by lowering the bars, the heels are released to come back, coronary band straightens and relaxes. Underneath the hoof its spitting the height of that bar wall out, so they pop back up again, or look longer again. I've trimmed many a bar, walked the horse 5 minutes and gone back and  trimmed the bars again just to get back to where I was the first time, then a few days later, again. Once they are formed, where they belong and happy, you usually don't need to touch them again, but its one nasty/painful hump that the horse needs help with. Make sense?


Sorry for the length of this. I felt challenged for an explanation and felt the need to give it.