Steps to Trimming

The steps to trimming are not just one cookie cutter recipe to trim every foot. Each individual horse as well as each hoof on the horse need to be addressed as the situation presents itself. No horse is the same and not every hoof will need the same style of trim. The major basic rules of applying the barefoot trim exist such as:

• Keeping heels low
• The sole is sacred and should be left alone as much as possible. Carving concavaty into the hoof does not accomplish anything. Removing false sole or toe calous before it is ready is detrimental to achieving rock crunching hooves.
• The toe should be brought back and rolled to give the hoof the proper break over
• The quarters should be relieved to allow for correct hoof flexion
• The frog should not be trimmed except the tattered edges to clean it up. Trimming the frog back at the heels is like taking away a calous on your hand and leaves the area sore and tender.
• The outer wall should be rolled so that the horse’s hoof resembles a cup and acts as a shock absorber.
• The entire foot should be working as a whole, working as a pump, allowing all parts to move as God intended, as a perfectly designed machine. 

The first step to trimming is to evaluate the hoof first by picking out the loose material out of the collateral grooves beside the frog and finding heel height. Notice what the foot looks like and what it needs to have done to ensure proper hoof mechanism.

The next step is to place the hoof on the hoof stand and begin by removing the flares by rasping the lower 1/4th-1/2 inch of the wall; filing until the live horn starts sticking to the hoof. Continue around the entire wall of the hoof by rasping from the top. Do not remove anything higher than the very lower part of the hoof. Weakening of the wall will happen. Trimming from the top does not rasp the entire outer hoof wall....just the lower part. And it is not just taking the toes back but actually starting the roll before the bottom of the hoof is ever addressed.

Here is a link to Kim Cassidy's YouTube video of trimming from the top (TFTT). Linda Cowles has them listed under FAVORITE YOUTUBE BAREFOOT VIDEO'S, you will find them on the left side of her page towards the bottom.

Next address the bottom of the hoof by looking at the solar view. Trim the heels down by laying the rasp across the heels and sliding it away from the back of the hoof while removing small layers until the live material at the “seat of the corn” is visible. As this is accomplished, the frog will also become closer to ground contact. This is key in providing the horse with a comfortable heel first landing. I rasp across the toe area just to balance out the foot but I do not make the walls even with the level of the sole. There should be a slight amount of wall (1/16th) that is taller than the sole. I am not trimming the bottom of the hoof flat at all.

I address the quarter relief also at this time by rasping the quarters a slight bit more than the heel and toe areas. I also look to make sure I have addressed any flares that may have been rasped from the top to make sure they’ve been taken out of ground contact.  Sight the balance of the heels by looking down from the back of the hoof to the ground and visually seeing that the heels are the same height as well as making sure the rest of the hoof is level and balanced.

Next I put the foot back up on the hoof stand post and continue applying the mustang roll and rounding the edge of the hoof wall back until the shavings start to stick. My roll is somewhat aggressive but does not go very far up the hoof. It comes just right back to the white line but does not invade it. I use the fine side of the rasp and tidy up the edges. I look to see that the foot is balanced sighting down the top of the hoof seeing that you have a nice round shape. I have found that by doing most of the trim from the top and having the foot tell me (shavings starting to stick) that is where the hoof needs to be at that time. I have found through experimentation that by trimming the majority of the hoof from the top instead of from the solar view that the mustang roll stays longer and the foot stays more balanced.