Lady doesn’t go lame very often – she’s got pretty tough hooves and has stayed sound in the pasture for the last few years without any maintenance. But once I started getting back into the riding groove, it was obvious that she would need some work. If her toes get too long, she starts compensating by getting short strided with her hind feet and then her back gets sore – its a problem I wish I had worked out years ago because she’s always had that persistent back soreness that I always chocked up to saddle fit/riding/everything else. Nope – comes directly from those hind feet. Face palm. I feel like a terrible horse owner. Ah well.

The problem is that good hoof professionals are hard to come by in this area. My vet recommended a guy that does good barefoot trims and I trust his recommendation, but said guy rarely comes to my specific area and I just don’t have the time, resources, or ability to haul out every 6 weeks for a trim. I just can’t do it.

So instead of trying to sift through the other random people in the area, I decided to go back to doing the job myself. I know I’m not a professional, but I know my horse, I’ve done a lot of research into technique and hoof health, and I prefer the hands-on approach anyways. So I ordered the tools I needed and got to work. That was about a month ago.

I’m pretty proud to say that while Lady’s hooves are not perfect by any means and they certainly don’t have that pretty polished look that a professional trimmer might give her, she’s 100% sound, even on gravel, we haven’t had any back issues, and she’s moving better than I’ve seen her go in a long time.

My biggest issue has been the fact that I’m extremely right handed. Rasping on one side is fairly easy and I can get it done without much trouble. The other side feels super awkward and weird and it takes much longer to get the same job done. Thank goodness for calm, patient horses. And fly spray. Lots and lots of fly spray.

Its definitely an exhausting task and Lady’s hooves grow quite fast, but I already ordered this fancy little tool to help keep them up on a regular basis, which will cut down on the times that she’ll need a full blown trim. I’ll probably be able to get out the big tools every 6-8 weeks and just check up on things while maintaining them every week with smaller tools. As long as I take the time to do it before or after rides, it’ll all work out great!