# Hoof trimming



## Warped (Jun 15, 2009)

I'm wondering for all you that have donkeys,if you trim their hooves yourself or do you have a farrier come out and do it?

I've been reading up on how to properly trim their hooves and my cousin said he'd show me how to trim them myself.

But i was just wondering how many of you do it yourself?


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## Countrymom (Jun 15, 2009)

I do not have a donkey - or have ever had one, but I do have minis, ponies and horses.  I have been known to trim hooves when it is impossible to get a farrier out here.  My main problem isn't the balance or angle of the hooves, but my back just can't take it.  I also believe it is our job to teach our animals to stand for the farrier and with babies I especially like to do them the first few times.  I have also had times when my main farrier is out of town and had a fill in that wouldn't do the ponies.  So I do the ponies.  You would be best off to consult your farrier on this before you attempt it.  Some farriers are happy to show you especially when they are animals they do not care to work with.  I have been blessed with one that really likes the fact I wanted to train each of my babies to stand for it and he taught me.  I would also suggest using a file instead of nippers.  Keeping a hoof filed on a bi weekly basis goes a long way without the possiblitiy of a lot of damage by a newbie.


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## Farrier! (Jun 15, 2009)

I do not think I count.....   

But..my best clients are the ones who have been under a critter themselves.....  

I had one client who took on a herd of donkeys with the worst feet i had ever seen. I worked on them for 12 months to get them "normal" as he did a mail order trimming course. He has been doing the feet now for years.
He is also the only one in 30 years that kept doing feet themselves.

Lots of good and unluckily bad information out there. Use a lot of common sense and go for it!


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## Chickerdoodle13 (Jun 15, 2009)

My dad is looking to learn how to do foot trimmings himself. I told him to get a book, do some research and talk to others about it. My biggest worry is doing something wrong and hurting the horse! However, we have two horses who are not shoed and for the money the farrier charges to come out and trim, it would be so much less for us to just learn how to do it ourselves. We still have the farrier out to shoe our two older guys (One who has a cracked hoof in the back) and he really is wonderful. Its just so darned expensive!

I've heard both good and bad things about self trimming. I guess if you can do the right research, you would be fine to do it yourself.


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## farmy (Jun 15, 2009)

our farrier always sees our burros. Its just easier... those 4 girls can be a little sassy so I would prefer someone very experienced be under them... I think mostly it will depend on your comfort level.


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## Bronco Hollow (Jun 16, 2009)

All I can say is I wouldn't even try to do our horses feet.  A good farrier is worth their weight in gold and treated like family at our ranch.    Its just part of horse ownership to have a farrier do our work.


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## Farrier! (Jun 16, 2009)

Bronco Hollow said:
			
		

> All I can say is I wouldn't even try to do our horses feet.  A good farrier is worth their weight in gold and treated like family at our ranch.    Its just part of horse ownership to have a farrier do our work.


But some people will never believe this unless they crawl under some horses themselves. 
I know lots and lots of people who can trim but gladly pay to have it done....


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## nightshade (Jun 16, 2009)

we have 4 horses. 3 of which are rescues. I trim all of them myself as and also do all of our goats feet as well. But those are a totally different ball game. I feel very comfortable doing them myself having farrier friends  teach me how to do it. I do have one though that I would much rather call the neighbor to come over and take care of. She had sled feet when we got her. She had just been trimmed but her hooves were still a good 6 inches too long and badly curved. I have had some one show me how to reshape them properly but I still worry about them being right so eventually they not only look like a normal hoof but also will be as stable as a normal hoof. So I still have some one come take a look at them every two or three cuttings to make sure that I am still doing what I need to be doing not making them worse.


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## mully (Jun 16, 2009)

I do my own trimming on the mini donkeys. I keep up with it regularly and it makes it easy, on me and them.  Try it one hoof at a time so that at first it is not too stressful.


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## wynedot55 (Jun 16, 2009)

its ok to trimm your horses an donks feet as long as they dont lay done on you.i had this 16 hand saddle/TB gelding.an he would lay on the farrier as soon as he picked up his hind feet.needless to say i was never there when he would trim his feet.we would leave him an pick him up later that day.


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## Farrier! (Jun 16, 2009)

wynedot55 said:
			
		

> its ok to trimm your horses an donks feet as long as they dont lay done on you.i had this 16 hand saddle/TB gelding.an he would lay on the farrier as soon as he picked up his hind feet.needless to say i was never there when he would trim his feet.we would leave him an pick him up later that day.


Why????'
This is a training issue or a horse that is in pain. Why would you leave the horse with someone to have who knows what happen to it?


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## wynedot55 (Jun 16, 2009)

this was 25yrs ago.an yes we knew what the ferrier would do.an i had just bought the horse.


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## Chickerdoodle13 (Jun 17, 2009)

My mare has long front hooves right now that really need to be done. Luckily her back hooves are an ok length, as she's not quite ready to be seen by the farrier for the backs. We've gotten to the point where she'll let us pick them up, but she won't hold up her feet yet. Its not the farriers job to train our horses for us, so I won't let those feet be touch until she's trained well! Luckily she's great with the front feet, so I can get those done.

I don't think I would ever get into shoeing a horse myself, but perhaps trimming. Around here its like taboo to trim your own horses' feet. I'm not really sure why. I'm glad to hear there are others out there who do their own horses though! But as someone else mentioned, a good farrier is definitely worth their weight in gold!


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## Warped (Jun 17, 2009)

The guy we're buying the pony from gave me the number to his farrier that he uses to trim his horse,pony and donkeys hooves. 
He charges $15 each animal and comes right to your house. He said he's great with the animals and the pony does well with him. So i think until i can grasp how to do it myself,we'll be using him.


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## Chickerdoodle13 (Jun 17, 2009)

Wow! $15 an anaiml is awesome! For shoeing and trimming here we pay $125 an animal. I'm not sure how much trimming alone will be though. Our farrier is coming out tomorrow.


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## wynedot55 (Jun 17, 2009)

last i heard around here trimming a horses hooves was $60 a hd.


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## Countrymom (Jun 17, 2009)

Going rate for trimming in south Texas is $35 and shoes run anywhere from $65 to $100.  I pay $75 each.  And like I have said before, not every farrier does a pony.  Just found anew one to work with who does a wonderful job of corrective work.  One of our cutters needs some special work to keep him straight.


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## Bronco Hollow (Jun 17, 2009)

Mules and donks are trimmed differently from horses, just thought I would point that out... 

farrier, words of wisdom you speak.


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## sterlng&sierra (Jun 19, 2009)

I would definately use a farrier worth his salt. Yes, they can be expensive, but if you screw up and the horse/donkey goes lame, you will need the much more expensive corrective farrier work. Of course, you need to spot the good farriers from the bad. One farrier told us our donkey had laminitis...oddly, the donkey was not lame before that farrier worked on him...you can guess how quickly that farrier left! 

Other than that, we've had pretty good luck with our farriers and our donkey. Just watch carefully for any signs of lameness or issues with the hoof shape. If the animal goes lame AFTER the farrier leaves, and the hoof is not abcessed, bruised, etc, time to rethink your choice of farrier.


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## Oklabarrelracer (Aug 9, 2009)

My hubby trims our weanlings starting at 3 months so they will be mannered when it's time for a farrier "if I haven't sold them by the time they are ready to start under saddle"  Hubby also trims our mom mares. But for my barrel horse's, the farrier does the natural trim. Not that I don't trust hubby, but he has a 60 hour work week "firefighter" & he is afraid of doing something wrong & soreing my competition horse's. I LOVE the natural trim & my barrel horse's run great & handle the ground better than when they were shod. I agree with another poster that a good farrier is worth their weight in gold. I have had both bad & terrible but I VERY gratefull for my farrier now as he keeps my horse's feet sound.
  Just information but I have found that ground flax seed is wonderfull for the health of your horses feet.I give my horse's 1/2 cup in their grain once daily. My horse's feet are healthy & no cracks. Flax seed is inexpensive & lasts a long time.


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## lupinfarm (Aug 9, 2009)

Don't all farriers come out to your house? ... Here they do lol. We pay $25.00 to have Luna's feet trimmed, she doesn't have shoes on.


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