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welcome to trimming horse homes for
beginners my name is Becky and I'm so
happy you're interested in learning how
to trim horse hooves this video is for
people who are learning to be farriers
or do-it-yourselfers like me when I was
a beginner I had lots of questions what
are all the parts of a hoof what tools
do I need how do I know where to trim
and more importantly where not to trim
how do I know if I did it right this is
the video I wish I had when I was a hoof
trimming beginner I'll be guiding you
every step of the way from being a total
beginner to being able to trim horse
hooves for yourself or others let's get
started here here's the bottom of a hoof
I'm going to show you the different
parts of it right here is the heel it's
the back of the heel and this part is
soft
there's no hoof wall on here it's just
flesh and it's usually kind of gray in
color and this you know this will hurt
the horse if you cut it it's a problem
you have to take care of it if it steps
on a nail and it punctures this area
right here it's soft tissue you know it
bleeds and it hurts the hoof just so you
know that that's the heel it can bruise
and you know whatever you can do to soft
flesh that can get the same thing then
it goes down to this 20 piece in the
middle which looks like you know a
triangle that's the Frog and that's kind
of rubbery feeling I mean when it's
dried out and it hasn't been trimmed and
taken well care of you can't really tell
but if you were to trim it up it's
rubbery kind of spongy rubbery so that
part also if you go deep enough it can
hurt the horse and he will limp if he
steps on a nail or whatever or you cut
it too short so and then after that this
part here in the middle all this area
through here is the sole again it has
live tissue once you reach a certain
point so the dead tissue
on top and you can carve that away with
your knife when you're giving your horse
a trim you looked at you can tell it's
dead because it'll be kind of chalky and
flaky and it'll it'll come off pretty
easy and then once you get low you know
you get deep enough you get all that
dead part off it'll start feeling
rubbery as well you definitely want to
stop there because that will bleed if
you take too much of the dead soul off
so you have to be careful there's a
limit you can take it off but not too
much and then this area here is the hoof
wall and this is the part that grows out
like your fingernail it gets longer and
longer and longer and longer this is the
part we will be trimming with the
nippers and then filing with the file
this is the important part that you want
to get balanced and even this is the
back hoof of my horse when you pick up
your horse's hoof it'll probably look
similar to this
they've already cleaned out some of the
sole here you can tell it's the white
part so you look at this hoof and you're
like wow it looks like a mess what
you're hoping to have it end up looking
like is this hoof over here so you kind
of get a little intimidated because you
have to bring this horse over to what
this hoof looks like so you might not
you know you're a little nervous at
first you don't know what to trim and
where to trim so I'm gonna point it out
to you so you can tell so this is
probably similar to what your horse's
hoof will look like as you can tell
these heels are uneven right here's the
heel this is the inside of the hole it's
shorter they draw a line straight across
there it's shorter than this hoof on the
outside the heel on the outside so you
want to trim both of those because what
you're trying to do is get a balanced
symmetrical hoof in the end at least as
close as you can get so what you need to
do is trim these heels back here to the
beginning of the Frog so you don't want
to go right to this line right here
which is the absolute
back I always come forward a bit so you
know let's just say quarter inch or so
back to here and then when you do that
on both sides now here's the line you
wouldn't want to go farther than that
that is the back of the heel so you
don't want to take it that far forward
about a quarter inch and then you can
trim all this which looks like so much
off but once you do that just that is
gonna make the hoof more symmetrical
because the heels will be even also if
you look right here where I've trimmed
you can see this line not where I
trimmed where I've cleaned out the sole
you can see this line that goes all the
way around and that's where the hoof
wall which is this part which is what
you're gonna be trimming off is the
excess hoof wall you can see where the
hoof wall joins the sole and this is the
sole of the foot so this sole of the
foot once you dig it out far enough
it has feeling in it it can bleed and it
can hurt the horse if you go too far
this hoof wall right here the part
you're gonna trim off has absolutely no
feeling in it whatsoever so that's why
you can nail a shoe to a horse because
you're nailing it through the hoof wall
so you don't have to worry about
trimming the hoof wall it won't hurt the
horse at all the trick and the key is
where to stop trimming how far do you
you know go how much do you trim off so
your guide is gonna be after you clean
off the sole and you don't want to go
too deep because like I said that'll
bleed and it'll also make your horse
limp it won't walk very well so you want
to trim that out so it's white get all
the chalky part off at first it comes
off pretty easy it comes off in layers
and it's kind of chalky and you can tell
it's it's just dead and it comes off
easy so go ahead and clean that all out
and really once you start seeing the
line take your hoof knife Andrew
clean out this line right here and
you're just doing that so you have a
clear guide of where to cut that hoof
wall okay so once that's done you're
gonna take your nippers and the only
part where you're not gonna have your
line is back at the heels so that's why
I described where to cut the heels so
you want to find the very back part and
then you want to come forward if you're
a little too nervous a quarter-inch
isn't enough you can come a little
farther forward and also if you're
afraid to do it too far with the nipples
because you're not sure of yourself just
you know nip some of it off and then you
can use your file to do the rest that's
what I did in the beginning because I
just wasn't confident enough to really
start chomping away with the nippers
because I didn't want to hurt my horse
so this is the only part where you're
not really gonna have you know your line
as your guide so you know nip your heels
but make sure they're even on both sides
when you go across and I mean if you
need to get a ruler and lay it across
there to make sure they're even just go
ahead and do it just take your time and
just try to get it as even as possible
so then you're gonna take your nippers
and you're gonna nip right along this
line and once again if you're nervous
don't get great on the line you know you
can back off the line just a bit and
leave a little bit and then you can do
the rest with the file in fact I would
suggest that in the first you know few
trimmings just go ahead and leave a
little extra and you can file it bit by
bit to get close to where you need it
that way you won't make a huge mistake
like you could with the nippers and once
you do that it's it's done this hook you
can see right here
it doesn't need any trimmed off there
there's no hoof wall extra right there
so what you're gonna do is trim you know
this area you're gonna stop
you're not gonna trim that at all and
then you're gonna trim the heel so in
the end it'll all be even and this will
just flow right into the trimmed part
and
right into the trimmed heel if you look
at this foot
- this hoof wall it does look similar to
this picture here if this were all gone
and you were just looking at the line it
ends up looking similar to this fall
that's basically what you're gonna aim
for make sure your nippers are sharp and
this horse here are you know I left a
lot of hoof on it so you could see what
a hoof looks like that really needs a
trim now this is the front hoof that I
have already trimmed and what I'm trying
to show you here is how you hold the
hoof up and you look down the hoof with
the hoof hanging nicely now what you
want is this to be nice and even across
here because that's what you're trying
to get is a nice balanced
tuff you don't want this side really
long out to here maybe you know and then
this side short so it's crooked at an
angle because then your horse will be
you know standing at an angle and that
affects the bones going all the way up
through the leg and it also continues on
up the leg through the shoulder and
affects the back so you don't want your
horse to have back problems and also you
know you want to try to get the hoof
landing on the ground as flat as
possible you want the whole hoof to hit
the ground at the same time you don't
want the hoof to land on this outside
part first because that definitely gives
strain and stress up through the legs
and it affects all that and if you read
a pole can you find out how all this
hoof and leg is designed it's just
magnificent how all the little parts
work together here's another shot of the
same thing now you know it's not
absolutely perfect now if I was to
criticize my own work I would say I
could probably take a tiny bit more off
right here if I were to make this
perfectly perfectly balanced this is a
side shot of how you would hold that
hoof when you were citing it just from
you know back a couple feet so you can
really say you hold the hoof and you
want to hold it this is the pastern you
want to hold it be
behind that let the hoof just hang in a
natural position and you can you know
raise this a little bit or lower it a
little bit so you can get a shot of
straight down the hall from the heel to
the hoto a back off is a little pointy
err than a front-hall just so you know
the difference when you pick them up
because you will you will notice the
difference the back hoof is a little
pointy er a front hoof is more of a kind
of a perfect circle so just so you know
that and you know you don't try to file
that flat or file that off you know they
dig in with this little pointy part
usually and I just follow this line like
I was telling you when I trim and that's
basically the natural shape of your
horse's foot so whatever that is you
know and in the back it will make it a
little more pointy now that we've gone
over all the parts of the hooves let's
talk about the tools we'll be using
today I will be showing you the tools
you'll need to give your horse a basic
hoof trim I have a pair of nippers here
I actually have two here I just want to
show you these are like heavier they
come in different I guess weights the
metal they have different color handles
but what these are like gigantic toenail
clippers it's the part you will snip
snip snip around the hoof and trim the
hoof way so these are called hoof nips
and you'll need to buy a good pair of
hoof nips second is the big file and
after you trim the hoof with the hoof
nippers you use the file you know just
like your fingernail file after you clip
them you want to just kind of even it
off and make it look nice and smooth
that's what you use the big file for it
has a rough side and then it has a fine
side I basically just use the roughest
side when I'm doing the horse's feet
this is a hoof pick it's a very basic
grooming tool most people that have a
horse already have a hoof pick but in
case you don't know this is what you
clean the horse's hoof with before you
use your nippers and your file and then
this is called a paring knife it is a
tool that you need
to maybe pair down the horses frog a
little bit or maybe the soul but I'll
show you how you use all these tools in
just a second last but not least is this
really nice tool called the hoof Jack
and it has magnets on it and what makes
it nice is you can hook your tools on
the magnets because they stick right on
there and then the best part about the
tool is and the whole purpose of the
tool is the horse can just rest its foot
on here
and it doesn't have to hold its foot on
and it just makes it very comfortable
for the horse and it also helps me
because I don't have to hold the horse's
foot up while I work so it's a really
really handy tool and I just love the
hoof jack it really makes it easy to
trim the beat yourself if you're a
homesteader and you want to do this
chore on your own without calling a
farrier now that we've gone over the
parts of the homes we've discussed the
tools we'll be using
let's go actually trem aha this is
Minnie
she's a 22 year old standard bride and I
will be showing you how to do a hoof
trim on her and she's a good girl she's
nice and calm I'm cleaning the dirt and
the debris out of her hoof with the hoof
pick it's along the Frog like I
explained earlier the hoof pick is
pointy so it digs it out pretty easy
although the stuff is packed in there
tightly because the horse is heavy and
as it's walking it packs it down in
there so just go ahead and just dig that
out so you can see what you're doing and
then the next tool you use is the knight
and this helps you get it cleaner
because in order to trim the hook you
have to be able to see and the hoof of
all horses under here is white so you
want to get it down to the white part so
I just start cleaning like this and you
don't want to take too much off but you
want to get it down to the white part
I'm taking off the dead sole it takes a
little work to get her going at first
because it is dry but as you can see
it's kind of flaky and chalky looking at
places so it's a little work once again
part of your tools are sharp you just
keep at it and it comes off easy
okay I'm gonna point out the different
parts of the hoof
this is the wheel right here and then
it's like part of the Frog that goes
down like a piece of pie or a piece of
pizza this is like a rubbery piece of
the hook and that's how it's supposed to
be is rubbery so when you use the hoof
pick you're cleaning out a long side of
the Frog and you're getting all the dirt
because there's like little groove on
both sides of the Frog and then with the
knife I'm cleaning the sole and the dead
soul is what actually what you're
pairing off there and it's kind of
chalky so you get that off so you can
see good and usually I like to take this
part of the hoof is the horseshoe part
that looks like the horseshoe part I you
want to try to bring the heel back to
the heel so you want to cut it back
there to there and I'll show you that
now because the next 200 views are the
nippers damn'd mini this hump isn't very
long let me explain I'm just gonna be
trimming to the edge of the clean white
part that I just paired off with this
knife that's kind of the line you go by
that's why you clean it you don't want
to go too far you don't want to go past
the line you want to go just to the
white part so you know you don't want to
go too far otherwise it's like clipping
your fingernail too short
it won't kill you but it definitely
hurts you always start right here on the
edge all right I'm starting to trim and
I'm trimming off just to the white line
at first you want to just trim a small
amount so you don't go too far you can
always take a little more with your
nipper
or later on with your file so don't just
start too deep and go too far because
then you know you can't put it back once
it's on there so just take your time and
do a little each each pass
and you do the toe first and then you
get that piece off and then you go back
and you look at the heels and then you
trim the heel back to where it should be
as you can see this is like the end of
your fingernail when you clip your
fingernail
it's kind of the same idea it just comes
on right there now right now I am taking
the heels back to be even with the back
of the Frog always take into
consideration that every horse is a
little different this mirrors heels
don't go back as far as my pony's heels
do so you just want to look at each hoof
individually and then take the hoof
heels back to the back of the Frog and
the hoof is just about even with the
Frog so when it steps on the ground all
those parts touch the Frog and the hoof
wall you don't want it crooked so a
horse is walking crooked you want it
flat on the ground so it has to be
balanced one way to look at that if
you're a beginner is to grab the horse's
leg above this fall hold it
so the hoof is hanging and then look
down and that'll show you how level that
is or balanced you might want to call
see this is a little jagged and crooked
and it's just like filing your
fingernails nice after you clip them
with the Clippers basically that's what
we're doing right now just to make it
look nice
[Music]
and as you can see in the end it's a
nice round healthy foot you don't want
cracks on your horse's feet okay we've
just finished the front feet now we're
gonna come back here and do the back
feet and I'll show you how to do them
too it's basically the same although
obviously they're a little different
because the way they rest on the hoof
Jack once again I'm cleaning out this
frog and now I'm starting to pair the
sole you can trim only two feet at a
time
just remember it's two front feet or two
back feet in the beginning I was slow
and the horse got impatient so I would
do two front feet one day and the two
back feet the next day and that worked
out nicely because then the horse would
stand there in the beginning when I was
slow I'd take too long and the horse
wouldn't want to stand any longer and
she'd start to be fidgety and whatnot so
I would just have to do two front feet
one day and two back beat the next till
I got a little faster and knew what I
was doing better and then I could do all
four feet in one day
hold up behind the knee and let the foot
hang move the stuff out of the way and
look down that hoof and see if it's
balanced because that's the way you look
down the back look round okay you're
ready to go out and do it yourself happy
homesteading bye-bye
