EasyHoofCare is much more than trimming!
Swedish Hoof School is working with "holistic hoof care" including
environment, feeding and trimming. I don't think you can be serious about
hoof care without including all these three parts. We call our trimming
"EasyHoofCare" and it is a foundation for trimming or maybe
even a way to create a foundation for the horse to grow a healthy hoof
from. It also works as a foundation for the hoof care provider to make
individual changes and adaptations around.
The best things with EasyHoofCare are that it is:
- Non invasive.
- Enormously effective.
- Extremely easy to both teach and learn.
- Just as good and important for both shod and barefoot horses.
- Thoroughly tested by both farriers and barefoot specialists.
and it works just as good for veteran farriers and novice horse owners.
The EasyHoofCare guidelines are:
1. Trim the hoof wall parallel to the hard sole.
The goal is to have the hoof wall at the same height as the outer limit
of the hard sole but on the way there the horse might appreciate having
the hoof wall just a fraction longer. If you need to scrape the hard sole
clean to find the right height I recommend doing that with a scraper instead
of a knife since a scraper will not cut into the hard sole. Remember that
if you scrape the sole you do it for your own sake not for the horse so
be careful not to hurt the hard sole.
Trimming the hoof wall to the level of the sole might not leave the bottom
of the hoof traditionally flat but that is natural on a bare foot horse
and it is necessary for getting an even load on the hoof wall when the
hoof is loaded. (This is a problem shoers have to deal with.)
The bars are hoof wall and should be treated as such. This means that
they are supposed to be trimmed to the level of the closest part of the
sole.
2. Frog trimming.
If the front 3/5 (a little more than half) of the frog is sticking out
compared to the level of the hoof wall it might be a problem for the horse
when it is on hard grounds. Check by putting you rasp across the hoof
(from side to side). If the frog is touching the rasp it might need to
be trimmed down to be passive to the rasp. The rear 2/5 of the frog is
supposed to stick outside the level of the hoof wall to get the ground
contact that it so desperately needs. Trim this part of the frog as little
as possible.
3. Leave the same amount of material outside the sole all the
way around the hoof.
When looking at the hoof from the sole side the length from the outer
limit of the sole to the outer limit of the hoof should be the same al
the way around. Measure the thickness of the white line plus the thickness
of the hoof wall somewhere at the quarters (the back part) of the hoof
where everything looks good and healthy and trim the toe to the same length.
If the white line in the toe region is stretched and longer than the sound
white line plus the hoof wall at the quarters it is of no problem to horse
that you trim away the entire hoof wall and a part of the stretched white
line as long as you do it perpendicular to the sole level.
4. Round all sharp edges.
My experience is that different horses need different thickness of the
hoof wall at ground level so you will have to test how much your barefoot
horse wants you to round the hoof wall. (If the horse is to be shod you
naturally don't round the edge.)
If the bars are tilted or very large, or the hoof is asymmetric or flared,
the bars need special attention. It is fairly easy to learn how to trim
deformed bars but you really need to practice under supervision since
it is just as easy to do wrong (and then nothing works) as it is to do
right. (Under articles you can find an article about asymmetrical and
flared hooves that will describe the theory of trimming bars.)
Trained professionals can cure almost every hoof disease there is with
EasyHoofCare as their foundation and private horse owners can easily help
their horses to maintain healthy hooves with Easy Hoof Care.
EasyHoofCare might very well be the easiest way to do right.
The corner stones of EasyHoofCare are:
- All hooves should be protected in exactly the way they need at every
single moment.
- No man can create a perfect hoof. Our work is simply to help the horse
to grow a healthy hoof.
- Every single hoof is unique and has its own natural shape. (That's why
you can't have any fixed measurements.)
- Man has no right to have an opinion about what hooves should look like.
- Hoof shape is dynamic and changes over time and health status.
- You are never ever allowed to trim the hard sole.
- The bars are hoof wall and must be trimmed us such.
- Eating habits are just as important as trimming when it comes to sound
hooves.
I do believe that deshoeing and rehabilitation of pathological hooves
should be done by professionals.
