Barefoot Trimming Photos

Below are some barefoot trimming photo’s showing before and after pictures of hooves that we have trimmed.

For this site to be complete their needs to be plenty of pictures of our barefoot hooves showing our hoof trimming and how we trim them. I will continually be adding them to this page.

I aim to keep this material as simple as possible, so you can see what sound barefoot hooves should look like and so help you to understand what a barefoot trim is all about.

Contents

Hooves in Need of Trimming – Thoroughbred Mare (Tickle) Hooves Before & After Trimming – Thoroughbred Gelding (Andy) Hooves Before & After Trimming – Coloured Mare (Tigerlily) Conclusion

Hooves in Need of Trimming – Thoroughbred Mare (Tickle)

Below are pictures of a hooves from our thoroughbred mare, Tickle, who is in foal.

She was sent off to stud barefoot, her hooves were in good shape and had been trimmed by myself for two years plus.

What is interesting to see here is the terrible condition they were in when she came home. This damage occurred over a period of 7 months. Her feet would have had regular pasture trims done by a farrier while she was away.

See further down the page for more detailed information.

From the pictures you can see her hooves are far too long and are badly flared and the hoof wall badly split.

When you create a mustang roll, (which acts like a bevel that is put on work tops etc) this prevents the outside wall from splitting and the ensuing cracks that can then occur, as seen so clearly here in the photo’s below.

In the above picture you can see the hoof on the right as you are looking at it (i.e. her near fore) as it was before I had touched it. Notice the splitting of the hoof wall and the long toe and flared walls.

The hoof on the left as you are looking at it (i.e. her off fore) is after she has had her first hoof trimming session with me once she came home. You can see the beginnings of the mustang roll.

Above is a more detailed picture of one of her front hooves before being trimmed. Notice the splits and flaring and the big chunk missing on the right (as you are looking at the hoof.)

Above is a more detailed picture of her off fore after I have done a first trim. It will take a few weeks of hoof trimming for me to be able to get these hooves back in order again. But notice already how after just one trim the hoof is looking better, more compact and balanced and the stress on the outer hoof wall has already been relieved by backing the toe and outer walls and applying a mustang roll.

Above is a picture of the underside of one of her near fore hooves. Notice the splayed inner and outer walls which are creating a lever force on the hoof which then stretches the white line. Before this picture was taken I had just started trimming the bars which were too long. The whole hoof just looks a mess.

How I Trim

I do all our hoof trimming with power tools. They make it possible for me to trim hooves in this condition very efficiently and in over half the time than it would take me using a rasp and hoof knives.

Hooves in Need of Trimming – Thoroughbred Gelding (Andy)

Below are pictures of a thoroughbred gelding we have transitioned.

He had a tremendous amount of flaring on his hinds and was very lame in his right hind with inflammation around the spavin. He took us approximately 18 months of hoof trimming before he became fully sound.

The main area we had to address was his hind hooves which were badly out of balance and this was then having a knock on effect resulting in inflammation around his hock.(In addition to his physical symptoms this also showed up with thermographic imaging.)

Once we started to address the imbalance in his hind hooves the lameness and inflammation in his hock improved and he is now 100% sound and is hunting barefoot.

(The pictures below are after he was rehabilitated, i.e. once he was sound.)

The above picture shows his hoof before his 5 weekly trim.

Notice the flaring that is beginning to show on the inside of his near fore. Notice also the length of his toe, it is just beginning to get too long.

The above picture shows his hoof after I have trimmed it.

Notice the mustang roll and how the hoof is looking more compact and shorter. The flaring that was beginning to show in the previous picture has now gone.

The above picture is of the underside of his hoof, before I have trimmed it. It is good but is is just beginning to need a tidy up trim. You can see the bars and outer wall edge, nothing extreme, but ready for his 5 weekly trim.

Above is a picture showing the underside of the hoof after hoof trimming it. It is just tighter and another way of describing the trimming of these hooves is it is like tiding them up. The bars have been trimmed, we have taken the heels down a little, we have tidied up the frog and put a mustang roll on.

The above picture is a side view after the hoof has just been trimmed. Notice the height of the heels and length of toe and mustang roll.

It is worth remembering that the reason we have to trim the hooves is that the horse does not cover enough ground to wear the hooves down naturally.

(Even after several hours in the saddle when hunting we are still hoof trimming their hooves on a regular basis.)

Hooves Before & After Trimming – Coloured Mare (Tigerlily)

Above is a picture showing a hoof before its 5 weekly trim. If you look at this picture and the one below you should be able to see the difference.

Above is a picture showing the hoof after I have given it it’s 5 weekly trim. From this angle you maybe able to see how the toe has been backed and shortened and the mustang roll now is quite visible.

The beginning of what would become flaring of the outer wall, (you can see this if you look at the sides of the first hoof picture before I trimmed it) if left to continue to grow has now gone. Letting the outer wall to grow to long becomes a lever force on the whole hoof and creates stress on the hoof. This shows as white line separation.

Above is a picture showing the side view of the hoof before I have trimmed it. You can see the beginning of the wall on this side view picture is just beginning to get too long and the mustang roll is not visible.

There is also no scoop visible at all.

Above is a picture showing the side view of the hoof after I have trimmed it. The mustang roll is now visible, the wall is shorter and although not very clear you can just about see the scoop.

The is still needing to develop further on these hooves.

Above is a picture showing the underside of the hoof before I have trimmed it. The bars are beginning to show and the heels are needing to be trimmed.

It is not easy to see the growth that has occurred in the walls, but if you were to run your fingers over the walls there would be quite a lip.

Above is a picture showing the underside of the hoof after I have trimmed it. It is just tighter and another way of describing the trimming of these hooves is it is like tiding them up. The bars have been trimmed, the heels taken down and we have tidied up the frog and trimmed back the outer walls, in other words we have tightened up the whole hoof outer wall structure with our trimming.

I hope you can see this. We have also removed any old and chalky material from the sole especially around the frog sole junction.

Conclusion

It took me many, many hours of studying books and literature on hoof trimming in order to fully grasp how to trim our horses hooves. Throughout this time we had some very challenging times with trying to really grasp the art of trimming our hooves and achieving sound barefoot horses. Working from black and white photographs in books I also found very difficult.

Then the next challenge was to trim them without getting exhausted, I am fit and strong but I am not a muscle man either!

Our horses also needed to learn the art of behaving and standing still, while I gingerly worked my rasp and kept my cool…..’emotionally fit,’ became a necessity to incorporate with my hoof trimming and so yet another skill, which needed to be learnt along the way.

In order to do this, I had to learn to work within my 80% training ability otherwise it became extremely challenging.

However the rewards now, from learning the art of barefoot hoof trimming has been so immensely worthwhile. Using power tools finally completed the picture and changed our trimming work here dramatically, making it so much easier, quicker, efficient and therefore enjoyable.

With any work if you have good tools the work becomes so much easier and power tools (for me,) are like driving a Rolls Royce, rather than a clapped out mini… (no offense taken if you own a mini..!)

I will continue to add to this hoof trimming page, in order to help you see and learn what a barefoot hoof, trimmed, should look like.