Archive for It's About The Horse The Free Forum for those Doing Parelli - and a whole lot More! "Anything forced and misunderstood can never be beautiful." Xenophon (430-355 B.C.),
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Pyrgirl
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Are mini hoofs different?I've been trimming my minis ever since I got them and have been doing it the same as with my big horse. I learned mostly from Pete Ramey and Jamie Jackson materials at the beginning and now have incorporated advice for friends and from this forum. Recently I saw a DVD for sale that is supposed to tell you about how the minis should be trimmed and seems to imply that you trim them differently. That doesn't make sense to me but I've been wondering about it for a few months and thought I'd ask here.
The DVD supposedly also tells you to trim differently for different activities - a trim for a driving horse will be different than a trim for an in-hand horse, etc. etc. Do people trim the full sized horses differently depending upon "occupation"? It seems like I remember hearing that some gaited horses are trimmed differently to enhance the gaits?
Just questions from my curiousity.
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Newfman
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My opinion (for what it is worth), a Mini Horse, is a 'miniature' horse. Take the 'mini' out and you have ...horse. So, I think the logical side of your brain is intact. You just have to convince yourself to listen to it.
There is one correct way to 'barefoot' trim for
natural hoof trimming". The parameters are established based on the wild horses hoof that populate territories that a wild horse was intended to roam. These territories are based on archeological studies of ranges where they were found thousands of years ago...before we ate them all. So it isn't based upon the wild horses of Big Cumberland Island, Georgia, or Chincoteague etc., etc. That being said, trimming in ways outside of those parameters becomes...un-natural hoof trimming. Some of it is nothing less than a fad, and some is actually injurious to the horse.
Gated horses are typically both trimmed and or shod, to enhance their gate. The same goes with Draft horses in halter class and show hitch. Just that statement alone should indicate that when we 'choose' to do this, we are doing something un-natural to 'enhance' or, more appropriately, bastardize the natural movement of the horse for our own pleasure. Ultimately, practice lends itself to shortening the useful life of the horse, so that it ends up being dumped for a newer sounder animal, only for the sequence of events to start all over again. Many of these horses become...food.
Sometimes I think people like you, have these little voices in their heads at a time in their life when they can be easily influenced in to accepting a practice that is detrimental for a variety of reasons. Unlike you, too many of them don't question it. So, Pygirl...you can chalk a point up for the horses side. And thank you.
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Pyrgirl
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hey newfman, I've been missing you!
Thanks for the post. I'll just keep trimming my ponies the way I've always done it then. They seem happy enough about it.
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Yes_But_Neigh
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Pyrgirl your little mini in your avatar is so cute! Reminds me of a little mini I had named Biscuit, same color too. How do you keep from rasping your fingers when you do their feet?
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Pyrgirl
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| Yes_But_Neigh wrote: | | Pyrgirl your little mini in your avatar is so cute! Reminds me of a little mini I had named Biscuit, same color too. How do you keep from rasping your fingers when you do their feet? |
LOL. That's easy. Gloves. Never ever ever do it without gloves. Learned the hard way.
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Yes_But_Neigh
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That makes sense! Our farrier at the time kept wiping the blood from her fingers on Biscuit's mane thinking we wouldn't see it 
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Autumn
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Thank you!
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ElaineC
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I trim my draft horse's feet the same way I trim any other horse's feet - to the foot. I get compliments on how nice his feet are, which make me very happy  I also trim several minis, and same thing, I trim to their foot. So far, they are all happy, sound, and their owners are happy too.
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Pyrgirl
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| ElaineC wrote: | | I trim my draft horse's feet the same way I trim any other horse's feet - to the foot. I get compliments on how nice his feet are, which make me very happy I also trim several minis, and same thing, I trim to their foot. So far, they are all happy, sound, and their owners are happy too. |
Glad to read this post, too. Common sense. Trim to the foot.
Thanks so much! I think I've been doing that, too.
BTW, does anyone else have this reaction:
When I see a well-trimmed and balanced hoof, I think "How beautiful!" I like looking at my horses' feet when they are newly trimmed and balanced. I watch them every day when we are working on getting something better and especially when we are growing something into better position. I didn't trim my babies for 3 months due to an accident and one foot on one horse is still out of whack, but we can't really fix it completely until the flare is grown out and the new area is completely grown in. I watch that hoof like a hawk and will often trim just a swipe here or a swipe there with the rasp to keep things moving in the right direction. Maybe I'm OCD about it! I like looking at other horse's feet and thinking about how I would handle them and wondering what would make things better. Maybe I've missed my calling!!!!
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Autumn
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| Pyrgirl wrote: | | ElaineC wrote: | | I trim my draft horse's feet the same way I trim any other horse's feet - to the foot. I get compliments on how nice his feet are, which make me very happy I also trim several minis, and same thing, I trim to their foot. So far, they are all happy, sound, and their owners are happy too. |
Glad to read this post, too. Common sense. Trim to the foot.
Thanks so much! I think I've been doing that, too.
BTW, does anyone else have this reaction:
When I see a well-trimmed and balanced hoof, I think "How beautiful!" I like looking at my horses' feet when they are newly trimmed and balanced. I watch them every day when we are working on getting something better and especially when we are growing something into better position. I didn't trim my babies for 3 months due to an accident and one foot on one horse is still out of whack, but we can't really fix it completely until the flare is grown out and the new area is completely grown in. I watch that hoof like a hawk and will often trim just a swipe here or a swipe there with the rasp to keep things moving in the right direction. Maybe I'm OCD about it! I like looking at other horse's feet and thinking about how I would handle them and wondering what would make things better. Maybe I've missed my calling!!!! |
All the time. I look at hooves and think, "What would I do wth that?"
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ElaineC
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I went out to work with Cappy the other night, and said to the BO her feet look like crap, I need to take care of those. He's convinced I'm joking :\ I'm a foot fairy, through and through!
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appellativo
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its never too late to follow your calling (jabs you in the side) :D
Its not just you. I love to look at a nicely trimmed hoof. And I loathe those pictures in horse magazines advertising hoof dressings....on a chipped, overdue-for-a shoeing/trim, flared, long-toed NASTY looking hoof! I actually started to called one time to complain...then thought the better of it.
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