Nippers for those of us w/out Popeye forearms?

becdubie · Nippers for those of us w/out Popeye forearms?

Hey has anyone found a good pair of nippers that a weakling can use?

My horses have gotten so patient for me but I just can't work the nippers, no matter what...they are brand new and no matter how hard I squeeze them I can't cut through any of my horses hooves... 12" Diamond nippers.
It takes two of us, my husband nips while I hold, then after he nips, I can go about the busines or rasping. But sometimes he is not here to help me.

All our horses have good quality walls an we live in a dry climate so they get hard as rocks!!!!!

Playenatural

Soak the feet for a bit before trimming and get a hoof cradle. I love my Hoof Jack couldn't do the job without it. We use to do the two person trim too. LOL

ElaineC

Longer nippers will help as well. I have a pair of 14" Diamond track nippers I use for ponies and smaller horses, and couldn't believe the difference when I bought 15" GE nippers. Much more leverage, though because the track nippers have a narrower head, they still slice through pretty well.

appellativo

there was a post on the savvy club forum about some nippers that had a certain design where you could get more leverage. Maybe someone who is still a SC member could do a search?? I wish I'd saved the info....

Also, Diamond is not one of the better brands, but even still you should be able to get the job done. If not, send them to someone for a nipper rebuild (they will sharpen them possibly with improved results??) or you can rent Pete Ramey's tools of the trade video and try sharpening them yourself...

jokersmama

I did a search on compound nippers and found these...

http://budnippers.com/

They have a set here too...

http://www.wigginsinc.com/Hoof%20Care.htm

Another one...

http://www.enasco.com/product/C07828N?ref=rel_item

WOW check these out!

http://www.hooftrimmer.org/

toreolau

Trim more often.
You'll get stronger

becdubie

Thanks for the tips...
They definately are easier to trim after it rains.
Wish I could afford the budnippers, has anyone tried them? Are they worth the price? I did order a pair of those compound nippers, they were super heavy and even harder to deal with. We sent them back.

Question about trimming more often, currently we take care of them about every 4 weeks, we were at one time rasping them down every week until we were told tht only makes their hoofs grow unnaturally fast!!!! What about that? Anyone ?

appellativo

the more wear the horse experiences, the faster they'll grow. If you never want to trim your horse, don't but dont complain about the quality of their hooves (guffaw, snort!)

Seriously though, a horse will produce crappy brittle hoof horn as a result (for one reason anyways) of not getting ENOUGH stimulation and wear. So keep that in mind when you're complaining about wear and hoof growth.

I say do a little touchup every few days to a week. they're gonna grow. Theyre supposed to grow! Theyre also supposed to get worn. If we have to help them along because they're not living the lifestyle their genes built them to do, it's just something we have to deal with!

becdubie

Nope, no complaints here...I love that they have strong healthy hooves...
Just looking for the path of least resistance.....

Chablis

I have the 15" GE nippers and love them. I only use my nippers in summer when the hooves are rock hard and growing really fast.

I'm not very strong and have found the 15'' GE nippers (they have thinnish handles so easy to grasp) really good but you need to remember to re-sharpen them.

Nashama

A tidy every 2 weeks is the current education here in Australia, with the pro trimmer coming to check and balance every 8 weeks if you are unlucky. Glen has his committed barefoot clients on a 4 week rotation, so the owners that do trim are tidying every 4 weeks between his trims.

Can't help on nippers, mine are yet to make a cut (I have Glen for that!). Glen has Diamond brand.

Moonmare

I have the Budnippers. I prefer my 15" GE nippers. The Budnippers are somewhat awkward to handle and I'm not sure they make a huge leverage difference. I was trimming two sets of draft hooves that were tougher than concrete and I hoped the Budnippers would help. They are a bit of an improvement when going through concrete toes, but I'm not sure the loss of finesse is worth it.

sebocat

I have the buds nippers also, and agree they are a bit awkward to handle. The jaws of the nippers don't open wide enough for me to get an even bite when I have more to trim, so I have to go with smaller cuts. The blades come off for sharpening, which I like, but they loosen on thier own and take a lot of maintenance. I bought them to help with leverage so I could trim my draft. His hoof walls are amazingly thick and strong.

My farrier friend showed my his GE nippers with a longer handle, and they actually worked better than the buds.

I think that the sharper edge of the GE nippers had a lot to do with it. He had just sharpened the nippers.

In the end, with my draft, its just easier to go out every couple of weeks and get him with a rasp. Of course....with my work schedule lately, it doesn't happen as often as I hoped, but rasping more frequently is a lot less work than trimming less often. Also keeps the hoof form more consistant.

PasoBaby_CarolU

I bought a set of bud nippers on the recommendation of a friend who trims. They do cut easily, like through butter, but that can be dangerous if you aren't careful. They are too heavy to use for me though...still require two hands and are quite awkward, sit idly here at great expense.

With tendinitis in my elbow, the only hoof solution I have found is my farrier.