Natural Trimming Basics

I've been trimming my own horses using Pete Ramey's natural trimming methods for the last two years now, and I can honestly say that their feet have never looked better.  We're not quite to the 'gravel-crunching' level yet, but I think we're getting there.

I know a lot of people are becoming more interested in all things 'natural', including the natural trim.  I think there are even some farriers out there who've jumped on the natural trimming bandwagon, even though they know very little about it.  To me, if you are truly a natural trimmer, you don't shoe horses as well. . .  One farrier even told my husband (who also went to farrier school) that he just tells people he does the natural trim and that gets him business.  If you're an owner and you haven't done the research yourself, you'd probably have no way of knowing.

I am by no means a natural trimming expert, but I have studied the method quite a bit and trim at least one horse a week.  For those that want to learn to trim their own horses or just want to know what a natural trim looks like, I wanted to share the basics.  This is by no means a detailed tutorial on natural trimming.  I highly recommend Pete Ramey's book, Making Natural Hoofcare Work for You or his dvd series, Under the Horse to learn more about it.  His website is a great place to start, too.

Before you ever attempt to trim, you should study a diagram of the inner structures of the foot.  The natural trim uses the coffin bone's shape and placement in the hoof capsule as a guide.  You should understand how to gauge the coffin bone's position before ever laying a tool to the hoof.  With that said, here are the natural trimming basics:

1.  Place horse on a level surface and note any imbalances or flares.  Note if the horse leans forward (sign of heel pain) or leans back (sign of toe pain).

2.  Use the sole callous as a visual guide for trimming .  Never pare or rasp into live sole, but do scrape away dead sole with your hoof knife.  It is usually powdery or flakes off easily.  Pay close attention to scraping away dead, chalky sole in the seats of corn (V between bars and wall near heels)--it tends to build up there.

3.  Trim the hoof wall so that it stands 1/16 inch above the sole.  Trim it just slightly shorter in the quarters (so that a credit card could fit under that area if the horse were standing on a flat surface).

4.  Trim the heels at the level of the wall, but never trim long heels drastically in one trimming.  You may need to work your way down in several trimmings.  (Yes, we actually want low heels!)

5.  Trim the bars level with the heels.  If the bars have been neglected, they may be folded over and run over part of the sole.  You may have to carefully trim them back with your hoof knife. 

6.  If the frog has any loose flaps, you can cut those away.  I tend to leave the frog alone for the most part though.

7.  From the outside of the hoof (usually with a hoof stand), rasp flares on the lower 1/3 of the hoof flat.  You want the lower 1/3 of the hoof to eventally be at the same angle as the hoof growing down from the coronary band. 

8. Finish off with the 'mustang roll'--a round beveling of the wall all the way around the hoof (except heels).  Using my rasp, I start the mustag roll from the bottom of the hoof, but then finish from the top using my hoof stand. 

9.  Inspect the hooves again while the horse is standing on a level surface to make sure hooves are balanced. 


And those are the basics!  Of course, I've left way more out than I've included here, but that's why there are books and dvds and entire websites dedicated to the natural trim.  Hopefully this will give you some insight though.  And if I can trim my horses, you can too.  Knowledge is more important than brawn here!

Ta-ta!