I’ve trimmed my own horses since 2019. It has saved me thousands. That, alone, should be one reason to consider trimming your own horses, especially if you have more than one. Plus it’ll do wonders for your hamstrings, but not before you lose a gallon of sweat each time.
It was never my intention to become an amateur farrier, it was born of necessity — much like my ability to YouTube search any home repair project. It was late summer, early fall of 2019. I’d had Ransom shipped up from Texas a month or so previously. I lived in Washington State at the time. Ransom’s feet were in desperate need of a trim, long and chippy. I’d been working with Ransom every day, earning his trust and reassuring him that I was a good person who loved him and would never hurt him. Not even years later, he was being an absolute pill on an endurance ride, gyrating and flinging himself, and me by extension, up above the world so high. But that’s a story for another time. Over margaritas.
I always keep my promises to my horses even when they’re acting like spoiled toddlers with intentions to murder me.
But I digress. Lets go back to 2019. I had the farrier come out to trim Ransom’s feet, thinking he was ready for it. Since he was giving me his feet without issue. Me. Giving ME his feet. Clue number one.
Chris, the farrier, arrived. Ransom looked at him sideways as if to say “Who in the actual fuck are you?” Every time Chris went near Ransom to pick up Ransom’s feet, Ransom skittered sideways or backwards, eyes wide with fear.
I took that as a no.
Chris eventually gave up, because why wouldn’t he? It was clear my little Arabian wasn’t going to be trimmed. By Chris. Instead, Chris handed me the nippers and said “Let’s see if he lets you do it.”
I took the lead line from Chris, slid my hand down Ransom’s leg, and he raised his foot. Popped it right up.
A stranger holding his feet and inhibiting his best ability to flee danger? Oh hell no. Mom picking up his feet? Sure, go ahead. In my imagination I’d like to think Ransom gave Chris a sassy side-eye as if to say: “It’s personal. Fuck off.”
And that’s where it all began. Chris, looking over my shoulder, gave me a rudimentary lesson on what I needed to get Ransom roughly trimmed. I discovered that trimming really wasn’t that hard. At all. Keep the feet even (side to side), trim the toe, and viola.
I’ve been trimming my own horses ever since.
A brief but necessary side-note. Most farriers are overworked. They do not mind showing someone how to trim their own horses for a fee. I paid Chris as if he’d trimmed my horse even though I trimmed my horse. That was fair and it saved me thousands.
Two farriers have told me I should charge for my work. There is a farrier shortage! Many will not mind giving up a client or two if you choose to trim yourself. But please pay them for their knowledge and use of tools.
I won’t lie, it is back breaking work. I can’t imagine doing it every day. Though if shit hits the fan, this is a skill I can leverage in the event of any kind of apocalypse, be it zombie or the AI robot takeover. ChatGPT and Grok won’t be trimming horse hooves, and I’d love to see a robot try.
The money I have saved on being my own farrier is in the thousands, and it’s honestly one reason I can have so many horses. I do not foot a $350 bill every five weeks. Since 2024 I’ve also moved onto gluing on EasyCare glue-on shoes for my thoroughbred, Hondo, after hiring two different farriers to put him in shoes. The first nailed, the second did Glu-Shoes which Hondo kept ripping off. Because his toes were too long!
By far the greatest thing about knowing how to trim my own horses is I just prefer the way I do it. I bevel, bevel and then for good measure, I bevel some more. My horses feet do not crack. My trims do not cause lameness. I do not cut away sole with a pairing knife. I am a minimal trimmer, taking off what I need to for the horse’s comfort. I’m also a big fan, huge, of grinders. Only Ransom thinks it’ll murder him despite having the grinder used on him at least two trims. Now, though, murder weapon. So he’s back to a file and I’m not happy about it.
As a general FYI, toes tend to be too long. I can’t stop seeing long toes everywhere I look. It’s causing your horse problems, please fix it. I don’t know of any logical reason to keep your horse’s toes too long. Fix. It.
There are many free and paid resources online showing you how to trim a horse’s hoof. Most horses are straightforward, so don’t get stuck on the hard cases. I need to finish Daisy Bicking’s online course I paid a whopping $1500 for sometime last year. But there are other resources for less if you’re really interested in getting started.
Here are the tools I recommend (Amazon Affiliate links) to get started:
- Green Hoof Stand Plastic Base
- Metoba 18v Grinder
- Dual Sided hoof rasp (I’ve yet to find one I love, but Diamond brand is okay)
- GLOVES that are somewhat fitted that you can get at any hardware store for when you rasp or grind. I don’t know how many cuts I gave myself holding the rasp in any number of ways as I perfected my bevels. Gotta bevel. Do it with more bevel.
- Safety glasses for grinding because your eyes matter and they don’t need stinky hoof dust.
- The nippers I have I bought second hand, but I would love spring-loaded nippers for one handed work as needed. Don’t go cheap on nippers. LOOK AT ME: DO NOT GO CHEAP.
You’ll get the cost back on all of this in a few trims, especially if you have multiple horses.
I wish I’d known about Well-Shod years ago. So now I’m passing it onto you.
More about my horses: