The trim is the foundation to what every farrier wants to accomplish with a sound horse — keep the horse that way. Get the trim wrong, and everything else done afterward in the shoeing process becomes compromised.

The rare or random misinterpretation that might generate problems in the foot’s reaction should not indict one’s trimming methodology. However, if intermittent becomes common, there could be a flaw in how you trim that foot.

Sometimes the trimming mistakes aren’t revealed immediately or clearly apparent. There are important things to determine if you are incorrectly trimming horses’ feet.

Where To Start?

With horses, there are always variables that could contribute to the problem that are unrelated to the trim or possibly the feet altogether. There is a danger to assume fault with the trim and adjust it without fully examining all of the contributing factors. But with all of the points to consider, where should a reevaluation of the trim fall? For Mitch Taylor it is the most important thing.

“Foot prep is the primary thing you look at when there is a problem,” says the director of education at the Kentucky Horseshoeing School in Richmond, Ky. “Yes, there are going to be those apparent things, like is the horse stuck with a nail or is it shod with sole pressure. Given that the obvious things are checked off, my attention goes to my trim.”

The State Of The Foot

Taylor says feet have a better chance of rebounding from a poor trim…