With nearly one-third of all owners not having the majority of their horses shod, there’s a tremendous opportunity for you to educate owners on the many benefits of shoeing and trimming.

Data collected for the third portion of the federal government’s National Equine Health Monitoring Survey indicates only half of all horse farm owners have the majority of animals trimmed five or more times per year. Less than one-third of these owners have most horses shod five or more times per year.

Need More Trimming

Only 1.9 percent of owners didn’t have the majority of their horses trimmed in the last year while 3.8 percent of owners had most horses trimmed only when there was a foot problem.

Some 18 percent of owners had the majority of their horses trimmed once or twice per year and 25.4 percent had most horses trimmed three or four times per year. Nationwide, only 50.9 percent of owners had the majority of their horses trimmed five or more times per year.

This survey of horse owners was done last spring by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Data for the nationwide Baseline Reference of 1998 Equine Health and Management study came from 2,904 equine operators in 28 states.

When it came to how horses were used, 52.7 percent of all pleasure horse owners had the majority of their animals trimmed five or more times per year. Some 79.4 percent of racing owners had most horses trimmed five or more…