Tried my first trim - frog higher than everything else?

Hello again horse people.

So My first time trimming Clyde's feet the other day, and I had some unexpected problems. Yes, I've contacted my regular trimmer and yes I'll be bringing her out in a couple weeks to do a real job - in the meantime though, I need to learn!

So you can see in my pictures I've left the heel too high, the quarter walls too high, and did not bevel really. The bevel I just didn't have time, will go back and fix that asap. The problems I had were that, if I were to bring his wall down all the way around his hoof to the level of the sole, his frog would stick out like nuts at the heel. You can see in the sole shot that I accidentally rasped the frog a tad trying to bring the heels down. The heels are long, they need to come down, but to do it I'd need to slice n'dice his frog - and then there his darn periolple at the heel, which comes down all the way already so I'd be rasping into that as well. What the heck, guys? XD help me do a job that my trimmer won't face-palm over.

On the bright side, I actually managed to teach him in about 1/2 hour of training to stop pulling his damn leg away and lift his feet nice for once.

Front Right:



Same, front right:

Well done. Yes, it seems the heels are still a tad high. No, you don't have to trim the frog because of that tho. As there is a tad running forward apparent, I'd trim the heels lower on the angle indicated by the blue line. As the toe is also flared forward, I'd likely take it back a little more too, as indicated by the other blue line. I would also be very careful not to rasp/pare into the sole at the toe there too. That crescent in front of the frog, under P3 usually is too thin & needs all it can get. As for the rolling edges, while it's hard to tell from the face-on pic, it appears you've done well enough actually, considering the pretty healthy, well attached walls.

They look pretty good to me, especially for the first time! Get your confidence back! And listen to LOOSIE! :) I'm going to do my first trim in a week! Wish me luck!

I agree with, loosie.. Great Job!! My first time was so horrible, I got yelled at, lol. :p

What I do, if there is an edge I can put the end of the nippers on, and nip it off, I go ahead and do that.


And, *Luck* Wheatermay!

So Loosie, it's safe to bring the heels down lower than the frog? That would make me feel better, I was wondering if they would flatten on their own since I was not looking forward to cutting away at it when it's so healthy - if that's the case I'll go ahead and nip/bevel those quarters properly and take down the heel a smidge like you showed.

Wheatermay, goodluck!!! I want to see pictures after your trim too, don't leave me all alone out here ahahahaha.

New pics as soon as I get out there and get'er done.

Basically IMO yes, but ....there're always buts! ...I don't think it's helpful to leave the frog too proud, or sometimes even level & depends on it's health, etc. But it appears you've got a little way to go there. Assuming the white in the centre is where the rasp just touched when doing heels.

Yes, they will flatten with use & as a (major) rule, the frog shouldn't be pared if healthy, regardless of heel height. And regardless of heel height, I don't believe it's good to carry any extra through the quarters - they should be 'scooped'(more or less, depending on the foot) accordingly to balance wall length in relation to the sole as per the rest of the foot.

Well right now he is also walking in snow 24/7, so I suppose it won't be a big shock to walk on his frogs more until they wear down on their own.

I had another question for any trimmers out there, how do you like to trim the bars? I've read a bunch of different opinions. What I did in this trim was to take them just a hair below the sole, and going up like a ramp at the very heel. My trimmer told me a bit longer than, or at sole level but never below. I'm going to do as she says, but I wanted to get other's opinions as well.