What is Good Horse Shoeing?

How much rasping is too much?

If your horse's feet are in good shape and normal, then very little rasping is required providing the shoe is nailed properly in place. However, if there are flares and irregularities they should be removed with the rasp. The rasping should not alter the natural slope of the hoof wall. This is what is meant by weakening the wall through over rasping.

Years ago, I was called into a quarter horse track to do a string of racing quarter horses from the USA. They were really nice looking horses and their hooves had been done, from what I could tell, exceptionally well, and told the trainer that he must have an excellent farrier back home. He said the guy was the "best". By the third setting I noticed a ridge and angle change about one third down the hoof. The trainer mentioned that he wasn't sure why this was happening because he hadn't changed the feed very much and couldn't think of another reason. He did say, "I must admit you sure don't rasp very much to finish the hoof, and the shoes are placed nicely at the toe when you're done." Does your farrier rasp much back home? I asked. Oh yes, all the way down from the coronet, was his reply. I couldn't believe my ears, and I was fooled into thinking this was good work!

There is a farrier tool on the market that some fellows use to finish the hoof from the coronet down and it sands all the periople layer and any imperfections completely off, producing a very nice smooth looking hoof. In my opinion this is over kill, because the periople layer is there to protect the hoof from drying out. Yes those doing this will often apply a hoof dressing to prevent the hoof from drying out, but why not just leave what Mother nature has created instead of replacing it with something artificial. Each to their own, I'll avoid over kill when it comes to rasping or polishing a hoof if it means destroying a useful part of the structure. Often the main reason for excessive rasping is the inability of the farrier to keep the shoe in place when nailing or using a size too small on the horse, necessitating the over use of the rasp in order to make it look as though it fits.