More Than One Way to Trim a Hoof in Developing Countries

1. Introduction

Equitarian Initiative or projects of this nature were designed to target working equids in developing or impoverished countries throughout the world. A working equid could be defined as an animal (horse, mule, or donkey) that performs physical work that provides income for a family and in some cases sustains an entire family. The duties performed by these animals are varied dependent on the location but could range from family transportation, tourism, all aspects of agriculture in poor countries, and industry such as the brick kilns in Egypt and commercial taxi horses in Ethiopia. It is obvious that animals performing physical work require routine hoof care and it is just as obvious that the lack of such care can and will cause immeasurable hoof problems and lameness in this population of working equids. Therefore, the importance of farriery in all these countries must be realized. The approach to improving foot care is difficult as it not only involves care for the animals while there, but instruction of the local populace in the importance of good farriery, and also how to implement it in a very basic manner. The approach to accomplish this will vary from country to country but the general theme will always revolve around teaching.

2. The Approach

Poor countries have not been introduced to good farriery or the benefits of such farriery. Owners generally perform it (if at all) in a primal manner with primitive or makeshift tools (Fig. 1). For one to perform and teach farriery in these countries, the veterinarian must be adept at farriery or have a farrier join the group. With the language barrier that often occurs, even with an interpreter, these people must learn by observing. A 1-dayor-longer farrier course designed for the locals has been rewarding and has yielded long-term benefits (this will be described later). Appropriate farrier tools are important and usually not available in the various projects. We have addressed this in many instances by having farrier supply companies donate shoes, nails, and tools. Lately, we have even asked farriers to donate used tools that could be used by the local farriers while we are there and then left for them to continue what they have been taught. 

Finally, a very basic, understandable approach to basic trimming and placing a shoe (when necessary) must be taught in a very limited amount of time. Bringing these three concepts together creates the challenge.
 

3. The Basic Technique

The author has been involved in Equitarian projects with the Sioux Indians in South Dakota, the Havasupai Indians in Supai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and citizens of the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Ethiopia. The technique used will be based upon what type of work the animal performs, the amount of work performed, and the surface upon which the animal works. Therefore, a generalized statement can be made that not only applies to working equids, but to all equines, and that is: to remain comfortable, when wear on the bottom of the foot exceeds growth at the coronet, some form of protection is necessary. In this category are equids that do strenuous hauling, tourism, and provide taxi services. All of these equids are asked to perform on hard surfaces. In contrast, there is a large population of horses that are able to exist without shoes. However, the lack of foot care or the lack of knowledge and tools to perform said farriery care, leads to severe hoof distortions. The overgrown horn that causes the hoof distortions often results in abscesses, separations, and/or cracks and places abnormal forces on the digit above the hoof.

The basic technique begins with a very simplified version of the trim. The trim can be further modified depending on whether it is an extremely distorted and overgrown foot or whether it will be a foot that will receive some type of protection. The rudimentary trim used with the working equid is based on proportionality of the foot rather than teaching them how to do a step-by-step trim. For example, the frog is first located, the hoof wall next to the frog is trimmed (by whatever means) until all structures are on the same plane. A line is then drawn across the apex of the frog (or this area is just pointed out) and then the toe is reduced (from the outside wall or the bottom of the foot) until there are approximate proportions on either side of the line or point of the frog. It must be remembered at all times that you are generally teaching an owner or caregiver with perhaps little interest and no farrier skills. I will use Equitarian projects in two totally different countries to expand on this concept.

4. The Dominican Republic

There has always been a multitude of foot problems encountered during Project Samana in the Dominican Republic. Our farriery efforts here have been rewarding as there have been observable positive results over the past few years. In 2009, we decided to do a very basic farrier course for the horse owners and caregivers. We started by having two major farrier product distributors donate shoes and nails. This material was shipped to a container in Florida and sent on to the Dominican Republic to await our visit. We generally set aside 1 day of our schedule during the week to teach this course, which consists of demonstrations in the morning and then hands-on training in the afternoon for the participants. A Dominican veterinary student acts as the interpreter, which is ideal because they understand both the foot anatomy and the farrier terms.

During this course, instruction was given and repeated constantly on how to use the hoof knife, the nippers, and a rasp. With feet that are markedly overgrown, the heels grow tall and the frog recedes down below the hoof wall at the heels. Our approach is always to find, identify, and lightly trim the frog as the frog will always show the amount of hoof wall that has grown forward.^a Using the nippers and a rasp, the heels are taken down to the point where the hoof wall at the heels and the frog are on the same plane, which makes this section of the foot load sharing. Something as simple as a straight piece of wood is laid across the heel area to demonstrate all structures on the same plane (Fig. 2). Next, the same piece of wood or the edge of a rasp is placed across the foot at the point of the frog (Fig. 3). This shows the student how much excessive hoof wall or toe is present in front of this line. Modestly using the nippers, the hoof wall at the toe is reduced and the entire foot is rasped as level as possible.
 

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