Chat
02-07-2014, 04:12 PM
I just use the nippers to trim the tips back, and I'll sometimes use a rasp to smooth them, but usually they do that pretty well themselves just by walking.
I have to say, Cuzco is the poster child for perfect feet and I really wish I'd taken some photos of them a few years ago when he was in his prime. During the four years we kept him in our backyard in Colorado City, I barely touched his hooves because he trimmed them so well on his own just from regular walks on gravel and blacktop roads, as well as his frequent summer hikes. With his nice conformation and excellent way of moving, he wore down all eight toes exactly the same so I never had to do anything. He developed incredibly thick walls (which he still has today), firm, springy, well-calloused soles, and perfect levelness front to back and side to side. That's when I discovered that a really nice goat hoof isn't angled to a point like in the hoof trimming diagrams--Cuzco developed a rounded break-over, heavily calloused, just from walking. If every goat had hooves like Cuzco's, we'd never see things like thrush or foot rot. I wish I could credit my excellent trimming technique for his nice hooves, but no... Cuzco has natural talent in that department.
Nowadays his reduced activity combined with arthritis in his left front foot and loss of muscle tone in his hind end have shown themselves in his no-longer-perfect hooves. I have to trim them now, and I notice his left front usually needs more trimming than his right, and his right tends to cave inwards a little bit. His heels usually need trimming now as well, which was something I'd never done before in his life. His soles aren't as thick and even these days, but he still has wonderful thick walls (which make him impossible to trim in the summer) and those excellent rounded toes with thick callouses on them. His teeth may be falling out, but at least his hooves aren't letting him down!
I have to say, Cuzco is the poster child for perfect feet and I really wish I'd taken some photos of them a few years ago when he was in his prime. During the four years we kept him in our backyard in Colorado City, I barely touched his hooves because he trimmed them so well on his own just from regular walks on gravel and blacktop roads, as well as his frequent summer hikes. With his nice conformation and excellent way of moving, he wore down all eight toes exactly the same so I never had to do anything. He developed incredibly thick walls (which he still has today), firm, springy, well-calloused soles, and perfect levelness front to back and side to side. That's when I discovered that a really nice goat hoof isn't angled to a point like in the hoof trimming diagrams--Cuzco developed a rounded break-over, heavily calloused, just from walking. If every goat had hooves like Cuzco's, we'd never see things like thrush or foot rot. I wish I could credit my excellent trimming technique for his nice hooves, but no... Cuzco has natural talent in that department.
Nowadays his reduced activity combined with arthritis in his left front foot and loss of muscle tone in his hind end have shown themselves in his no-longer-perfect hooves. I have to trim them now, and I notice his left front usually needs more trimming than his right, and his right tends to cave inwards a little bit. His heels usually need trimming now as well, which was something I'd never done before in his life. His soles aren't as thick and even these days, but he still has wonderful thick walls (which make him impossible to trim in the summer) and those excellent rounded toes with thick callouses on them. His teeth may be falling out, but at least his hooves aren't letting him down!