News-Gazette (Feb. 23) – According to Tobias Ellis, head farrier at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, a long-standing practice was to follow an eight-week trim schedule so that the nail holes would be grown out before placing another shoe. However, he says, recent studies point to a different time frame.
“What we found is that keeping horses on a four- or five-week trim schedule — no longer than five weeks — reduces the negative impact on their tendons and joints,” Ellis explains. “If we take care of the hoof capsule so it doesn’t get really long, the horses won’t have to readjust their muscles and how they move.”