Can you guess what this is?Strange looking, huh?
Oh, it's not so hard to guess. It's just....How can it be that color?
Short story shorter, I worked teaching English to some businessmen and their business is metal coatings. They chemically add a microscopic layer of a type of metal onto steel, using electricity (!!??). Usually their coatings are for machine tools. Their coatings make the tools last longer. I jokingly asked if it would work on a hoof rasp. They said, "Hm, probably not, but ...hey, let's try it!"
2 weeks later I got my golden rasp. I hope it actually does last longer, I am sick of constantly ordering rasps. They wouldn't let me pay for the coating, so nice of them!I just got done using it for the first time. Oh, the sweet efficiency of a sharp rasp! It takes so little muscle to get the hooves trimmed! I sweat very minimally today. (Rasping is always hard work, but dull blades make it ridiculously hard work.)
I'll have to remember to post in a few months to report if the coating lengthens the life of the thing. I hope so!
It's as gold as a gold watch in RL. I wish my photos could show how humorously golden it really is.
Next to an old rasp for comparison. I should really throw away my old rasps sometime, rather than just having a growing heap of them in the barn.
RF. He lost half of that frog recently, for reasons unknown to me. (There was no thrush in this frog, it just shed for some reason.) It was probably the change from lots of exercise, and then no exercise as we had such horrible weather the last two weeks. *shrug*
LF. Also no thrush, after last year's battle.
LR. This one has thrush. Hence the cotton wad holding the medicine in. Hoof pick can be inserted 1/2 inch into the CS. Bad news. I'll get it though. It's already less sensitive to pressure.
RR. I just took a knife to that flappy frog last week, and it looks like it needs it again. I hate to cut into a frog unless there are big folds. Here are lots of small ones, but nothing deep, and I just spray on the wine vinegar, scrub it, and hope for the best. I really need to learn to photograph hooves better. But these pics are just for my own records (I do this every couple months).
I love the pure white filings after a trim.
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12 comments:
Frogs do naturally shed - not to worry! Love the new rasp - it's even pretty!
LOL You might start a trend there Lytha with that pretty rasp! If it holds up, I can envision all kinds of folks shipping tools to you (and the fellows who coasted your rasp,)for coating!
Looks pretty neat! (Bet it would generate comments from clients... HA~ "No WONDER you charge so much- your tools are made of gold!")
It's called electroplating in English - how cool that you have a gold rasp!
Baasha has picture perfect hooves. (Well, thrush aside, but that's not too bad and it's getting fixed!) Did you trim before you came to Germany, or did you learn just so you could do it yourself over there?
what a pretty rasp! does the electroplating preserve the sharp edge? I wonder if it would work for trail tools like my Pulaski...?
Baasha's feet look good. What are you using to combat the thrush?
Kate, I had just read on my hoofcare forum that a frog shedding is not necessarily a natural thing. But just cuz I read it doesn't mean it's fact. Something to think about.
MrsMom, I knew you'd know right away, and not cuz of my email spoiler. Oh, but I have no clients, I only do Baasha. I am an amateur, but my hope is that someday I can help people who don't have the money for a trimmer, and just let their horses go. I've seen some horses in my neighborhood who have been neglected in the feet, obviously due to their age and lack of use. I want to help them. Gotta figure out how though. These horses are out in fields with no house in sight. I have no idea how to find their owners.
Funder, I only showed sole view for a reason, hehe. I am at a loss about what to do about a toe crack Baasha has had since I met him, 21 years ago. Farriers have tried everything, and still this toe crack persists. I have no idea how to fix a toe crack. Do you? I hear an Oxine soak might help, but I'm worried about that.
Electroplating? Really? AAGH! If only I had spoken to you before, I could have told them that! I had no idea. My guys would have loved to know the English phrase for their work. Hey, I think I'll send them an email...
I didn't trim at all before coming to Germany, but the whole year Baasha and I were separated, 2008, I read up on it. And now I have the "Under the Horse" series and I am going thru them slowly. I sometimes fantasize that I could be a trimmer, but I fear the injury rate. I like my health!
Electroplating. Geez, why didn't you tell me that last week?
The woman with the golden rasp.
Now there's a book title. :)
Next you'll need to do your hoof pick. :)
Dang it, I meant to email you last week and talk about electroplating! My bad! ;)
I think if he's had a toe crack for 21 years, it's never going to go away. Maybe a hoof injury as a baby? It doesn't sound like it's causing him any problems, and you're managing it to keep it from growing. One of the geldings where I board got a cut on his coronet band as a 2 year old, and he's grown a funky ridge in his hoof ever since. He doesn't seem to mind!
I really want the Under the Horse series. It's on the List Of Things I Want - ahead of the trailer, behind the HRM. One day!
I never thought I would see a pretty rasp. I would hate to use it and get it dirty!
IME horses do shed their frogs from time to time and it would not cause me to have any concern at all. From what I could see in the sole views he has some pretty nice feet.
I've done a lot of studying in regards to feet and hoofcare. I can do a pretty decent trim myself. However I am happy to pay my awesome farrier/trimmer as my thighs and back hurt like heck after I trim a horse. BTW, I have an awesome little scar on my right wrist from the time I got to ambitious with my hoof knife and ended up stabbing myself. Ouch.
For someone who is not into horse like me, I was clueless what it was! LOL. You learn new things everyday and I'm glad to have found your blog! Thank you.
LOL I cant spell
Awww the golder rasp!
Baasha's feet look wonderful!
I did it again LOL must be cuz I am tired LOL
Golden with an N LOL
I do want one!
and the hoofpick too he he he
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