There are currently several publications dedicated to the concept of trimming a horse’s foot to mirror that of a wild horse. When you ask some of these folks how this applies to a mule’s foot, they really cannot answer clearly. That has never been a place for me to stop. In fact, it is usually where I start. To date, I have not been able to find more than two small photo displays published, showing the shape of a natural trimmed mule’s foot. In this quest, I came across a reference for proper bare foot trimming, Dr. Tomas G. Teskey D.V.M. Dr. Teskey wrote a small but powerful handout titled “Look at Those Hooves”, distributed by EasyCare Inc. I ordered a free copy and as I was perusing it, low and behold, there in the photo on page #5 was the head of a mule sticking out behind two big Quarter Horses. That did it, if they are going to show a mule; maybe someone was willing to talk to me about bare foot mule’s feet. Bingo! Dr. Teskey was more than willing to discuss the ins and outs of this subject. He was kind enough to send me these photos of a self-trimmed mule’s foot, with his permission, I share with you.
Boy’o, what a great looking foot Mr. Mule has. I was surprised to see the proportions of this foot; low heels, big frog, and short toe, all the same concepts of the wild horse foot.
At this point, I had to decide on how far to take this article. I am neither a Farrier, nor a bare foot practitioner. I do not feel right expressing too much of my personal opinion here. I am a mule and horse owner who has been caring for two horses and six mule’s feet for a while. I am biting my literary lip, not to be carried away with my own views. In fact, my opinion may only lessen the value of the photos in this work. I believe it is the responsibility of everymule and horse owner to understand what is going on with his or her animal’s feet. I am a “shoe when necessary and go bare foot when you can” kind of critter owner. This way, I believe that a mule orhorse never needs to suffer, when and where I ask it to work. Enough said.
Check out these neat mule feet. I hope this will be of interest to you.
I obtained “Look at Those Hooves!” by Dr. Tomas Teskey D.V.M. from “EasyCare” Inc.
