I live in AZ where hooves (especially soles) are literally hard as rocks. I’ve been trained to trim hooves, I’ve spent thousands of dollars learning the anatomy and balance of the hoof. But trimming takes a LOT of stamina, physical strength and endurance. I could start but not finish and have struggled for years. And it’s hard to find good trimmers where I live. I was taught that power tools weren’t good for the hoof… heat, vibration, removing too much. So I’ve been afraid to try anything but traditional tools. When I heard of the hoof boss, I read everything I could and with the promises of the no heat design, low vibration and less noise, I decided to give it a try. I did try it on the recommended type of wood first, read and followed all directions and found there to be almost no learning curve whatsoever. It does function as claimed. Takes enough effort to remove material that you’re not afraid to hurt the horse but not so much that stamina and physical strength is required. The vibration is barely noticeable at all. It is a little louder than I expected but the horses haven’t seemed to mind much. I love the safety grip. It’s easy to turn on and just as easy to stop. Removes material, including the rock hard sole, with little effort and is even easy to get a mustang roll. It does take time to line up the washers with the discs and get them screwed in. If I cared about pretty or did more horses in a day I would consider buying another hoof boss to avoid having to change the discs during a trim. If you’re a pro, you’re definitely going to want more than one. I do love that it’s battery powered and the disc stops very quickly when the lever is released. I do wish it didn’t start so suddenly. If there was a little control over speed vs only full on or full off, it would help at least get the horses used to it and minimize the initial jump at a sudden sound. But I also think (hope) they eventually are used to that. Overall I feel I’m finally going to be able to trim my own horses and feel relieved that I’ll be able to stop worrying about finding new trimmers or having my horses’ hooves trimmed improperly.
