If you’re in the habit of trimming or sprucing up your horse’s hooves between trims the Radius Rasp by Evolutionary Hoof Care is a product that you should definitely consider.
Although marketed to the barefoot or natural hoof care crowd those are excellent tools that are worthy of a place in any tack room. Regardless of your feelings towards barefoot or shod, there is always a place for a rasp in the life of horse and mule owners. Indeed to not have a rasp would be short sighted at best.
When we first heard about the Radius Rasp I was skeptical, after all what’s wrong with a regular flat farriers rasp? That feeling was dismissed as soon as I tried the tools. I found that there are two main features that make these tools perfect for the average horse owner, and even for professionals.
With an easy to grasp handle that doesn’t slip and feels natural in your hand the Radius Rasp is easier to use than a long, and ungainly, flat farriers rasp.
Beyond the comfortable handle the curved working surface of the Radius Rasp makes it beyond easy to create a smoothly contoured edge; also known as the “Mustang Roll”.
The Radius Rasp is available in two complementary flavors:
- The Radius Rasp II Pro – The black handled and more aggressive toothed rasp is perfect for the initial smoothing of a hoof after a nipper has done its job, or after a nasty chip has occurred.
- The Radius Rasp I Original – With a white handle and much smaller teeth than the Pro model the Original is the go to tool for general hoof maintenance and smoothing. The teeth on this model remind my of a kitchen grater and for me that’s perfect. The smaller teeth make it harder to remove too much hoof wall during energetic rasping.
To better determine the usefulness of the Radius Rasp we asked a noted Natural Hoof Care provider, Barb Taylor of Deer Park, WA, to try the tools and let us know what a pro had to say about them. The first sentence of her response was:
“They are TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!!”
“I started off using my regular rasp to remove the excess hoof wall and then grabbed the Radius Pro first, followed by the Regular. Much to my surprise I really didn’t need to use my flat rasp first. Both Radius Rasps do a nice job of removing excess hoof wall. The Radius original does a nice job of finishing as well if you do not have the sanding tool. Attached are a couple of pics of Buckshots left front hoof after I finished.
Bottom line is I would buy both of the rasps to use in maintaining our mules hooves. It was easier, more uniform and less work for me in rounding the wall to the mustang roll than using my rasp. Only wish I’d tried them out sooner, like years ago when they first came out:)”
Barb liked these tools so much that she kept them after the review was over.
The Radius Rasps by Evolutionary Hoof Care are winners for both TrailMeister and a professional trimmer. You can learn more about Evolutionary Hoof Care and their Radius Rasps at www.evohoofcare.com.
The Verdict:
The TrailMeister says if hoof rasps were cars the Radius Rasps would be Land Rovers. Try these, you’ll be pleased.