Stones in horse's hooves

[cheb]

Prompted by my finding a hoof pick in the shed, there's no other evidence of horsiness here.

How often does this happen and are any types of ride worse than others? Do horse riders carry picks like some motorcyclists carry puncture repair kits.

Any horsey types want a steel hoof pick? It says barefootworks on it. I'll post it for free.

[gremlin]

Didn't Swiss Army knives use to have such an attachment?

[SSS]

You use a hoof pick to get the mud, stones out of the horses hoof, and in about the V shaped part called 'the frog' (which is like a shock absorber and grip - but also helps pump blood back up the leg)

Mud - the really claggy stuff - which stick to the underside of the hoof and can collect stones. When the horse is shod, mud collects more - so need the pick to remove the wet or dry mud.

All my horses (7) are unshod - as it promotes a harder hoof sole, more natural (all our horses are natives - Connemara) and we dont ride/exercise on hard surfaces which create excessive wear (and its considerably cheaper!)

Generally dont carry a hoof pick with me all the time. Normally its for stable/grooming duties or if there is a stoney issue stuck in the hoof which doesnt happen often. The worse bits for getting stones stuck in the mud for us would be the small pebble type stones.

The postage is likely more than the hoof pick is worth and horsey types will have lots of them already (we do)

[Cousin Jack]

Didn't Swiss Army knives use to have such an attachment?

I recall as a kid I had a pocket knife with 1 big blade and a substantial spike thing. Never sure if it was a hoof pick or a marline spike, either way I didn't know how to use it.

[Skub]

Didn't Swiss Army knives use to have such an attachment?

Billy Connolly said that was for picking boy scouts out of horses hooves.

[Scud]

As said above, they are generally for picking out mud and inevitably their own crap.
They’re not carried while out riding, generally the feet are picked out before riding.
I think we have 13 horses at the moment, I think 5 are shod for road use or with tapped holes for screwing in studs for competing cross country.
One has a cracked coffin (or pedal) bone at present and is undergoing remedial shoeing, it has a lightweight cast around the foot and a very complex shoe custom made to spread the weight away from the injured area - suffice to say the farrier charges handsomely for this!

[cheb]

Thanks. As an aside I hadn't realised just how many meaning 'frog' has.

[Yambo]

Thanks. As an aside I hadn't realised just how many meaning 'frog' has.

A bayonet scabbard is hung from a belt in a frog.

That's in the British army, no idea what the French equivalent is.

[Trinity765]

I follow a couple of hoofy channels on Youtube - I find it really interesting

Horses hooves
Idaho Horseshoeing School
https://www.youtube.com/@idahohorseshoeingschool/videos

Graham Parker the Hoof GP from Scotland - brilliant channel though it's cows hooves, not horses.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHoofGP/videos

[Horse]

Graham Parker the Hoof GP from Scotland - brilliant channel though it's cows hooves, not horses.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHoofGP/videos

Number of times Filly is watching YouTube and I hear " ... and look at the puss and blood being released ... " or similar

[Trinity765]

Graham Parker the Hoof GP from Scotland - brilliant channel though it's cows hooves, not horses.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheHoofGP/videos

Number of times Filly is watching YouTube and I hear " ... and look at the puss and blood being released ... " or similar

There's quite a lot of that, yes.