How do you pick out a horse's hoof?
Picking out a hoof means using a hoof pick to clear stones, mud, and dirt from the sole and frog.
Picking out means working a hoof pick from heel to toe across the sole, clearing packed mud, stones, and bedding away from the sensitive frog: the V-shaped structure that helps absorb shock with every step. the British Horse Society puts the frequency plainly: “Pick out your horse’s feet at least once a day to check for stones, debris, cracks, splits, thrush, and where applicable, loose or worn shoes.” Most people do it before and after riding as well, whether or not the horse has worked.
Left unchecked, trapped stones and dirt can bruise the sole, and wet, dirty conditions in the hoof can encourage thrush and other infections, so this small daily habit does a lot of preventative work. The other half of hoof care is the farrier, and the BHS gives the interval as “usually every four to six weeks for shod horses, and sometimes longer for barefoot horses”. Worth knowing that farriery is a regulated profession in Britain rather than a trade anyone may practise: registered farriers are regulated by the Farriers Registration Council. It sits alongside rugging as one of the basic, repeated jobs of ownership, and horse rugs sets out when a horse needs one and when it does not. For the person who never misses a day of it, see our gifts for horse riders. Like mucking out, it happens whether or not the horse is ridden that day.
Written by Craig Fearn, Stable & Hoof. Last updated .
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Type a horse's name and watch the print set itself. Free, no photo needed, about ten seconds.