How To: Use a Hoof Pick

   This is the last installment on how to use each item in The Essential Grooming Box. And, honestly, it's probably the most important. Cleaning out your horse's feet before each ride is crucial to making sure your horse stays healthy and sound. Many times rocks will get stuck under their shoes and will cause a lot of pain, lameness and potentially a serious issue that requires time off. In order to avoid that, get to know your horses feet and pick them out regularly.

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Picking Up the Foot

   Before we can remove any dirt and debris from our horse's shoes we need to be able to handle their feet. Start by facing your horse's tail and stand right next to their body. This will work the same for front and back legs. A well trained horse will react to a gentle touch, but some are more stubborn and require a little convincing. 

   Start by running your hand down their leg. Give their tendons a gentle squeeze and your horse should understand what you are asking and pick up their leg for you. If they don't understand or if they are just refusing to listen, you can push your hip into their shoulder or hip while still squeezing their tendons. This will push your horse's weight off the leg you are trying to pick up and make it easier for you to lift the leg.

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Picking the Hoof

   I like to hold the hoof pick with the handle filling the palm of my hand and the pick towards my body. This way, when I go to pick the dirt from my horse's hoof, I am picking away from my body and don't accidentally shower myself with whatever my horse decided to step in that day.

   Depending on how dirty your horse's feet are depends on how much work is needed to get a clean hoof. A general rule though is to start by finding the V of the frog. Yes, I know that didn't sound like a real sentence, I will put together a horse anatomy post soon! Anyway, you can really see what I am referencing in the bottom gif. Be gentle as you pick around the frog! That part is like the sensitive part under your fingernails and it would really hurt if you dug too deep. After you find the frog I like to work around the edges of the shoe. This way you can remove the big clumps with minimal effort. Once you've knocked the big stuff loose, I will flip my hoof pick over and use the bristled side to brush out the debris. By using the brush I am confident I won't hurt my horse's hoof on accident.

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A Closer Look

  Here is a closer look at how I pick my horse's feet. Magically, they were super clean when I decided to take videos lol.  So I just picked anyway so you could see what I was doing. In this clip you can get a really good view of the V of the frog. ​