can anybody help

[tricetta]

[SIZE=10pt]Hello,[/SIZE]

can anybody tell me an easy way to remove those chestnuts off a horses legs. After a long winter, and now i'm clipping for shows, i didn't realize under all that hair, how they have grown. And now i can't seem to get them off. :no:

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

thank you

 

[Bess Kelly]

They can be removed by hoof nippers --VERY carefully, and not too close to skin -- if they are long. If short, then you need to remove them in layers. This is actually a layered material that forms. It is somewhat softer inside, like a callus almost. If you soak them, they will also soften and be slightly easier to pull off. On some horses they are easy to remove. Hey, no nerves within them but, obviously there is feeling at the skin level. The issue with cutting them is the horse moving their leg and you slip too close.

Some have these on their fetlocks. They are much smaller but be aware of that before you clip them for a show, summer, etc. Check for them first.

 

[user 3234]

To soften them up place pertrolem jelly on for an hour or so. They will peel off afterwards. Hope this helps.

 

[HGFarm]

Usually they just peel off. If not, I find they are much softer after giving the horse a bath and they have been wet a little while. Then they should peel off. If they are TOO big, the nippers can take most of them off, but be careful- then I sand them with sandpaper or even just 'smooth them out' with my hand, depending on what they look like then. Seems they grow faster on some horses than others....

 

[tricetta]

Out of 5 of my show horses, 1 of them really seemed to grow this past year under all her hair.

I was really surprised when i clipped her out. The other ones were very little, that they did peel off.

I will have to try the knippers carefully first, and than try and peel the rest of after placing the petroleum jelly on it.

thank you everyone for your inputs.

:saludando:

 

[disneyhorse]

I would NOT recommend using hoof nippers on a mini's chestnuts! The only horses i've ever felt comfortable with nippers on is the draft horses... and even then I've seen quite a few bloody quicks (not me!)

Try a pumice stone or sandpaper... what works well too is those green scrubby pads for dishes (you see them on the backs of those yellow sponges, I forget what those green plastic scrubby pads are for). After a bath before a show I use the green scrubby pads on the chestnuts and on the hooves when they are all soaked wet to clean and even out the surfaces.

Andrea

 

[Devon]

What about thsoe tiny ones on the fetlock

:

 

[disneyhorse]

The ones on the fetlock are called ergots. I pinch those off with my fingernails after a bath. The minis have small ones... sometimes my clippers will even take them off.

Andrea

 

[Songcatcher]

Pardon me for jumping in here, but I have a mare with a chestnut on one front leg that is about an inch and a half long. I asked my farrier about taking it off probably a year ago. He said just leave it alone and it will fall off. Well, it is still there and is quite unsightly. I don't need it off down to the skin. Would it be safe to use hoof nippers to take it down to within a half inch of the skin? This is the only horse I have that has a problem with them.

 

[disneyhorse]

In that case, yes, Songcatcher I would use nippers. Just don't go too close.

If the chestnuts get really long, they actually don't always "just fall off." Keeping them short helps prevent the horse from catching them on something and ripping them off too close at the skin and bleeding. Sometimes they catch it on a hoof when they get up.

Andrea

 

[Becky]

Songcatcher, you can use hoof nippers to trim one back that is that long. I wouldn't go too close to the skin. Trim part of it off and then peel it off with your fingers closer to the horses leg. As others have mentioned, they really soften up after a bath, so you might try soaking it or wetting it down for a while before you try to remove it.

I just body clipped a mare that had long ones. She had a bath the day before and the chestnuts peeled off quite easily by hand when I clipped her.

 

[Minimor]

I frequently snip them off with the nippers--nothing to it. I take them off as close to the leg as possible, and quite frankly it wouldn't be all that easy to take them too deep--I'd really have to gouge the nippers in to do that. The only thing to watch is that you don't pull on the chestnut as you nip it off--if you happened to miss nipping it right through & were to pull it away too much there'd be a risk of tearing the uncut portion & then yes, it could tear too deep.

Mini chestnuts are small & if you position the nipper correctly it will take the whole thing in one snip. On the Morgans I usely snip twice without any pulling/twisting that would tear the chestnut.

 

[RJRMINIS]

[SIZE=12pt]I'll never forget the first time I saw my farrier snip the chestnuts off, he was trimming hooves and just automatically snipped them off, :new_shocked: I was like wow, you can do that and it doesn't hurt.....I never new that! But it looked alot better and didn't bleed or anything after.[/SIZE]

 

[Matt73]

I just peel my horses' off. I did with the big ones and now the little ones; they've always come off very easily.