Cleaning Hooves

Question
I have been around horses often and know the basics about grooming, but have not really had to clean their hooves.  I am curious how easy it would be to injure a horse's foot picking them out?  Sometime stuff really gets crammed in my horses hooves and I'm always nervous I will hurt or injure him trying to pick out his hooves.  

Brenda

Answer
Hello Brenda,
not to worry! If you are using a hoof pick that is made for horses hooves and only stick to the hoof part and not accidentally slipping onto the fetlock of heel bulbes, you can't really hurt a hoof. Just remember - horses are big heavy animals and walk around on all sorts of ground with or without rocks and the hooves are there to carry the horse. So you would really have to use sharp tools or hammers etc. to hurt a hoof. Normal hoof picking even if you have to pry a rock loose, is not likely going to harm the horse. Just be careful that YOU won't get hurt if the horse drops the hoof and your toes are in the way or if the horse wants to flip up the hoof to get a fly on the belly - your head can get in the way there.
So, with a hoof pick and just your hands and sticking to the hoof, you can't really hurt them :)

Christine