Chestnuts, the other kind!!

[Laya]

I just read an article on oiling chestnuts to make them smoother and even with the horse's leg. How should I go about this? Petrolum jelly or baby oil? I've used baby oil, but it doesn't seem to help. It says to rub the chestnut with a curry comb or peel the chestnut with your fingers. If I oil it or put this jelly on them, will they flake off themself or do I have to aid it?

[Allie]

I just peel them off with my fingers after the horse has had a bath. They will be soft from the water (same effect with the oil), and very easy to peel, so you can get them down close to the skin.

Allie

[Wally]

Why worry ? They'll come off naturally by themselves when they're ready.

[Elissa]

I just tried using Vaseline on my gelding's chestnuts this afternoon and it worked great! They peeled off really easy and they look so much better now. Just remember to let it sit on them for a little bit to work easier.

~ Elissa :)

[sophie]

hi, i don't know what 'chestnuts' are can someone tell me?!
soph

[Kaz]

Hi Sophie,
If you look at the inside of a horses leg you will notice a hard, browny lump that is (probably) oval shape (or near enough). It is just above his knee (i think!) and it is supposed to be there. I think it is meant to be the remains of some sort of toe they used to have many many years ago.

Karen

[Dori]

Hi. I read the same article and was so jazzed. I had been wondering why my horse had such big lumps on the inside of her legs. Had no clue that they could be removed. I did notice other horses had them, but some seemed flatter than others. Needless to say, Duchess is 13 this July and probably has been growing them the whole time. I don't think I ever noticed them falling off on their own. Tried vasaline and after a couple of days, they softened up enough to start flaking when I scratch at them. They were very hard and I haven't gotten all of it off yet, but if I butter her up, I can usually get a good layer or 2 off. Residual dew-claws is what the article called them. Who knew. Try the vasaline overnight and see if you don't get some results. Good luck.

[Wally]

Unless they become hugely overgrown why don't you leave them alone. They will do no harm. If you keep picking at them the horse will get fed up.

[JoeyJoJo]

I didn't actually know that chesnuts could be removed!

Does it cause the horse any pain?
Do they grow back after they have been removed?
Why do you want to remove them - for a show or something?
I didnt think they affected showing or do they?

Someone fill me in?

[Laya]

Wally, you seem to be doubting that chestnuts should be removed. Here's what I have read in a Pracitcal Horseman article:

Chestnuts should be removed so they are not lumpy and so that they are even with the level of the legs. If a chestnut is lumpy or has grown out from its proper level, it can easily be snagged on something (fence wire, hooves, et cetera...) and it will tear and bleed excessively. To remove a chestnut, place baby oil or vaseline on it until it softens enough that you can peel it easily off layer by layer or that it will flake off when rubbed with a curry comb. This removal doesn't take no longer than five minutes at a time. Beware though that you have to remove the chestnut carefully and by layers, because of the chestnut being similar to a finger nail. Not only will the chestnuts look better, it will also be safer for a horse that is turned out.

[giddyupgirl]

Hey I read that the chestnuts on the legs are from where the horses two front legs were attached in the womb of their mother and that they seperate a little while before birth. Has anyone else heard this before? Anyway I suggest using something like a really GOOD moisturiser on the chestnuts, then see if you can find a color-based treatment (make sure its safe for the horse ofcourse hehe)to tone the colour down on them, that sounds fussy, but it pays of in park classes etc..anyway hope that helped, actually the chestnuts are made up of keratin (the same as the hoof) so just dabbing on a bit of hoof oil everyday when you oil the feet might do the trick?

[JoeyJoJo]

giddyupgirl - you might want to read my previous post 'to oil or not to oil' about oiling hoofs.

I now know that hoof oil doesnt really moisterise, it justs gives a protective layer which doesnt allow moisture into the hoofs, so I assume if chestnuts are made of keratin then it would have the same affect and not actually moisterise them at all??

Take a look at the post and see what others have advised.

[Edited by JoeyJoJo on 29th May 2000 at 04:29 PM]

[Wally]

I really can't beleive that you are making such a fuss over a perfectly natural part of your horse. If the chestnuts are over an inch long just use a farrier's knife and cut them off, if you really have to.
All our horses are turned out all the time. They have never caught them on wire, hooves or anything else. As for man to be the judge of what is a proper level, the things that are written in books never fail to amaze me.

[postgirl]

My horse's chestnuts were over an inch long so I asked my farrier to look at them. He just took them in his fingers and twisted them off! - no fuss, no blood - a lovely neat job!
Then he told me that dogs love to eat them.So I took one home and gave it to my whippet - and he ate it yuk!
They smell very odd.

[JoeyJoJo]

Sorry Postgirl - but I have to agree with you there - UGH!!!! :eek:

[Wally]

You'll find that dogs love the foot trimmings too. Ours stand and wait for our farrier to throw them to them. The lurcher eats all he can get, so does the Bernese mountain dog. The sheep dog knows when she's had enough and burries hers for a rainy day.
With 20 horses she knows how to pace herself!!
Lovely creatures, dogs!!

[highland]

The horse I rides are about an inch long - but there not flaky or nething so should i leave them? there not causing him ne probs at the mo?

[alexa]

In France(don't know about other countries)all horses with papers have an expert from the National Stud do a detailed description of their colour/special marks etc when they are young (not foals). Sometimes it happens that a horse has no special marks and then the person takes a photo of the chestnut as apparntly these are all individual (like finerprints for people) and this is used to identify and is attached in some way to their passports (travelling papers). Just info and nothing really to do with the previous questions.
A

[K]

I have also heard that Chestnuts are to do with the legs being held together in the womb.
And I have to agree with Wally on this one - I have never removed chestnuts from a horse and have never come across a horse bleeding profusely from one!