Enormous Chestnut

[bexj]

One of Molly's chestnuts on her front leg is huge! Is this OK? I know its natural for them to grow, but if she got it caught on something would it hurt? Should I cut it off? If so, how? I'm not bothered about how it looks - I'm just worried about her hurting herself....

 

[maverick927]

My farrier nips off long chestnuts with his snippers which seems to do the trick.

 

[RachelEvent]

Chestnuts should grow and fall off pretty much of their own accord.

Sometimes, you can help peel them off byhand, but I actually spotted ferdie, tugging at his chestnut and removing the old layers himself a couple of days ago.

I doubt its very unsafe, but I would probably ask my farrier if he could nip it off like maverick927 suggested

Rachel xx

 

[welshcoblady1]

over grown chestnut.

hello bexj, did you know that the chestnut is the remainder of the third toe that horses use to have thousands of years ago ,as they were much smaller then .

the chestnut grows in layers over the mounths and if left untrimmed can become very built up , the chestnut its self has no nerve or blood supply but the root has. you can gently trim this away or peel it off it will not cause any pain or ask you farrier next time he comes , best wishes jed .

 

[Wally]

I don't like them getting too long in case they do catch them and tear them off too short, it can make them bleed, nothiong serious, but better kept short to start with. Get the farrier to nip 'em off or do it yourself with a SHARP knife.

 

[Bebe]

I rub vaseline onto the chesnuts when they get too long, leave overnight and they just peel off nicely the next day. Because they're soft there's no chance of hurting the horse and very little chance of taking it too far back (they can bleed if too much is taken off).

 

[martini55]

Better to get it trimmed imo, Martini managed to catch her chestnut and rip it off halfway- had to pull it right off which was just horrible. Nothing serious though, but its better to avoid this situation.

 

[Tor&Warrior]

I put hoof oil or vaseline on Flyte & Vins and peel them off. I never let them get any longer than the shorest they an be (that make sense ) I really don't like long chestnuts and am always picking at them if I'm with a horse that has really long ones!! They peel off really easy. But if in doubt ask you farrier.

 

[bexj]

Hello!

Well the Farrier is coming to see the "5-legged" beast today and is going to trim it back so she looks normal again!

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[RingLass]

If they are small, you can usually pick them off yourself (carefully!) but when they get huge they can be sort of sore ... my farrier likened them to hangnails :|