# How to peel/trim chestnuts?



## Boo Walker (Jul 25, 2012)

Super easy- put a thick coat of Vaseline on them (like you're icing a cake) every day for 3 days. Then you can get them off with a curry comb or give them a little twist with your fingers and they'll come right off!


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## Ponywhisperer (Dec 3, 2013)

Thank you! I really appreciate your reply, I'll give it a go.X


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

You can do as above, or you can use a sharp knife (I use a hoof knife) and peel off layers.


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

Or have the farrier take the nippers to them.

As an aside, dogs love to chew on them, just like hoof trimmings.


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

Boo Walker said:


> Super easy- put a thick coat of Vaseline on them (like you're icing a cake) every day for 3 days. Then you can get them off with a curry comb or give them a little twist with your fingers and they'll come right off!


This is what I used to do to avoid peeling too deeply, and the horses don't seem to mind as much if it's all softened up, either.
I have also done it KarliJaye's way, and probably do it that way more often now . . . especially with the nippers.
Actually, especially this time of year (summer and fly season) the chestnuts serve a useful purpose in giving the horses something rough on which to rub itchy faces and noses.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I use farrier nippers - leaving them get too long risks them getting torn off on something so worth trying the Vaseline method if you're maybe nervous about snipping them off


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## LilyandPistol (Dec 2, 2014)

Really, I just let them deal with themselves. Sometimes I'll absentmindedly peel a layer off that is just waiting to fall, but they can take care of themselves as far as that goes... I didn't know people even worried about it till now X,D


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## TrailDustMelody (Jun 23, 2013)

They usually get more flexible when wet, so after bathing or hosing off my mare, I always check to see if there are any layers ready to be peeled off.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I peel them off with my fingers when they are wet after hosing. Sometimes I hit and take a pocket knife to them. Just be careful not to go too close. I leave a little bit behind.


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## ducky123 (May 27, 2014)

LilyandPistol said:


> I didn't know people even worried about it till now


Chestnuts are just like bridle paths, fetlock hair and whiskers. They are dead cells that some consider unsightly. A well groomed horse is often shown with some dead cells removed. Different breeds (and shows) often have different grooming standards. 

Interestingly enough, different cultures of humans also show wide variation in how they treat dead cells on their bodies. Side effects seem similar man vs. horse.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I just cut them off when they get too long or start peeling. Nippers are the easiest way but a sharp knife works too. I actually use wire cutters that look like miniature nippers because they're easier to maneuver between the legs.

Warning: Not to long ago one of my mares chestnuts was peeling so reached down and was just going to twist it off. It twisted the whole chestnut out of her leg and was bleeding. I shouldn't have been too lazy to go get those wire cutters.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

The best way to peel chestnuts is to make a v-shaped incision in them and then roast them in a hot oven! Delicious! If you don't make the incision, they will explode (don't ask how I know this :rofl.

...eeerrm...hang on...you guys are talking about those dangly horn bits on horse legs... wrong chestnuts! I'm off! ;-)


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

ducky123 said:


> Chestnuts are just like bridle paths, fetlock hair and whiskers. They are dead cells that some consider unsightly.


Not to be pedantic, but none of these are cells. Hair and horn are extruded protein matrices, originating from cells.

I also don't follow the fashion of removing useful things from a horse for debatable aesthetics. I will, however, trim an overlong chestnut in the occasional horse or donkey who develops one, because I've seen some awful bleeding when they get caught on things and get partially or completely ripped off the leg...


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## Ponywhisperer (Dec 3, 2013)

Thanks to all who commented, it's very appreciated! My father actually takes care of trimming our horse's hooves so I'll let him know that he can also trim chestnuts with a hoof knife. Thanks again everyone, PW.X


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## ducky123 (May 27, 2014)

SueC said:


> I also don't follow the fashion of removing useful things from a horse for debatable aesthetics.


A horse forum isn't the only place where the concept of "debatable aesthetics" exists. People who show off their dogs, cats, sheep, and their own bodies in beauty contests also groom and snip. Some of the creations are works of art, others I don't fancy so much. So debating the aesthetics is uninteresting. (It's just a you like it, I don't sort of thing.)

But you reject "removing useful things"? I have no problem removing imminently useful tissue from an animal when the cost benefit analysis points my way. I have no problem spaying cats and I like geldings. When the benefits of geldinghood outweigh the costs, it's a no brainer in my book. 

So how useful are protruding chestnuts? What are the benefits to knobby protrusions and what are the costs to having less prominent protrusions? 

As for me, I see zero utility to protruding chestnuts. As for their beauty, it only matters in some sort of contest and then only the judge's standards of beauty would apply.


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## hollysjubilee (Nov 2, 2012)

ducky123 said:


> A horse forum isn't the only place where the concept of "debatable aesthetics" exists. People who show off their dogs, cats, sheep, and their own bodies in beauty contests also groom and snip. Some of the creations are works of art, others I don't fancy so much. So debating the aesthetics is uninteresting. (It's just a you like it, I don't sort of thing.)
> 
> But you reject "removing useful things"? I have no problem removing imminently useful tissue from an animal when the cost benefit analysis points my way. I have no problem spaying cats and I like geldings. When the benefits of geldinghood outweigh the costs, it's a no brainer in my book.
> 
> ...


In the CHA instructor certification clinics, each instructor must prepare a ground lesson as well as some riding lessons, and we have to present them to the other instructors who are told to be "8-year old beginner riding students" or "13-year old riders who have been riding for 3 years," etc. We had an woman from NZ who was going for her certification that year, and she chose to do a "Parts of the Horse/grooming" lesson. I remember learning from her that the fetlock hairs are there for a reason, and I never forgot it. She was explaining how to groom the legs and when she got to the fetlock she said, "and, of course, we never cut off the fetlock hairs because they drain water away from the hoof when the horse is in the rain."
Different regions; different knowledge; different standards; different practices. Kinda cool.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

My mare grows some serious chestnuts (thought the ones on the fetlocks where called ergots?). they get long and dont like to go away. finaly after messing with them for a while got them off enough to trimm the fetlock hair. being in the valley of az i dont think rain is an issue lol.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

ducky123 said:


> So how useful are protruding chestnuts? What are the benefits to knobby protrusions and what are the costs to having less prominent protrusions?
> 
> As for me, I see zero utility to protruding chestnuts. As for their beauty, it only matters in some sort of contest and then only the judge's standards of beauty would apply.


Hmm, I don't know how you took my post, but clearly not in the way it was intended. I was distinguishing by implication between useful things like tactile hair and ear hair which it is fashionable to take off a horse for shows, and I personally don't do it - and an overgrown chestnut, which can in no logical way be construed as useful, and can cause injury if left untrimmed. You just might want to learn to read properly in context, and not to ignore qualifiers like "for debatable aesthetics"! (I've never personally known anyone who has gelded a horse for aesthetic reasons...) ;-)

Better to tackle the argument than to tilt at windmills!


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## aclassicalpaint (Feb 11, 2015)

I lather them in baby oil, wait a few minutes, and peel them off.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Ask my 4 year old granddaughter....the kid is obsessed with peeling those things off.


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## ecasey (Oct 18, 2013)

My farrier nipped them off and then used an emery board type file on a block to make sure they didn't have sharp edges.

Now I just soften them up with a hose and then scrub them a little with a rubber curry thing and they just fall off. Just be sure to not scrub too much. A little chestnut is okay to leave there. I can tell my horse can feel it if I go too far with it.


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## cheyennemymare (Oct 8, 2014)

SueC said:


> The best way to peel chestnuts is to make a v-shaped incision in them and then roast them in a hot oven! Delicious! If you don't make the incision, they will explode (don't ask how I know this :rofl.
> 
> ...eeerrm...hang on...you guys are talking about those dangly horn bits on horse legs... wrong chestnuts! I'm off! ;-)



Sue just made my day! But I just peel them after a hosing. If they're being stubborn, I use a knife. Baby oil and Vaseline also work great.

Happy trails, y'all!:cowboy::runninghorse2::gallop:


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## ksorensen (Jun 15, 2015)

I just use my own nippers. My horses seem to keep theirs pretty "groomed."


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## DuckDodgers (May 28, 2013)

I find it surprising that so many people suggest clipping or cutting them off. With all of the horses I've ridden for a regular period of time over the years I've just peeled them off. That's not all the horses I've ever associated with, but the ones that I've ridden more than a handful of times. There was only one that had really hard chestnuts and I just didn't bother with them. They weren't really protruding or anything. 

I never had to wet them or rub baby oil on them, just peel them right off. Never really did it for any particular reason other than the satisfaction of peeling them off. Nothing I've really put much thought into, I just do it.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

DuckDodgers said:


> I find it surprising that so many people suggest clipping or cutting them off. With all of the horses I've ridden for a regular period of time over the years I've just peeled them off. That's not all the horses I've ever associated with, but the ones that I've ridden more than a handful of times. There was only one that had really hard chestnuts and I just didn't bother with them. They weren't really protruding or anything.
> 
> I never had to wet them or rub baby oil on them, just peel them right off. Never really did it for any particular reason other than the satisfaction of peeling them off. Nothing I've really put much thought into, I just do it.


Same here. I just peel off what comes off and leave the rest. I've never seen a chestnut come off to the point of bleeding, maybe that stems from previous attacks with a knife and bacteria gets in there.


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## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Same as Duck--not all horses I have worked with needed this done, either.


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## BoldComic (Feb 26, 2012)

I take the hoof nippers to mine if they get too big.


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## Tnavas (Nov 29, 2011)

Be VERY CAREFUL if you cut them off with nippers, they do have a blood supply.

Like skin they come of more easily when softened by water. When it rained or you've washed your horse, carefully peel them off, may take several attempts.

If you're not sure ask your farrier to peel them, mine also does my horses ergots when he trims her feet.


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