# Thing for getting stones out of horses' hooves **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236 "2005-01-29T03:29:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/1 "2005-01-29T03:29:56Z")
On a Swiss Army knife, there are many useful gadgets. Most of them are logical and people know just what they are, such as the magnifying glass, or the scissors, or the corkscrew, etc. As well as several different blades and hooks. But then there’s the “thing for getting stones out of a horse’s hooves”. Absolutely everyone knows that that is what that little spike is for - but they don’t know what its name is, and more than likely they’ve never had to dig a stone out of a horse’s hoof with it. My question is - what is it called? And does anybody really use it for that? On a related note, do the Swiss Army ride horses? ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/2 "2005-01-29T03:38:21Z")
Are you talking about the little pokey thing? It’s usually got a hole in the middle of it? For some reason I thought that was to make holes in leather and stuff… ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/3 "2005-01-29T03:47:34Z")
I believe it’s called a hoof pick. I collect Swiss knives and have seen the tool, but have never used it. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/4 "2005-01-29T03:53:02Z")
An actual hoof pick is a pretty rare thing in a Swiss Army Knife. Its the [bottom blade](http://www.ohalloranco.com/item-equestrian-swiss-army-knife.html). What you are decribing is the punch/reamer. Which is useful if you want to punch and/or ream a small hole in a piece of leather. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/5 "2005-01-29T04:15:45Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > An actual hoof pick is a pretty rare thing in a Swiss Army Knife. Its the [bottom blade](http://www.ohalloranco.com/item-equestrian-swiss-army-knife.html). What you are decribing is the punch/reamer. Which is useful if you want to punch and/or ream a small hole in a piece of leather. Aaah. Indeed, I need to poke holes in leather far more often than I need to pick items out of horses’ hooves. Er…whats the difference between punching a hole and reaming a hole? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/6 "2005-01-29T04:16:40Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > What you are decribing is the punch/reamer. Aha. I wonder if many people make the same mistake, or if I was merely led astray. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/7 "2005-01-29T13:38:53Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Er…whats the difference between punching a hole and reaming a hole? Well, you punch with a fist, while with reaming you . . . :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/8 "2005-01-29T14:14:08Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > On a Swiss Army knife, there are many useful gadgets. Most of them are logical and people know just what they are, such as the magnifying glass, or the scissors, or the corkscrew, etc. As well as several different blades and hooks. > > But then there’s the “thing for getting stones out of a horse’s hooves”. Absolutely everyone knows that that is what that little spike is for - but they don’t know what its name is, and more than likely they’ve never had to dig a stone out of a horse’s hoof with it. The only person who had a knife with “a little thing for getting stones our of horse’s hooves” was Lord Peter Wimsey. Everyone else has an awl. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/9 "2005-01-29T14:50:27Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Er…whats the difference between punching a hole and reaming a hole? Making a hole where there wasn’t one before is punching it, done with an inserting motion. Opening it up wider, with a twisting motion, is reaming it. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/10 "2005-01-29T16:01:54Z")
FYI, a hoof pick is curved and not sharp at all – normally about as “sharp” as a flathead screwdriver. There are parts of a horse’s hoof you could damage with a sharp blade. A photo for the curious: [http://www.statelinetack.com/media/slt/images/products/detail/standard/original\_imgs/in310038\_1713b.jpg](http://www.statelinetack.com/media/slt/images/products/detail/standard/original_imgs/in310038_1713b.jpg) I’ve actually used the Swiss Army Knife awl to put a new hole in a belt I had. So there. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/11 "2005-01-29T17:12:45Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > An actual hoof pick is a pretty rare thing in a Swiss Army Knife. Its the [bottom blade](http://www.ohalloranco.com/item-equestrian-swiss-army-knife.html). Do you mean that curved one? I always thought that was a can opener. Or do you mean the little straight blade next to the corkscrew? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/12 "2005-01-30T00:01:21Z")
It seems to me that this proves my point - a lot of people still don’t know what is what and which is which, or what the ‘hoof pick’ on a swiss army knife actually looks like. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thing-for-getting-stones-out-of-horses-hooves/287236/13 "2005-01-31T00:47:02Z")
If it’s the straight thing that isn’t a knife blade but more of an overgrown toothpick looking thing that’s not a “hoof pick” (which, by the way, is the proper term for the “thing to pry stuff out of a horse’s hoof”) but usually called a punch or an awl. However, if one was hypothetically riding one’s horse and said horse was in need of hoof picking you could, if you were careful, use that device as a hoof pick if you really needed to… but I’d recommend using a real hoof pick, over anything with a real edge or real point. In the past I’ve used fingers and blunt sticks for on-trail hoof cleaning. The formal hoof pick is best, but it’s not the only solution. Like I said, a key point is to avoid hurting the soft parts of the horse’s foot.