Most Horse owners leave the hard work of trimming or shoeing their horse to their horse shoer, otherwise known as a farrier. Keeping a horse’s hooves picked out and trimmed regularly will save the horse and its owner a lot of trouble.
When it comes to hoof maintenance, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. By using a hoof pick regularly to remove stones and other debris that may get lodged in your horse's hooves, you may avoid undue stone bruises and possibly worse consequences. Foreign objects that get lodged in the hoof can work their way up between the laminae (the sensitive vascular tissue in the hoof of a horse) and the horny wall (the outer wall of the hoof.) Once lodged between the wall and the laminae, the object will work its way up the hoof causing great distress to the hoof and the horse. It may eventually exit the hoof above the coronary band, causing lameness and possibly the loss of the entire wall of the hoof.