Research

The humane twitch are metal or wooden pliers consisting of two levers, which are connected to each other by means of a hinge, a ring or a rope. The two arms are straight or bent. In the former case, the joint ensures that there is space left when the tool is squeezed shut; so the lip is not squashed. The double arc in the second case serves the same purpose. A rack on one of the arms and a ring on the other make it possible to hold the tool in a certain position; a rope attached to an arm fulfills the same role. The humane twitch pinches the very sensitive upper lip (1) of a horse during treatment to divert the animal's attention and to induce a calming and sedative effect in case of disturbing (e.g. eye care) or painful procedures (cf. nose twitch) (2). [MOT] (1) According to '' Antique medical instruments '': 226 the tongue would be caught, but there seem to be no other traces of that method. (2) From an animal welfare point of view, the nose twitch seems to be preferred...

Pliers with which the farrier examines sick, painful hooves. Pain can arise in the hoof because changes in shape of the horny parts exert a pressure on the parts located therein and because internal parts of the hoof are swollen and therefore exert direct pressure on the nerves of the hoof.The hoof tester is a fairly large pair of tongs (approx. 30-40 cm long) with a jaw that can open wide so that the hoof can between them. The jaws are rectangular or round in cross section and have studs on the end. The different parts of the hoof are pinched with the forceps; Based on the reaction of the horse, one can determine the painful place. [MOT]

The horn file (1) is used to work hard wood, horn, ivory or lead by friction. It is a metal straight or curved rod (15-25 / 0.5-3 / 0.5 cm) with deep parallel notches in the width, inserted into a short wooden handle of about 15 cm (2). The tool can be distinguished from the rasp for wood, which has points. [MOT] (1) Proper name unknown. Because the tool is widely used to process horn, we propose this name. (2) See a special model that resembles an iron in ROUBO: 3 pl. 328.

Awl (approx. 20 cm long) used to break large blocks of ice into pieces. The awl is held at an angle of 45 ° and the tip is pushed into the ice to break it. This is continued until flakes of the desired size are obtained. An ice pick can also consist of six shorter awls (about 3 cm) next to each other at some distance so that it has a fork-like shape (1). [MOT] (1) According to BRIDGE & TIBBETTS: 55, this instrument would be used to sculpt ice.