Lincoln Bot Knife – Curved Blade Horse Grooming Tool with Plastic Handle

Lincoln Bot Knife

The bot knife is a single-purpose grooming tool: a short curved blade with a serrated edge, set in a moulded plastic handle, used to scrape bot fly eggs off the hair. The eggs are cemented to individual hairs, usually on the forelegs, shoulders and belly, and no brush or curry comb will shift them.

Drawn along the coat at a shallow angle, the serrations catch the eggs and lift them clear while the curve of the blade keeps the edge off the skin. It is a late-summer and autumn job rather than a daily one, so the knife spends most of the year in the bottom of the grooming box — but nothing else in the box does the same work.

Performance & Benefits

• Curved, serrated edge scrapes bot eggs from the hair shaft, where brushes simply slide over them.
• Moulded plastic handle keeps the hand clear of the blade and holds a grip when wet.
• Short blade is easy to control on legs and around the elbow and stifle.
• Light enough to work over a whole horse without tiring the wrist.
• Rinses clean in seconds, so eggs are not carried on to the next horse.

Suitable For

• Horses and ponies turned out through bot fly season, from midsummer to the first frosts.
• Legs, shoulders, belly and flanks, where eggs are most often laid.
• Yards grooming several horses that want a tool kept for this one job.
• Not a general grooming tool — for loose hair and dried mud, a curry comb or the Lincoln Grooming Block is the right choice.

How to Use

• Work in good light and start on the legs and shoulders, where the small pale eggs show up against the hair.
• Hold the blade at a shallow angle to the coat and draw it along the hair, away from the skin.
• Use short strokes and light pressure, letting the serrations do the work rather than pressing down.
• Wipe the blade as eggs build up on it, and dispose of what comes off rather than leaving it in the bedding.
• Rinse and dry the knife fully before it goes back in the grooming box.

Specification

• Metal serrated blade with a moulded plastic handle. One size.
• Lincoln barcode 5027286054218.
• Lincoln publish no blade length, handle material or dimensions for this tool, so none are stated here.
• A weight of 0.150kg appears on the store record. Lincoln publish no weight, so it is not repeated here as a specification.

Care & Caution

• The blade is serrated and sharp enough to cut skin. Keep your fingers behind the handle and store it out of reach of children.
• Work away from the skin, and not over cuts, sores, scabs or the thin skin of the face.
• Stop if the horse will not stand — a bot knife needs a still horse and a settled handler.
• Do not use it as a scraper on tack, wire or plastic, which turns the serrations over.
• Taking eggs off the coat is grooming, not treatment. Talk to your vet about worming and bot control.