For those of you with hand arthritis (and even those of you without), I found a new “hack” for removing the “marshmallows” that is easier on the hands than the usual horse shoe nail.
(FTR, I have always used a horse shoe nail - or occasionally the pointy end of the wire brush; though the tip is often not sharp enough…I’m getting out ahead of the responses that will consist of" I just use a horse shoe nail! 
)
Several weeks ago, I was popping out the threadsavers with the horseshoe nail after a particularly muddy overnight T/O - they did NOT want to come out, and my DH was with me, listening to my cries of pain (he tried to help me but his hands are bigger and clumsier), the end of the nail was digging into the pad of my thumb. My hands are already stiff and painful from arthritis - so he said “there has GOT to be a better way to do this!, what about something with a handle?”
You know those men, always coming up with a “solution in search of a problem.”
He suggested an ice pick, but I thought nah - too long and unwieldy (I did look them up online - they are generally also too blunt), but I poked around Amazon and found something PERFECT for the job: Awls.
The wooden handle gives you a good purchase (even when it’s wet), they are the right length, and nice sharp tips! Bonus, they are harder to lose in the grass (or the stall bedding.) 
Last weekend at Morven, we tried them out for the first time - they worked a treat, fast and easy!
There are various types available with different sized and shaped handles, and they are CHEAP! Not free (like horse shoe nails), but they have a lot to recommend them - so I thought I would share with the Eventing Forum - giving my DH full credit, of course.
