When working with stud holes in a horse shoe, you can spend hours at a competition trying to get the stud hole clean and the thread clean to put the studs in. Well, when the stud holes are put in your horse’s shoes by your farrier, spend some time putting cotton wool with hoof oil or Vaseline. This will keep the holes from getting small stones or grit in them. You can get cotton wool tubes that dentists use and cut them to size (Emma Packford-Garrett) and also use WD40 (Alison Payne) to keep the threads clean and the studs from rusting.
This will give you more time at the competition and allow your back to recover from having to hold the horse’s hoof so much. Also an adjustable spanner will help with the different types of studs and if you can get either an awl or a horse shoe nail, this will help re-plug the stud holes and keep out the grit.
Try and keep the studs in a container that you can keep them oiled or use the WD40 and this will make sure they do not rust.