Talk:Ponies/@comment-1158325-20120702041744/@comment-95241-20121226012045

I have a relatively simple, biologicly plausible, purely physical explanation (that doesn't involve magnetic horseshoes).

Their hooves are not flat solid on the bottom, they got like a very curved fingernail-like hoof (kind like a U shape, with the opening pointing back) surrounding a regular skin area. And inside there is a balloon-like organ holding some sort of little grains (like bone fragments) and some fluid (blood or sinuvial fluid for example). To pick somthing up they inflate the ballon with fluid, press the soft part against the intended object, then pump the fluid out and the solid grains jam against each other fixing the shape of the "hoofpad" around the object. There is actually a universal robotic gripper IRL that works on pretty much exactly that way (it doesn't got the hard hoof part though).