snow problems - hoofs packed with snow.

floppy

Active Member
Feb 25, 2001
4,173
5
38
germany
so..we have had a surprise hit of snow for that past two days. The 3 horses are unprepared for this
(no winter grip in the shoes to stop snow packing in and preventing the horses walking around on stilettos)

basically what do i/we do?

do we take the shoes off compeltely until january when blacksmith comes again?

do we ask someone to take shoes off, installed grip and nail shoes back on through same holes?? - that idea im not so sure off with because the field is soo muddy i reacon the shoes would just rip off.

sugestions please (other than the greasing idea as i tried that today and it was useless)

how do you all cope those without winter shoes???

the horses have an open stable - half matted half paved. which has no doors the stabling itself i reacon would be too confined if we were to seperate them up and ''shut'' them in...and they have a small paddock then are allowed on all year round when not out in the fields. Paddock - water logged...very muddy...our wood chip idea worked for milder weathers...but for extreme weather was not enough.

oh such a mess!!! :( :( :(



usually elja has in november already the winter tyres on her hooves but new yard, new horse owners, blacksmith lives 3hrs away and wont come down for 3 horses...black smith was in area last week...new owners said to wait until january because evil Anne told them we wouldnt need it...and we do!!!!!!!!!!:(
 
This is just a guess...I have never actually used them, but what about some sort of easy boot. I know some of them have some kind of grip on the bottom of them. Hope that you can figure something out.
 
We leave our shoes off during the winter because they are really slippery on the ice.

One thing I can suggest, and it does work, that you spray some sort of non-stick cooking oil on the underside of your horses' hooves, and the snow won't stick. Of course you'll have to keep up with it, or the snow will rebuild.
 
I only know this from it being the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question, so don't all jump on me if it's nonsense ;) :D

But apparently in the Grand National one year there were freak weather conditions and several inches of snow - to prevent the horses hooves' slipping they filled them with butter!

Could be worth a try...?
 
I'm surprised vaseline or grease isn't working, is the snow particularly dry and powdery? Last time we had snow I wondered where all the snowballs had come from in the turnout field...:eek:
 
My farrier has some kind of rubber-ish material that he can put on the sole, inside the hoof, as a pad. It comes as a liquid; he squeezes it onto the sole, and puts something plastic across it so it won't stick to the floor. Then he puts the hoof down and waits about five minutes. When you pull the plastic off, voila! Hoof packed with rubbery material.

If you could get something like that, you could surely apply it yourselves. It could keep the snow from packing in, and it would also help a little with the slipperyness.
 
we have hoof grip...see piccie below. Vaseline didnt work...one..i had a hell of a job smearing it on..then when it was on i walked a horse stright through the paddock quick to see what would happen, he got snow packed up in the hooves then the only thing it did do was make it easier getting the balls out but then the vaseline came clear out too. We had 30cms of snow this morning and wher eits dry snow everywhere its wet snow in the paddock because of the mud :(

our winter ''tyres'' consist of hoof grip, ice nails and studs
 

Attachments

  • 2.jpg
    2.jpg
    7.8 KB · Views: 147
heres a picture of a horse with grip in the shoes...best thing..you can ever consider using in your set of shoes for the winter...they last about 2 winters. i still have eljas from last last year. which she will have again this year they cost about 5 euros (£3.30) a pair and she normally has them from november - march/april
 

Attachments

  • hginfo05.jpg
    hginfo05.jpg
    17.5 KB · Views: 150
The stuff I'm talking about is easily applied at any time *after* the shoe is on--doesn't go between the hoof and the shoe. So it could be done anytime, whether your farrier is coming out or not. It could be done long after the shoe is put on. You could get some of this stuff and use it now, and then put your winter pads in next time they do have a farrier visit.
 
We dont have that much snow here, and it usually last for 5 days (the last 2 days being slush rather than snow!) We tried Vaseline but as you have found it does s-d all!

We just grin and bear it, pick any large snowballs out of hooves and let the horses get on with it. The largest snowball I found made Dipity about 15.3hh instead of 14.2hh!

You could take the shoes off as bare feet accumulate less snow. I found that the unshod horses had lots smaller snowballs; about 1" or so instead of 3-5"!!
 
We've got lots of snow of course, and the horses have worn winter shoes since September. They 4 have fixed studs.

In addition, many of the horses have those hoof grip thingies that Floppy posted about.

But whatever you use I reckon the hooves can fill with snow of it's soft, just like it will built up underneath your shoes. Maybe filling the hooves with epoxy (?) or similar will help, as it's smooth.

But I know next to nothing about hooves...Maybe cvb or FjordFia can offer some advice, they have ridden in Sweden a lot!

I would not think taking the shoes off is a good idea in case you get ice on the ground - especially if it's covered with a thin layer of snow! One of the horses at the yard pulled off two shoes the other day, and later fell on her face, cutting her lip really deep!
 
Olavs, I have also ridden in snow alot we have from october until march snow..i live 800m above sea level and we have always a good 60cm-1m....and thats alot of snow for a little icelandic :D

I have just been caught out this year :( as i moved my horse in september to 500m above sea level...and ther eis only a 20cms of snow but because the ground wasnt frozen when it snowed the snow packed up in the hooves big time. But for te horses right now without their winter set of shoes it wouldnt make a difference if they had shoes or not...the only thing we have done to solve problem is to ''shut'' them in at night and shut them out during the day...so if they do develop high heels from the snow at least they can stand bette rin the snow than on hard ground.
 
newrider.com