Farriers help! Frozen feet?

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

Everyday when I bring my mare in, I have been prying large chunks of ice out of her show. The normally fill in the whole shoe area and then make a ball shape on top of that so she kind of teeters. Also, out in the field she gets these 6 inch snowballs and walks on her toes for awhile untill they break off. She has ice studs on and wears 4 shoes.

My question is: Is she at risk for lameness from the cold? If for some reason I don't bring her in that day, will the ice being left in her foot to melt be bad? I know the ice ball/lump thats forming on top of the ice fill in is awful for weight distribution.

Next question: Is it worth getting that farrier out soon. She's not due until end of December/early January (I don't follow a weekly calendar, when she gets long, I call my farrier) Should I have him come out to put pads on her? If she gets pads, a fil should go under the pads right? She is one of few horses in my barn that is thrush free right now (yay!) so I know I dont have to worry about that.


Thanks for all the help :)

[vbunny]

Put a bunch of vaseline in her soles and the ice won't stick and form balls. Her feet won't freeze, you can stand a horse in ice for days and they will be fine. the blood vessels constrict so that the cold feet don't make the rest of the horse cold like happens with humans.

[MistyBlue]

They make rim pads for keeping snow and ice from building up in the hoof, those do not coveer the entire sole so don't trap moisture in there. I use those on my shod horse, never had a snowball in the hoof. It's just a rounded rim of rubbery pad that's shaped like the shoe leaving the center of the hoof uncovered. Maybe ask about those?

[In the Air]

We used to spray the bottoms of their feet with Pam before turnout. Worked great.

[Posting Trot]

The horse needs snow pads or rim pads. The Pam trick really only works for about half an hour to an hour (so depends how long the horse is turned out).

If there's ice in the pasture, the horse should have either studs or borium on the shoes for traction.

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

No ice in the pasture but the walk up to the pasture is a killer haha.

She's out with a barefoot horse for about 6-8 hours a day. I'll try the vaseline for now and then have teh farrier come out when she's due to do pads unless it gets bad or she becomes lame.

[Guin]

You could use Easyboots for turnout.

[Daydream Believer]

Consider also that winter is a great time to pull shoes and give horses a break from them.

[JB]

Everyday when I bring my mare in, I have been prying large chunks of ice out of her show. The normally fill in the whole shoe area and then make a ball shape on top of that so she kind of teeters. Also, out in the field she gets these 6 inch snowballs and walks on her toes for awhile untill they break off. She has ice studs on and wears 4 shoes.
Snow pads ;) Things like vaseline or Pam or silicone spray might work - for a while - but too often they don't. You can try though.

My question is: Is she at risk for lameness from the cold?
The cold? No. The snow/ice balls could cause serious harm though.

You could use Easyboots for turnout.
Unless you put borium studs on the boots, those boots will be a lot more slippery than what's on the feet now.

[JB]

Consider also that winter is a great time to pull shoes and give horses a break from them.
But, since the ground is/will be soon frozen, if these feet are not in great shape, it's a bad time ;)

[AnotherRound]

Also, the pads are packed with stuff (forget what) and dirt can't get under full pads. The rim pads, I don't know about, because I know they pack those, but I think dirt and moisture can get under them because the edge is exposed. I personally like full pads better than rim pads, but your farrier will know what would be good. I had my mare in full pads every day of the years I had her, and she never had thrush or a problem. Kriz brothers shod her, so they were uber good, but still, if its done right, shouldn't be a problem.

Just sayin.

[trubandloki]

Another vote for the snow rim pads. Best thing ever. They work great at keeping the snow balls out. Plenty of area left to easily pick the feet, etc.

I would be far more worried about an injury due to the walking on rounded stilts affect of the snow balls than the cold.

I have tired the Vaseline and cooking spray ideas. None worked for more than a little while. Snow pads are wonderful.

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

I pulled her shoes last winter and she did fine until around the end of February when her feet just started getting pretty bad and she was ouchy. This is from a mare who has never taken a lame step in her life(*knocking on wood*) so the farrier wanted to wait and not put shoes on her midwinter. When they finally put them on in early April, it took till August for her feet to be back to normal. I wont try to pull them again for awhile lol.

So, she I call the farrier and have him out right away or wait till she's due?

[Daydream Believer]

But, since the ground is/will be soon frozen, if these feet are not in great shape, it's a bad time ;)

Since the OP did not mention a problem, I did not assume there was one...and if that is the case, I would have suggested that she use boots as needed.

[Daydream Believer]

I pulled her shoes last winter and she did fine until around the end of February when her feet just started getting pretty bad and she was ouchy. This is from a mare who has never taken a lame step in her life(*knocking on wood*) so the farrier wanted to wait and not put shoes on her midwinter. When they finally put them on in early April, it took till August for her feet to be back to normal. I wont try to pull them again for awhile lol.

So, she I call the farrier and have him out right away or wait till she's due?

I'm not sure I'm understanding so let me repeat what I think I'm getting from your post. Your farrier pulled the shoes in early winter and months later she came up lame...and then the farrier did not want to reshoe her? Why not? What exactly did he/she do to help your mare until she was reshod in April?

Please realize that there are other options than shoes for hoof protection and support and no horse should be left to limp around sore.

[JB]

Since the OP did not mention a problem, I did not assume there was one...and if that is the case, I would have suggested that she use boots as needed.

Oh, I know, but since we don't know the state of the OP's horse's feet, it's just something to be aware of should she decide to maybe pull the shoes at this point of the year :)

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

I'm not sure I'm understanding so let me repeat what I think I'm getting from your post. Your farrier pulled the shoes in early winter and months later she came up lame...and then the farrier did not want to reshoe her? Why not? What exactly did he/she do to help your mare until she was reshod in April?

Please realize that there are other options than shoes for hoof protection and support and no horse should be left to limp around sore.

She wasn't limping around. She was ouchy. As in a little just a smidge to sensitive to work. Bute on days it was really bad. 5/7 days you could barely tell(but she's mine so I can sense even a slight difference) so it was not that bad. I wouldn't even call it lame. Just a little sore on her feet. Less severe than the normal ouchiness that normally comes with some horses when they get their shoes back on after having them off all winter but still enough that I would only do light walk trot, and canter only on the lunge.

The farrier did not want to put shoes back on her (1) to see if it could work itself out and (2) did not want to make any soreness problems worse by shoeing her in the middle of winter. I don't use that farrier anymore as he was a big barefoot believer and shoes definitely was not what he was good at. Different issue, I LOVE my farrier now. I refuse to pull her shoes though.

[Daydream Believer]

It sounds more like your horse's problems were the farrier and not the shoes or lack of shoes. A good trimmer who specializes in barefoot work or farrier who doesn't want to shoe a horse for some reason will recommend other options to help an "ouchy" or sore horse like yours was....like the boots I mentioned. I can't imagine how shoeing a horse in winter, versus summer, fall or spring, would make a horse's soreness problems worse....that makes no sense. I do think you are better off with another farrier.

If you are not willing to go barefoot with your horse in the winter, than you must have the rim or full pads the other folks here have recommended. Leaving the snow to pack in the feet is a very bad idea.

[Daydream Believer]

Oh, I know, but since we don't know the state of the OP's horse's feet, it's just something to be aware of should she decide to maybe pull the shoes at this point of the year :)

It sounds like going bare is not an option for her so I guess it's a moot point. :)

[Penthilisea]

Back on topic here...

Yes, I would call the farrier out NOW rather then wait till she;s due. Those snowballs she makes after the Pam wears off can cause serious strains to tendons, or nasty slips and falls that can result in fractures of pretty much anything, including the pelvis. Rim pads are great IMO, but full pads work well also. If your horse has shoes, and is turned out in winter, they need pads to keep the snow out. Period. Sad but true.

[nadasy]

We've been dumped on with massive snow and winds and yesterday was the first time in 3 days I could get my horse out, and that was in a small part of his pasture around the barn.

I cleaned his feed out and spread vaseline inside. I shoveled and packed a path from the door to the gate, and then walked around to kind of pack things down a bit.

In the last 5 years, we have been out of here before the bad weather, so Sno-Pads weren't necessary. We now have the date we can leave (the 18th/19th) and until then just have to use Vaseline. It does work for about 4 hours with Harry, and more than that because of the high winds, he doesn't want to be out in it anyway, so temporarily it is a solution. We can't get out of here now even if we wanted to, it's so bad, so until we can, we'll just hope for the best.

When we stayed here, both horses had Sno-Pads. When Beanie was still competing, we pulled his shoes for the Winter, but as he got older he needed the stability and he had Sno-Pads as well.

It's always a balancing act when Mother Nature is involved.
Dinah

[Tom Bloomer]

In another thread someone suggested wrapping shoe and the bottom of the feet with duct tape. I thought it was a great idea. However, getting duct tape to stick to a foot that is already greased . . . :no:

[JB]

Wouldn't duct tape make for a very slippery foot? Unless you maybe poked holes for the borium studs.

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

Called the farrier today. Pulled her down to four hours of turnout. When seh comes in we go straight to the wash stall and i run warm water of the ice balls until they come out (broke my beloved hoofpick trying to get the out yesterday ugh) and then lunge her a bit to get the blood flowing. I hope thats enough for now. The vaseline did not work :(

[Dazednconfused]

Maybe I missed it but why are you worried about getting the blood flowing in her feet (because of the snow)?

[goeslikestink]

Put a bunch of vaseline in her soles and the ice won't stick and form balls. Her feet won't freeze, you can stand a horse in ice for days and they will be fine. the blood vessels constrict so that the cold feet don't make the rest of the horse cold like happens with humans.

thats what i do

[Rick Burten]

Actually, since your farrier studded the shoes but did not at least discuss with you adding snow ball pads to the package, s/he was remiss in their duty and that is unacceptable.

[Not So Practical Horse(WO)man]

Actually, since your farrier studded the shoes but did not at least discuss with you adding snow ball pads to the package, s/he was remiss in their duty and that is unacceptable.

We dont normally get snow this early. Or at least it snows and then is melted in a day. The snow that stays around usually comes in January.