Winter
Shoes (an exerpt from Maximum
Hoof Power) ©
2008 Cherry Hill ©
Copyright Information
No matter what your event, if you
ride outdoors in a temperate climate in the winter, your horse will have some
special shoeing needs.
To design your winter hoof care program, consider the natural conformation of
your horse's hooves, the level and type of his exercise during the winter months,
the footing in his exercise and turn-out areas, the typical weather patterns in
your locale, and the expertise of your farrier.
The barefoot horse with a naturally balanced hoof, dense hoof horn, and a well-cupped
sole is often able to grip many winter footings without hoof damage. And
a naturally concave sole sheds snow, mud, and slush well. However, a hoof
with a long toe and low heel, brittle or punky horn, and a flat sole has poor
traction and the sole is vulnerable to bruising from frozen ground. During
the winter, the hoof growth rate can slow to almost half its spring rate; that
means the hoof cannot stand a great deal of abrasive wear. Therefore, for
active winter riding, a horse should be shod. Shoeing offers protection
for the hoof and helps to maintain proper balance. In addition, winter shoeing
can serve two other purposes: providing additional traction and preventing snow-balling.
Traction Various amounts of traction are available depending on the techniques
used by your farrier. Rim shoes provide more traction than plain shoes.
Aluminum shoes have a slightly better grab on frozen ground because the metal
is softer. Aluminum racing plates with toe grabs and/or heel stickers could
be appropriate for moderate work in relatively soft footing. Rubber and
plastic shoes tend to provide less traction than either the bare hoof or steel
shoes and are hard and slippery in cold temperatures.
Steel keg shoes with permanent calks forged at the toe and/or heels sink into
semi-frozen ground or "soft" ice and give good traction. However,
on hard ice such shoes are dangerously slippery. Removable studs allow for
adaptation to the constantly changing winter footing conditions.
A hard surfacing material such as Borium (tungsten carbide) can be applied at
the toe and/or heel of the horse's regular steel or aluminum shoes in smears,
beads or points. A torch or forge is used to melt the carrier metal and
adhere carbide grit or chips of various sizes to the shoe surface. Borium
works best when used at a 1/8" to 1/4" thickness on the shoe.
Very effective winter traction devices can be made by applying borium to the heads
of 3/16" by 5/16" flat rivets. These traction buttons are
inserted into holes drilled in front of or behind the last nail hole and are either
brazed or welded in place. Two buttons per shoe will provide sufficient
traction for most winter conditions.
Nails with ribbed or specially hardened heads can be substituted for regular horseshoe
nails to allow a horse to grab onto the ground. The treated heads resist
wear and their points dig into ice. The specialized nails are installed
at the mid-point (3rd or 4th nail holes) of the hoof. This provides optimum
traction without adversely affecting the landing or breakover. Usually two
nails are used per shoe. Extreme ice nail height is an added danger
for both horses and humans in the event of a kick or a mis-step. And although
they do provide good traction in snow or soft ice, when the horse is moving on
uneven frozen ground, commercial ice nails can provide too much stick and torque
which may lead to wrenched joints and other leg problems.
Anti-Snowballing When mixtures of snow, ice, mud, manure, grass, or bedding
accumulate in the sole area, it can pack densely into large rounded ice mounds
that are almost impossible to chip out. The jun ction
of the inner edge of the shoe with the sole provides a place for the mud and ice
to become securely lodged. Snow will melt from the heat of the sole and
freeze onto the metal horseshoe and the snow ball will begin. When a horse
is forced to stand or move on the snowballs, he has decreased stability in his
fetlock joint. His weight is liable to suddenly roll medially, laterally,
forward, or backward. It is extremely fatiguing for his muscles, tendons,
and joint ligaments as he constantly must make adjustments to maintain his equilibrium.
It is easy for a snowballed horse to momentarily lose his balance and wrench a
fetlock. Applying
various substances such as grease to the sole of the barefoot or shod horse or
spraying it with a non-stick cooking coating may prevent snow build-up during
certain temperatures, but only temporarily. Half-round shoes do a fair job
of shedding snow because of the inside rounded edge. However, half-rounds
provide poor winter traction so ice nails or borium should be used with them.
Full pads can help prevent snowballing in some situations. The
choices include plastic, synthetic rubber, sorbothane, and leather (listed in
the order of their ability to resist snow build-up). Full pads with a convex
bubble at the sole seem to be only marginally better than full flat pads at popping
out accumulated snow. Traction is decreased with full pads.
Tube-type rim pads which fit between the shoe and the hoof wall leaving the sole
open are the best anti-snowballing option. The sole retains it's cupped
traction feature, can respire normally, and can descend with weight bearing.
As the horse's weight descends on the hoof the pads flex and dislodge the snow
that accumulates at the junction of the shoe and sole. Tube pads with open
shoes work well in most weather conditions. Bar shoes (egg bar shoes, full
support shoes, etc.) will trap snow and not allow the tube pads to do their job
as effectively.
There are combinations of snow type and temperature where it is impossible to
provide safe traction and prevent snowballing. However, in most types of
winter footing, good results can be obtained by a combination of the horse's normal
shoes with an application of various traction and anti-snowballing devices.  |