Posted by Derin Foor on October 19, 2003 at 21:43:51:
In Reply to: Re: Winter Shoeing posted by Phil Armitage on October 18, 2003 at 09:26:39:
: : OK folks ----- My stepdaughter just went to work for the paint horse journal. She sent me the email that I am appending to this. I am going to work on answers for her but I thought this would be a good chance for lots of you to generate propaganda, I mean good information.
: : Baron, if this should go over on the horseowners side feel free to move it or let me know and I will repost.
: :
: : Jack-
: :
: : Here are my questions. Thanks for your help.
: :
: : * Who would be some good farriers to talk about shoeing in winter?
: : * What are the different certification levels for farriers? I was looking through the American Farrier's Association Web site and saw different ones. I wasn't sure which are the highest level, etc.
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: : Background questions:
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: : * What are a couple examples of what you would change in the way you shoe a horse for winter?
: : * What are some tips in protecting horses hooves during winter?
: : * What are some things that may come up in the winter regarding hooves that people wouldn't typically think of?
: : * Do shoeing schedules change during the off-season?
: : * What types of shoeing work for different footing?
: : * Anything else I should know about concerning winter shoeing?
: : Part of this is for her information since she moved to Texas - away from her long time shoer (me) and part will probably end up in the paint horse journal and I will make sure that the boards get proper credit as a research resource.
: Since I am located in Maine and winter is our longest season I will jump in on the winter shoeing one. There are a few different ways to go about it, but here the most common method used in Maine. There are basicly four important things to consider for winter shoeing, do you go barefoot or need shoes, type of traction, type of pad to prevent snow and ice from building up in the shoes and scheduling when to do it.
: Barefoot is a common option, winter is a good time for some riders to give there horses feet and pockets a break from shoeing and if you have good snow on the ground it is easy on the feet. If you do not have snow and the ground is frozen, I think this is harsh on the feet unless they have strong hoof and soles. Leaving regular shoes on a horse in the winter is not good, they slip easy, fill up with snow and ice that can ball up to 2-3 inches and place stress on the limbs, barefoot is the way to go if you do not want winter shoes on or can't afford it.
: Front shoes and barefoot behind is the most common, it gives the horse enough traction on the front legs for control on ice and protects the front feet, most horses can handle going barefoot on the hind. This option is also economical.
: If you need front and hind shoes, (like trail riding on ice and rocks etc..)or your horse has poor qaulity feet and they will fall apart if bare then here is what I do. First off you need to consider that hind shoes with borrium or studs can be dangerous to other horses if your horse kicks the borrium or studs can cut another horse real easy. Also if your horse interferes or over reaches they can cause injury to there owne limbs with the shoe and studs. If a rider needs hind shoes, I will usually only put the traction on the heels of the hind shoe, also I find that you do not always need pads on the hind, becuase there is not as much weight compressing the snow, ice and mud into the shoe, I usuall do put snow rim pads on the hind anyways.
: For traction you can use drive in or scew in studs or borruim. I like to use four spots or borrium on front shoes and two on hind shoes in the heels. In the toe I place it just at the end and behind the crease and in the heel between the crease and the end of the shoe centered in the shoe. I like to build up a ball that is slightly tappered 1/4" high and wide. To do this I use 1/8 borrium rods and weld it on with Oxy/ace. Borrium applied like this is good for road, rocks and ice. The other thing I have found is this method is good on stall floors, rubber matts and isle ways. It has some give and does not lock the foot down as much like studs do, which is easier on the limb and floors. I have had customer complaints using studs that it digs up the floors and matts, also vets do not like alot of jarring on the limbs, so borrium seems to be the best answer.
: I like to use the snow rim pads, the black rubber ones work the best. This prevents mud and snow from building up and freezing in the foot. You can also use a snowball pad, with pine tarr and oakum as a packing, it is a full plastic pad with a dimple in the middle that kicks out the snow, this is a good pad if you need full protection on the sole, however it can fill up with water and dirt and after about 4-6 weeks that grit is built up in the dimple and puts pressure on the foot and can cause pain. The snow rim pad does a good job keeping snow and Ice out and the foot is open and clean.
: I start putting winter shoes on the first week of November, this way most of the horses I do will be ready for winter by mid December. The first few weeks in November seems early to some people but I explain from a farriers scheduling and time management end of things this is the way it has to be done if you want to be ready to go for winter, last minute, poor planning is not acceptable, Farriers are to buisy to accomodate last minute requests. All of my customers have gotten the winter shoeing speech and have become accustomed to the schedule and are happy with the results.
: Hope this helps
: Phil Armitage
: South Berwick Maine
Phil,
Thankfully I am a lot farther south from where you shoe but we do get some snow and a few requests for snowball pads, etc....my question is, do you think that if you used Equithane Hoofpak or Impression material under the pads that you might not get the water/ice build-up that the oakum packing allows ?... this is what I have used in this situation and it has seemed to work well although I will conceed that we have a much less severe winter here in central VA than you do WAY up there :)
Derin