Ask an Expert    Shoeing Winter Shoes       Trimming for Function Q. Through winter, I like to ride my horse outdoors on mild days - across fields and on roads - but mostly work I him in an arena with coarse sand footing. He's ridden three to four days a week. What's the best shoeing solution for frozen ground, snow, ice and sand? A. Tom Collins, Calgary area farrier and technical consultant at Hoof and Nail Farrier Supplies in Calgary, assisted with this question: To shoe your horse for both outside and arena use, you'll need to consider snow control and traction. For working in snow, various home remedies might help on a temporary basis with snowballing, caused by the warmth of the hoof and the cold of the iron shoe. You might try brushing liquid glycerin, available at most drug stores, on the bottoms of your horses' feet. Instead of snow packing into the sole and hardening into unstable, icy rockers, snow won't accumulate. A more satisfactory solution is probably the use of regular pads, rim pads such as Huf-Grip, No-Snow or Cemtec, or full snow pads with shoes. The latter have convex ball shapes in the center that 'pop' the snow out and, since the whole foot is covered, protect the frog and sole from sharp ice. A possible drawback with the full pad is that when used in an arena, they may cause pressure points due to sand build-up under the pads. Rim pads leave the frog area bare and may be a better choice for the arena. There are also various traction devices that rely on tungsten carbide to make shod feet grip, including Borium, Drill-tek, Duratrac nails, and screw-in or drive-in caulks. These will bite into concrete, asphalt or ice and can give aggressive traction. Too much traction is not a good thing. If you increase traction, you also increase the torque on the shoe itself, which may necessitate drawing clips on the shoes. The unshod foot naturally rotates the heel outwards as a horse moves and to resist that tendency too much can cause stress to joints, lameness and even spiral fractures of the pastern and cannon bones. When using studs for traction, another drawback is that all the stress and torque is transferred to the nail shaft inside the hoof wall. In some feet with poor quality hoof wall this can do damage over time. Generally speaking, hoof walls are healthier with less traction than more. Stress is unavoidable with any traction mechanism, so finding a happy medium that works best for your particular circumstance is best. Because you ride both inside and out in the winter, screw-in caulks may be your best solution, as you can remove them when you are working indoors. Back to Top Q. How can I tell if my horse's feet are naturally functioning well? Is there a simple way to look at the feet to see if there are problems with them or with the way he is being trimmed or shod? A. Don MacKenzie, a farrier from the Calgary, Alberta area, who specializes in balancing the hoof and optimizing hoof function answers: A natural approach to have the feet functioning equally as they are designed to do, can be achieved in proper trimming methods. Trimming is very important because it is optimizing the foot function naturally, and getting to the source of the problem. A horse should not be landing on a stretched out toe, but on to the foot's break-over point, which is the natural balance point where the bone in the foot can function and bend properly. Proper trimming should allow where the hairline begins above the hoof to be approximately parallel with the point of the frog on the bottom of the hoof. Also the distance from the point of the frog to the toe should have a ratio in comparison to the whole hoof, of being shorter - not stretched out and longer. To read your horse's feet in a simple form, you can set a pencil down on the bottom of the hoof running from the top of the bulbs through the centre of the frog. Each side of the hoof should be symmetrical. If the hoof is uneven on one corner or side, it would be like an unbalanced hammock with four ropes when one of the ropes is not pulled tight and not aligned, it throws the balance of the hammock out. Another way to measure the foot is to see if the bulbs on the heel square up to the frog and that one is not extremely higher than the other or rolled under. You can use a t-square ruler for this. The bulbs of the hoof should be big and plump if functioning correctly. If they are squeezed together or contracted then the suspension system is not being utilized properly. Now, if a problem is detected in one foot area it actually may be the other foot causing stress on the opposite foot. This is why it is important to use a qualified farrier to detect these issues. Frequent trimming and consistency in hoof management is a must for healthy feet and to reestablish proper hoof function in even the most twisted foot. These principals apply with or without the use of shoes. Every four weeks is a good maintenance program for trimming feet and stimulating growth, but can be as often as weekly in severe cases where ongoing foot corrections are taking place. Back to Top IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: At westernhorsereview.com our 'Ask an Expert' page is not intended to replace diagnosis or treatment of your horse by your veterinarian or other professionals; westernhorsereview.com does not assume any legal responsibilty.