Snow & ice build-up in hooves

[nassaunellie]

Hello all,

I have heard that if you spray the sole of your horses hooves with Pam cooking oil spray that the snow will not stick or if it does it will be easier to remove. With this cold weather I have to literally hammer away on their hooves twice a day to remove the hard build-up of snow and ice. They are walking around on rounded snow impaction to the point that their hooves are not even touching the ground. Being so cold, it is very hard to remove and I have to really use the pick like a hammer to start a hole where I can get under the snow pack.

Anyone out there have any nifty tricks for this problem?

 

[Holly at WhiteTailsMinis]

I think you could also use vasiline (sp).

 

[DrivinTime]

I tried Pam last year. It's easy to apply but doesn't last very long - a day at most. We haven't had much of a problem yet this year, so I haven't been using anything.

I did read on another forum that you can use a small hammer (like a kid's sized real hammer) to remove the ice balls by tapping them from the front of the hoof toward the back. I'm going to try that as it is said to work better than chipping away with a hoof pick as I've been doing.

It would be great if somebody would invent "rubbers" for minis... You know, something stretchy that could be pulled onto each hoof...

I'm so ready for spring to get here...

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I used Pam the last time I had that problem and it did help although as someone said, it seems to wear off with the first removed iceball. I would try Vaseline as well. My big horse gets rubber snow pads put in his front shoes and that helps tremendously, I've often wondered if we could do something like that for the minis. Could we pack their feet with something so the ice can't get a foothold?

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