[MN Tigerstripes]

Alright, my old mare has a tendency to build up very thick snow balls in her hooves. It'll get to the point where her hooves can be like 2" off the ground really quickly (I'm talking like an hour here). I can't imagine this helps her arthritis or tendency to trip. I'm going to spray some Pam on her hooves after cleaning them out really well and then drying them. My horse friend suggested this, but I figured it can't hurt to ask for other suggestions.

Thanks.
Jen

 

[luvmyperch]

Talk to your farrier, they might recommend something like this: Castle Draft Snowball Pad-Centaur Forge I've heard that things like Pam won't last very long.

 

[MN Tigerstripes]

Unfortunately she isn't shod and as she's 29 and probably on her last winter I can't imagine my mom would agree to shoe her (it's her horse). Although they look like they'd work if she was. Thanks for the idea though!

 

[farmpony84]

my first thought was remove the shoes but if she's not shod I would think to put something like vaseline on her hooves. the balls make me nervous when the get them.

 

[MN Tigerstripes]

I didn't think of vaseline, that might work better than the Pam. I hate it when she gets the ice balls. It looks very painful, esp from how she walks. I don't know why she gets them so much worse then the other horses I've had. Maybe because she doesn't move around a lot? Either way, I'm just doing my best to make her as comfy as possible this winter.

 

[QHDragon]

Yeah my first suggestion would have been the snow pads, but if you don't want to shoe her than Vaseline may be your best bet.

 

[PechosGoldenChance]

Although I've never had this happen with any of my horses *knock on wood*, I have heard that vaseline does work pretty good. My friends horse gets those darn ice balls and they suck! Good luck with those horrible ice balls!

 

[My Beau]

I've also seen Crisco used to keep them from forming.

 

[Stillstandin]

I have used Vaseline if my horses were not shod and wearing snow pads. It works OK but has to be reapplied.
Another thing that I have tried and it works is WD40.

 

[AlmagroN]

all those things sound like they would work. we have always just put hoof grease on the bottoms of their feet before they go out.

 

[MN Tigerstripes]

Thanks guys those all sound like good suggestions. I'll test out each of them and find out what works the best.

I spoke with another of my friends and she said that her farrier said that usually if you deeping the scoops in the quarters it can help increase the hoof mechanism (flex) which can help keep the ice balls from forming. I'm going to look into trying that too.