Mounted search and rescue

[pennbo@bbv.net]

We get quite a bit of snow here too. Unlike Terry's area ours is usually
warm and somewhat slushy so the snow packs in. I have found several ways
over the years to keep the snow from balling up. Barefoot works best-
coupled with a spray of Olive Oil is awesome. (We've found that olive
works better than others. You don't want to use vaseline as its a
petroleum product and absorbed through the pores in the hooves. Not
good. We have a friend who swears by Crisco however!) If you must ride
with shoes we use snow pads- they cover the frog and have what looks
like the half of a tennis ball imbedded. The horse steps, compresses the
'ball', lifts foot, ball decompresses and pops the snow out. Couple them
with ice nails and you can go darn near anywhere- including on pavement,
fairly safely in the winter months.

Chris Pennington
Big Bear Sheriff's Posse
MSAR