winter with shoes on a horse

Question
This is my first horse that has shoes on the front feet. I notices that the snow builds up and stays of her feet. I was wondering should I take the shoes  off. I am afraid that this will cause problems for her.

Answer
Hello Julie, thanks for your question!
The answer is a bit more complex than just "shoes off" or "shoes on"...it all depends on what you want to do during the winter with your horse and how often you ride her.
Many people remove shoes in the winter to give the horse's hooves a chance to recover from shoes and also in part to prevent snow-balling - what you noticed with your mare.
Barefoot horses in winter, if they are not ridden too much are a great thing. On the other hand, if you do a lot of training and riding and/or you really don't want your horse to be barefoot (even during summer), there are pads your farrier can add to the shoes that help prevent snow buildup to an extent. Some people also use Crisco shortening and pack it into the bottom of the hooves before they go riding but with a bare hoof, none of this is really necessary. Pads that my horse had on when she was still shod were these, called "rim-pads":http://www.hoofnail.com/pads_huf.htm. The inner part of this pad is a flexible tube that compresses and lets loose again when the horse steps in snow and helps minimize snow build up...at least the worst part of it. If it is really icy, you may still get some snowballs, though, that's unfortunately the case with shod horses....
Full pads that cover the bottom of the hoof completely also exist but I don't like these too much since you can often end up with really soft hooves and infections since the bottom of the hoof can stay too wet and microbes can get in there...the advantage of rim-pads is that they still allow you to see and pick out the hoof and see what is going on.
So, I hope you may consider pulling her shoes for the winter (but still provide trimming every 4-6 weeks!). How much and what kind of riding do you do? Why are you afraid that she may not be able to be barefoot? Please let me know so that I can hopefully answer your question in a bit more detail.

Take care,
Christine