Help! Pony with frozen feet!

Natch

Natch

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Well, not literally but as near as!

He's a welsh colt living out with two others. His owner has just rung me up to google to find something for the bizarre situation she has got with his feet - so I thought I'd ask here as well!

all on his pastern down to his coronet band is frozen with ice. He is close behind, and he is not moving very comfortably as a result - not sure whether its because his feet are cold, or because he is brushing the ice against the other leg.

No stable to bring him in to.
frown.gif
She is hoping to sort that in the next week, but can't get them to the livery yard in this snow & ice - catch 22.

She has got an undercover area where she can bring him in to tie him up and... then what? What will take ice off his legs and keep it off? Its a concrete floor so she is worried about washing them off and the water freezing on the floor. Its -7 there at present.

I can only think of things like WD40, de-icer or a salt solution to get the ice off - obviously very sparingly on a cloth or something, and trying not to get it onto his skin (he has funny skin at the best of times, god knows what de-icer would do to it!)

... um... help? Any better ideas than mine? And how do you get it to stay off?
 
mine had icilcles in her feathers this morning - i have put her turnout socks on tonight - they are supposed to be for preventing mud fever but am using to keep legs warm.
if you put hands around them they melt a little and just pull them off.
 
Oh dear, mine all come in with ice balls on their feathers - I remove them but they just come straight back when I turn them back out! I have taken the feathers off my cob and that seams to help. Good Luck!
 
I would put anything wet on his legs. It'll just freeze again and make things worse. I'd bandage over a load of straw to get them to melt.
 
Thanks everyone! Have passed on the advice to the increasingly cold owner (its -12 now!) who has defrosted them as much as possible and applied mud away to the first pone. Ran out of that so going to use vaseline on the next 2.

4 legs down, 8 to go!

Thanks for the advice!
 
Hi, hope it is sorted now.

It sounds almost like the ice balls that long haired dogs get on their legs, if he was mine, and I realise that purists will burn me at the stake for this, I'd trim his feathers, but I don't show so it wouldn't matter.

Just something you may wish to keep in mind, I have this on good advice, ie my Vet, he knows what he is talking about, he has been an Equine Vet for 40 years in Canada, I had such a lecture from him when I suggested using vaseline!

Baby oil is good, vaseline not good and can freeze in the sort of temperatures you are talking about, I have never tested the theory because I threw the stuff out. He does know what he is talking about, he has been an Equine Vet for more than 30 years, as far as my horses are concerned, what he says goes.
 
thanks Enfys for the heads up on the vaseline freezing never thought that it would happen but I did mean something oily just back from checking my 3 and my 2 girls who live out have icy feathers so will baby oil them tomorrow after the farrier has been not put vaseline on.
 
He is a WELSH Colt - therefore, a Mountain & Moorland Breed.
M&Ms can quite happily live out on the hills and moors (even a lowland field!!!), and they forage in all weathers.
I do hope you were not serious in thinking about spraying WD40 or De-Icer onto a horse's skin?
Leave him out with the others, with lots of grub and a good water supply.
 
Icicles on the feathers are not a problem as a rule. Just goes to show how little body heat is being lost from the area. The feathers are great insulation and skin should be fine underneath. If he were mine I should leave well alone.x
 
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