This is my first year that my horses are shod appropriately to do more than a walk in the snow. Would you use any sort of boots or wraps when riding? I lean towards no, but just want to be safe.
Well I never use them. But in the snow they are going to get wet and maybe get displaced by the pressure of the snow. So I’d say no. If the surface of the snow is so icy that the horse is cutting his legs breaking through then I wouldn’t ride.
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Good point, so polo wraps are definitely out. But I am not worried about crusty snow cutting my horse. I am mostly worried about overreaching. Trotting through the snow feels similar to cavaletti work. I also have a pair of brushing boots that are waterproof that I was thinking about throwing on, but I also feel like that would cause irritation if snow got in between the leg and the boot.
Over reaching is caused by the horse being slower off the forehand, either because he is on the forehand or because he is sunk in mud. Apparently that’s why horses pull shoes in mud. The mud doesn’t suck the shoes off. Rather the horse treds on the heels of the front feet and pulls them off.
At a guess, after watching my mare play in the first snow of the year yesterday, I’d say snow makes them lift up more in front and makes them more uphill. The snow doesn’t slow the front feet like mud does.
So my guess is there is no increased risk of over reaching in snow.
Now all the horses in my barn inner circle and over at my coach’s barn are barefoot. No one wears leg protection except on the cross country course. No one ever interferes. They aren’t allowed to go around on the forehand.
So it’s all a bit of a non issue in my direct experience.
If you are worried about pulling a shoe bell boots might help?
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I pretty much agree with Scribbler, but would leave on boots you normally use for riding, as long as they won’t get too soggy from the snow. For my mare this would be the front splint boots, mostly because she has a pretty narrow chest and has knocked one front leg against the other occasionally, a couple of times enough to make her lame.
And absolutely NO to polo wraps.
I use splint / galloping boots on all 4 legs and ballistic nylon no-turn bell boots when working in soft snow. My mare is narrow behind and tends to wack herself in the back, more so on uneven footing, and she is also prone to "boinking’ since I can’t ride her enough these days.
When I lived in CT, way back when there was snow on the ground for months, my Morgan was switched to borium shoes with snow studs. Used a coat of vaseline on the inside rim of the shoe before going out for a ride. Never had an issue, even in more than a foot of snow.
Now, my Morgan never needed boots, so that was a non-issue for me. But I’d defiantly not use fleece or neoprene wraps that will get soaked and weighed down. Plastic/PVC bell boots would be fine I think. Leather or synthetic leather splint or hind boots should also be fine. You just don’t want to use anything that can absorb water like a sponge.
Have fun riding in the snow! I really miss that.
The only wrap I would consider is a Saratoga bandage since they are designed to hold a certain amount of water without slipping or shifting- and then only if you needed help with impact protection. Even with a horse who normally wears something on the legs, though, I’d be inclined to take them off. I hate snow, but I have to admit that standing in knee-deep white mess keeps legs tight. 
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Hm in my experience, neoprene boots don’t absorb a lot of water and rarely get weighted down by it. The mare wears the cheapie neoprene Woof boots
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Mine wears inexpensive neoprene/synthetic leather boots - they stay put and don’t “absorb water” that much even when we ride through water. They get wet, sure, but that’s never been a problem. For riding, I’ll take boots over wraps or bandages any day.
I don’t usually use boots in the snow, occasionally I will use inexpensive neoprene boots. I haven’t had any issues in the snow, but I am pretty careful with the conditions.
