My barn does a good job at snow removal but there’s always that residual left that packs hard and gets icy. I dread leading my horse the 50 yards from the barn to the indoor arena over it. The horse does fine, but my leather-soled boots are really dicey on it. Has anyone found a solution for slick boot soles short of shoe traction devices like YakTraks?
You can try scoring the soles with a knife, but I’m not sure that would get the amount of purchase you need.
Different boots for barn work?
Are your boots pull ons or do they have zippers? If zippers I would just put my boots on once I got to the indoor.
Good old fashioned rubber galoshes!
https://www.tingleyrubber.com/collections/over-the-shoe/products/workbrutes-hi-top-overshoe
Or these ice spikes if it’s really bad-- they wouldn’t rub your leather boots the way yaktraks might: https://www.tingleyrubber.com/collections/ice-traction/products/winter-tuff-ice-traction-spikes
Those simple old pull on rubbers over the boots worked for me.
Can they sand the area??? if it’s really only a 50 yard path? Maybe using a wheeled grass seeder??
The problem isn’t arena, it’s the path from the barn to it. If you want to ask the barn to sand a 3’ wide strip 150’ long and several I nches deep or DIY ? That’s a lot of sand for a couple of months a year sporadic issue. OP is not in upstate New York or similar.
My barn makes a poop path to the arena using dirty bedding from stalls. The wet/dirty bedding sticks to the ice really well but it’s not pretty. I just wear the YakTracks over my winter riding boots when needed.
I was thinking Tingley rubbers or those Futi kind might help with traction (can’t remember what the bottoms of the Futis look like but seems they were a scored rubber). Or if horse really has no issue, but you do, get on before walking to the arena?
If wearing rubbers over your boots, you absolutely must remove them before mounting. Rubber overboots and stirrups are a bad mix.
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Y’all are lifesavers! I live in icy Chicago and was just lamenting yesterday how hard it is to walk the dog the day after a snow fall. Yaktrax, where have you been all my life! Just ordered a pair.
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Just lightly sand the pathway…think how lightly they sand roads…it’s not much at all and certainly not completely covering it. Just enough for traction.I do it on my walkways just throwing out handfuls of sand. Sounds like that pathway might be a liability for the owners as I bet others are having the same problem. Arctic Ice Muckboots are the only ones that have worked for me outside of Yak Traks. I live in Montana. Slipping on Yak Traks for the trip over then removing them before mounting? Might be the safest. Lots of times I take my riding boots to the indoor and change into them there.
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Agree that the better solution would be to make the path safer, which really doesn’t seem insurmountable. One up/back pass with de-icer salt in a garden spreader would probably work for a week or more. You don’t need to melt it completely, just get the surface rough and pitted.
It’s not really a path; its a graveled courtyard mainly used for parking between a boarding barn and the arena barn. It gets driven over by riders’ cars and the barn’s service vehicles hauling feed & straw. Current ground ice will pretty much stay around 'til early March.
I was hoping to perhaps find an adhesive traction sole that could be applied to the boot’s leather soles. The YakTraks are great but bit of a hassle to put on and remove repeatedly.
https://www.amazon.com/Bare-Ground-BGSG-1-Adhesive-Slippery/dp/B00A39ZONG
https://www.amazon.com/Sure-Sole-Womens-Shoes-Small/dp/B01L37NH80/ref=asc_df_B01L37NH80/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309807159760&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17875077298666279581&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018544&hvtargid=pla-633252112277&psc=1
These are both cheap enough that it’s worth a try
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Google “ice cleats” and you will find a wide variety of thingees you can slip over your boots and then slip off when no longer needed. They are a godsend!
ETA: here’s a recent video review
https://wiki.ezvid.com/best-ice-traction-cleats
ETAII: I use Stabilicers myself (see video above). They are easy to slip on and off, are light weight, and work.
I would be uncomfortable with a sole with extra traction in a stirrup. The concern being a potential increase of risk of getting “hung up” in the stirrup with a fall.
I used to use the Tingley type pull on rubbers when I lived in the northeast and had the same problem - I was riding after work so it was dark and the path down to the indoor was always icy and frankly treacherous. I hated it. Putting on the rubbers helped ME, but the horse was still stuck gingerly making his way down the path and there were plenty of OH SH*T moments, so you have my sympathy, OP! (I solved the problem by moving roughly 750 miles south.)
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way back before “cheese grater” stirrup pads and the like were around, my trainer would put sand paper pads they use for sanding floors on her boot soles. I think they’re already peel and stick for the floor sanders and come in all different types of coarseness for what needs sanding. Not sure how they’d hold up in damp weather but it wasnt’ something she threw on her boot soles every show -
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I’m going to try the Sure-Soles. They appear to be non-abrasive and won’t mar the hardwood floors when worn indoors.
