I ride or play when there is snow, i made no exeption. But...yes there is a but...
When there is ice or the snow get icy then i dont play wild games or go for a ride.
When your horse is barefoot, he won't slip just because of he is barefoot. His feet are made for this. When a horse is walkinig his feet will go in and out. A very short discription
because of that the snow will fall of again when he lift up his feet.
So you wont have much snow under it, so he wont be slippery. When you walk outside with your own shoes, you will slip because the sole get full of snow.
When you have ice then there is a difference. Then you need spikes, under your own shoes, carwheels or horse if you wanna go faster then walk.
As long you let the horse go and find their own way of walking there is no problem at all. When they are in a hurry you can get trouble.
But it is the same for humans, we can walk over ice slowly in our own speed. When we are chased whe will fall down.
Also quick turns are not so good, but most horses wont do that because they know what ice can do to them, they are not stupid
But you have give them the time to get experiences with snow and ice. So they can learn how far they can go and how to move.
i see unfortunately lots of horses kept inside when there is snow and ice. And sometimes they sneek out and start to run. They will fall down because they dont know exactly what snow or ice can do. And then you get problems.
Let your horse always outside even when there is snow and ice. Don't push them let them free and let them find out by themselves how it works. if you do this from the beginning when it start to snow, you wont get any problems as long you don't force them.
You can see by the snow pics one of my shetty's he is always going with the sled, we even trot and galop on tracks where it is possible and save.
He had never any trouble with a faster speed, when he thinks it is not possible and i think you can do it, we dont...
When he think i can go faster and i agree ofcourse,
then he may go faster.
I let him choose, so far it is save for both of us.