Are your horses slipping on the roads or in your yards

Champion Ventair or Charles Owen GR8

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duffybop1997

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Hi! I would be really interested to hear from anyone experiencing problems with horses slipping on hard surfaces. I am a horse owner myself and have problems in some circumstances, i have alot of experience in aggregates and asphalt and want to do some research in this area and find out what the rest of the horsey world thinks.
 
It's always bad when the surface is really dry. Never understood that, when a car slips more when it's wet. I guess I should have paid more attention in physics!
 
They have recently resurfaced all the roads around here and unless I get my farrier to put road nails in all round, none of my horses can stand up. Even with road nails they tend to slip & slide and when the shoes have been on for about 4 1/2 weeks I try to avoid the roads until I get them reshod as the road nails seem to have less grip at this stage.
 
Yep, loads of slipping today. Have just rang farrier to put road studs in as poor horse will begin to lose confidence on the roads.
 
This is a definite problem, particularly on newly tarmaced roads that have been surfaced with noise reducing material. This stuff is lethal for horses but most councils know about the problem and are legally obliged to make it safe if they're told about it. Older surfaces can also become very slippy if subjected to heat. If the tarmac is slightly softened with heat and then cars drive over it, it smooths the surface and makes it slippy, until a decent rainfall acts to roughen it up again (all this on an almost microscopic scale).

If tarmac looks at all shiny then it's very likely to be slippy. It's best to either ride right at the side of the road, as close to the verge or pavement as you can get, or in the middle where car tyres generally don't travel. Road nails are essential but even they won't help much on very slippy surfaces. Keep your eyes open and choose your route down the road very carefully.
 
Mine slips on "shiny" tarmac or concrete if he is due for shoeing. Road nails help when shoes are "fresh" but we hack quite a bit (he is shod every 6 weeks). I am extra careful on shiny roads and keep into the side on the gravelly bits.
 
Ralph did until we put on natural balance shoes and road nails
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Most of the roads around here haven't been re-surfaced for years, and are incredibly smooth and shiny - it's like riding on ice, whatever the weather. Our horses slip so much we have to ride ride into the gutters so they have something to grip.

Walking on the road one day, my mares' legs just completely shot out from underneath her - neither of us expecting it - and she fell quite badly onto her knees - I came off into the verge. She was quite shocked and took a while to get up. Fortunately no apparent lasting damage.
 
I find that G slips on tarmac, but I now have road nails put in and he hardly does now. The new SMA road surfaces are lethal for slipping not just for horses, but motor cyclists and bikers too.
 
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