Horses cantering on roads....

[wattamus]

So I'm watching True Lies on TV and it's the scene where he's chasing the guy on a motorbike with a police horse. Don't get me wrong I think it's ace, but all I'm thinking throughout is "how much damage" is he doing to that horses legs, not to mention it's back- he's not particularly balanced! ;-) do what damage does it do to your horse if you canter it on the roads? FYI I never would.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

First ever canter on a road, accidental, I tapped her with the whip to try to get her quarters back in, set her nicely off for a few strides of canter. :rolleyes3: Her shoe promptly came loose so I got off and asked a handy workman to hold her as I yanked off the shoe. Had to lead her back to the yard, fortunately not far.

I should think that cantering on the road for any length of time is horrific for legs. I'd also avoid taking my horse into a glass lift, or indeed, any kind of lift. He'd freak out!

Love that film!

 

[gembear]

I've done it accidentally when he's spooked at a car that overtook us too fast and close. Thankfully I managed to pull him onto a grass verge but he was on the road for a few strides. I felt awful for days after

 

[Bav]

Sorry, don't mean to jump on your thread but I've thought the same about all the horses in films etc that are often cantering along cobbles and roads?!?

 

[Cobbytype]

You've just reminded me of an incident from years ago. My parents had a country pub, which was opposite the vet's small holding/practice. Vet used to come in the pub on the odd lunchtime to grab a sandwich. He was in the pub this particular day, when the hunt came belting past. He stormed outside and yelled down the road "That's right you idiots, canter your horses down the bloody road; you'll all be on the phone to me at death o clock tomorrow morning, wondering why your horse is suddenly bloody lame". The atmosphere in the pub went strangely quiet!

 

[gembear]

You've just reminded me of an incident from years ago. My parents had a country pub, which was opposite the vet's small holding/practice. Vet used to come in the pub on the odd lunchtime to grab a sandwich. He was in the pub this particular day, when the hunt came belting past. He stormed outside and yelled down the road "That's right you idiots, canter your horses down the bloody road; you'll all be on the phone to me at death o clock tomorrow morning, wondering why your horse is suddenly bloody lame". The atmosphere in the pub went strangely quiet!

Haha what a legend.

 

[Barnacle]

Some good info here: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10503/working-horses-on-hard-surfaces Plus references at the end for further reading.

It is damaging enough that a new shoe is currently in development where I work to protect the feet of police and military horses that have to work on roads.

 

[ester]

Police horses do tend to do a fair amount of cantering on roads, well they used to in Bristol anyway .

 

[wattamus]

Yeah I see them and feel bad, I cringe if i trot for long periods of time on the road. Glad it's not just me that is odd haha x

 

[Ferus]

I'm sure i recall a conversation with an endurance rider where apparently cantering on roads is better (for horse's joints) than trotting. i'm not sure how scientifically true that is, though ...

 

[fredflop]

It probably works out like with us, sometimes it's more economical to go at a slow jog than a fast walk.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

http://www.madisonmounted.org/Trainers.html

http://thesoulofahorse.com/city-of-houston-police-horses-all-barefoot/

safer and less concussion

 

[Fools Motto]

I don't canter on the roads as a rule, but have done when out hunting, and have done when said horse who should either be walking or at least being sensible, is not and rather than leaping up, out and all other ways possible, and i get canter but a controlled canter I do allow, just to settle. I also do some strong trots up hills.

I have heard somewhere in the past that canter is actually less concussive on horses feet than trot is. Don't know if there is any science to it though.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I don't canter on the roads as a rule, but have done when out hunting, and have done when said horse who should either be walking or at least being sensible, is not and rather than leaping up, out and all other ways possible, and i get canter but a controlled canter I do allow, just to settle. I also do some strong trots up hills.

I have heard somewhere in the past that canter is actually less concussive on horses feet than trot is. Don't know if there is any science to it though.

You are far more likely to slip at the canter if shod, as trotting is a more even gait, there should be less concussion.
I don't hunt any more, and did not canter [tried not to mix with the throng], but if you ride a standardbred you can ask for that extra gear and trot as fast as most others canter.

 

[Floxie]

I honestly can't imagine cantering on a hard surface to be more damaging than a brisk trot would be (in fact imagine it would be less so) - but that's just my thoughts, nothing scientific there!

 

[muckypony]

Not thay I go out to canter on roads, but I've always thougt that canter is less concussing than trot, something to do with it being a 3 beat gate whereas trot is a 4 beat I think? Out hunting I've cantered down roads, mainly because I don't get a choice! But also the hammering speed you go at, cantering is far less harsh than the trot I think. Mine is barefoot though so no problems with slippy shoes.

 

[laura_nash]

I have no particular problem cantering on the road occasionally for a short period other than the obvious safety issues that going faster on a road causes. I don't think the concussion is any worse than a fast trot or cantering on hard ground, and at least it is flat and unlikely to have hidden holes etc. My horse isn't shod.

 

[Red-1]

Until September I was a Mounted Police Officer, and yes, we did canter on roads. Not just for fun, you understand, but because (generally) if we did not people would be hurt.

As a trainer of horses and riders, we also had to build this into our training. You can only imagine the carnage that would have occurred if we put horses and riders out for a dash round roundabouts on the Inner Ring Road without knowing how to do this safely. Especially when horses and riders have their vision impaired by visors, which are rubbish in the dark if it is raining, with car headlights picking out all the water droplets.

I did not like it. The horses would be cold hosed after training, but obviously in city centre after an incident this was not always feasible.

I don't suppose many people would fill milk bottles with petrol, set light to a wick, smash the bottle on the floor so it explodes and then canter over the resulting glass and flames, but we did that too, and in all my time there I can only actually recall one glass V foot incident, which was fine once the glass was removed. We always scrubbed them out, but TBH we had more problems with stones, like anyone would.

I think we had one working at 23 yrs, one at 22 yrs and many more retired sound because they had simply done their time.

Anecdotally the ones who were slowly fittened up to do the work were able to cope. So, the odd trot on the roads, plus 4 hrs daily at walk, with the training thrown in and gradually upped, I believe that conditioned the bones/joints. That would make sense with all we know about conditioning event horses.

My own horse only walks on the road. He does not need to be conditioned to working at speed on hard ground so we do not. Having said that he can do a heck of a lot more trotting in circles on the school that the Police horses could.

Horses for courses.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I have never and would never canter on the road intentionally. I have done a few bounces around on the road when the horse is being a git but that is not intentional.

It's the common riding in the Borders just now and all I see is picture after picture of horses cantering along the roads - not a trotting picture to be seen. And all the Borders folk at work wonder why I depise the common riding so much!

 

[pennyturner]

Well, I must be a bad horse owner. We regularly canter on the roads whilst hacking. Ponies are unshod (wouldn't do it with a shod horse), and in 20 years I have only ever had 2 ponies go lame. One stuck his foot down a rabbit hole, the other a growing youngster. Neither were horses who'd done any fast work at all, let alone on the road.

The ponies wouldn't do it if the weren't comfortable. They seem to prefer tarmac to dirt, presumably because it's smooth and they can easily see that the footing is good.

Unshod horses don't slip like shod ones do. It wouldn't be safe with shoes (road nails or not), and the shoe causes massive concussion. Imagine running in metal boots!

 

[Hoof_Prints]

Depends on the horse, out hunting we all seem to end up cantering down the roads, my horse has a massive cob-like trot when he gets excited out hunting, so I ask him to canter as that is smoother and isn't whacking his legs down so hard.

ETA- he was barefoot at the time, not sure how I'd feel now he has fronts on ! I think I'd be more wary of slipping

 

[NZJenny]

I used to do it for endurance, but like several other posters, my horses were barefoot. Trotting on roads was never a problem for me, and I taught mine to canter on the roads just in case I ever needed too.

It is all about conditioning, but I must admit I'm not sure I would do it on a shod horse. That horrible sound of steel scrabbling on road .....

 

[nicelittle]

I have only cantered deliberately on the road once - to get out of the way of a speeding car that I could hear approaching and I knew they wouldn't see me in time as it was a twisty bit of road!

 

[oldie48]

My horse is shod and because the lanes are so slippy round here I have tungsten nails put in his shoes. We do fast walk and the occasional slow trot up a hill, I'd never deliberately canter. I want my horse to stay sound for as long as possible and hammering on the road is just plain stupid IMO. When I see my local hunts cantering or trotting down the road hell for leather or see them galloping across our wet clay fields which are badly rutted, I am just amazed that anything stays sound!

 

[Caol Ila]

I do short spurts of trotting on the roads, which is fine if the horse is conditioned for it. Would not do it on a horse who hasn't been legged up. I've cantered on the road a few times, but not my decision! Horse was totally fine, though, once we found the brakes again. I don't worry about the concussion; as people said, it's no more and probably less concussive than trot, but slipping because she's shod.

 

[southerncomfort]

I wouldn't do it because:

A) the risks to other road users and
B) it's going to hurt a hell of a lot more if you come off on to a tarmac road at a canter than if you're trotting.

 

[JustKickOn]

I've accidentally cantered on the road a few times, all due to a spook of sort sort. Never did her any harm. Cantering doesn't tend to be as jarring as trot, so it probably does less hard than pounding the roads in trot.

 

[benson21]

I drive my pony, we start off with a walk, but then he finds it so much easier to trot than walk with the carriage behind him, and on our route there is one hill, that we start off in a good trot but inevitably end up with a few strides of canter up the hill. I have to weigh up the cantering and trotting on the road to the comfort of pony.

 

[LibbyL]

I ride an 11hh welsh out huntingg, he is incredibly hardy, never been lame in the 9 years I've known him.
When we are trotting on the roads with the hunt he really struggles to keep up so I just loosen my reins and let him choose his own pace. Often he chooses to canter but never does himself any harm.
I hasten to add that this is a pony who usually takes a lot of persuasion to canter not a whizzy pony who will canter happily.
Therefore I think he is happy to canter on the roads.
I would never do it out hacking in fear of others and reduced reaction rates etc, also don't think it's good for them if they do it regularly but I'm sure the one off can't do much damage.

 

[Pigeon]

Yes I've heard it's lower impact than trotting but more slippery.

I wouldn't worry about it overly. It's not like they will magically get injured because they have broken pace. I think it's one of those things you get told in riding school and it puts the fear in you