Horses cantering on roads....

Never intentionally cantered on the road but on occasions the horse has decided otherwise. Out hunting it will happen though.

To be honest we used to exercise all the liveries for at least one hour daily, trotting on tar sealed roads. In all the years at the centre I don't remember them ever being lame. They were all shod, all stabled, could work on Flint paths that you would have thought would destroy their feet.

My filly was one that developed an abscess or two, she was unbroken and lived part out part stabled.

I then went on to work with in a hunting yard, carried on what I had been taught and my employers had a full season with no lameness and commented on how fit their horses were.

These days we are far too soft, we work on surfaced arenas and our horses suffer from soft, overly sensitive feet.

To add we oiled hooves twice daily, fed Sugarbeet and grain and schooled out in the fields in all conditions.
 
southerncomfort said:
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.
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depends how fast you are trotting, we cantered today to catch up with my friend - who was still trotting but has a horse with longer legs.

(he's not shod and I'd rather we did that then full on welshie trot!)

I do quite a bit of trotting and we have always had to do quite a lot of road work/school on hard fields so he is well conditioned to it. I think some arenas probably cause more issues. I don't go out planning to canter on the road but I don't worry if it happens.
 
We also see horses well into their twenties, still sound and having active lives. There was a time when a horse in his early teens was seen as old and ready for the knackers yard. However, would absolutely agree that there's too many over fed horses and ponies carrying too much weight and damaging their joints and too many horses that are only worked on a surface.
Tnavas said:
Never intentionally cantered on the road but on occasions the horse has decided otherwise. Out hunting it will happen though.

To be honest we used to exercise all the liveries for at least one hour daily, trotting on tar sealed roads. In all the years at the centre I don't remember them ever being lame. They were all shod, all stabled, could work on Flint paths that you would have thought would destroy their feet.

My filly was one that developed an abscess or two, she was unbroken and lived part out part stabled.

I then went on to work with in a hunting yard, carried on what I had been taught and my employers had a full season with no lameness and commented on how fit their horses were.

These days we are far too soft, we work on surfaced arenas and our horses suffer from soft, overly sensitive feet.

To add we oiled hooves twice daily, fed Sugarbeet and grain and schooled out in the fields in all conditions.
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Be interesting to see what those on here who drive think. Feel like they often trot on roads?

Personally I guess it's like humans. Unfit and over weight humans will do themselves an injury running on hard roads but working up to it gently and not doing too much on the roads is normally fine.
 
Not seen that movie in a while, do I recall the horse wearing something akin to medicine boots to probably help alleviate the concussion?

People who say they don't canter on roads, seen them thundering along at the trot, not so different surely?
 
I often have a short canter on tarmac on my shoeless cob. We have lots of very quiet lanes around the yard. To me it is safer than muddy, greasy or boggy ground in the winter. Not had any slipping or lameness yet.....
 
I don't canter my driving ponies on the roads other than the littlest of ponies on the steepest hills. We do canter and Gallop hardcore tracks though, and our field is very hard at the moment. We do put the miles in at a much more forwards trot than you would riding (maybe with the exception of endurance?), and 95% of our drives are trot, we only walk to warm up, at junctions and to cool down to be honest. Obviously driving they don't have the weight of a rider, but going back to mainly riding from mainly driving the difference in what we do is stark- Id be exhausted if i trotted my riding pony so far and would never pound him along, yet riding my driving pony we try not to go quite so forwards now he's late teens but certainly up to about 15 miles we keep up a good 12km/h!
 
I never intentionally canter on the roads, or indeed trot much unless going uphill.

I knackered my lovely Irish hunter, who'd been in the family for years, by cantering her on the roads whilst following the rest of the field (who were also cantering).

She got concussive laminitis, resulting in a rotated pedal bone and a 'dropped sole'.

This was over 40 years ago, when I was 15. I still feel the guilt to this day :(.
 
I tend to forget how old I am from time to time and have been known, on the odd occasion, to absentmindedly break into a jog on the road/pavement when I'm in a hurry (usually on the way to the post box ). My joints soon remind me that it's not a good idea and in particular, my knees really do hurt if they've been hammered on a hard surface.

I realise that horses aren't the same as humans, but they do suffer from similar degenerative joint diseases. I used to trot a lot on the roads years ago, but I'd think twice about it now, simply because my own, mildly arthritic body can't tolerate the concussion.
 
laura_nash said:
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.
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Agree with this. I would be far more reluctant to see a shod horse cantering on a very hard surface than a barefoot one.

If my horse did a couple of canter strides on the road I wouldn't kick myself for days, but I wouldn't ask for it either. I don't even like too much trotting on the roads really.

I think a short canter on a road is far less likely to do harm than competing at SJ comps on grass all summer.
 
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These days we are far too soft, we work on surfaced arenas and our horses suffer from soft, overly sensitive feet.

To add we oiled hooves twice daily, fed Sugarbeet and grain and schooled out in the fields in all conditions.[/QUOTE]

kind of agree tbh. Though I only oil once- too messy :P
I have always had to do loads of roadwork with mine (little offroad riding) and she's still going in her twenties so it can't be that bad. I have cantered on roads before (not intentionally!) but was taught since a kid it was a big no no, so pony always gets pulled up immediately if she tries to clatter down the road!
I did used to hack with some people who habitually cantered on the roads and they first time they did it I thought 'wtf!' I ended up going side ways on a grass verge to try to keep her off the concrete. The thing that's bothers me most is slipping in front of a car or something. If other people want to do it that's up to them, but I'll be sticking to the verge thanks!
 
Cantered on the road a lot when hunting, if you were up with hounds you needed to be with them and that meant whizzing along sometimes. I did try to go on the verge when possible but that was often more dangerous.
 
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