Horses Slipping Badly On New Road Surfaces

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DougalJ

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We are having a lot of our lanes and roads around our yard being resurfaced by the council at the moment. The surface they are putting down is very smooth, sleek and shiny black looking - it looks just like Silverstone racetrack! It is very hilly so we have to track down some very steep descents on our rides out. All of our horses, and even the most sure footed ones are slipping badly on this surface. It is so bad we have to get off. Very bizarrely it seems to have a better grip when wet? If it is bone dry, its lethal. A surface that was put down a year ago is still bad 12 months on. We have heard that a rider at a yard close to us has slipped and come off...... fortunately no terrible damage to either of them. We have road pins in the shoes and our farrier leaves the nails fairly protruding to see if this helps. It doesn't..... This is making hacking very precarious now and our routes were limited as it was. Has anybody had this problem, if so any solutions. I haven't personally contacted the council but know some that have and nothing is being done - why would it though? They wouldn't warrant the cost I'm sure in this day and age of cuts to put a safer surface down just for horses and their riders!
 
This has also happened to every inch of road and lane where I live. It is horrible and I dread riding out, it has really annoyed me. Myself and other riders have had to resort to riding very carefully along the edges of fields etc. This isn't the farmers fault I know but hacking has become impossible and I have no school ! Grr !
 
This happened on some of our country roads last year, someone said its because of oil in the stuff they use. We had to wait until they "bedded" in with wear .
 
Someone from the BHS (area rep) once told me there is a special (certain type) of surface they should use for horses, contact your local rep who should contact the council on your behalf
 
If you take their shoes off, they won't slip. Please don't just brush this aside as a flippant comment, it is true, and much better for their foot health too. If you have a search on here you will find lots about it, and lots of riders having success even if they have to use hoof boots some of the time. I suspect even boots would have a lot more grip than shoes because they are plastic or rubber.
 
Thanks for the feedback and links posted. Very interesting and does seem to be a growing problem. My friend at the yard has contacted highways with a letter of complaint again this week and a long winded questionnaire has been sent back for her to fill in. I am going to write too as more voices may be heard then. I was talking to my instructor about this problem this morning and apparently she has heard that the council have sandblasted lanes due to horse riders and motorcyclists having problems. I have a 17.2 warmblood so sitting quite high in the air with him. I cannot describe the feeling of his back end disappearing when he slips on this tarmac going downhill. I have to shove him in hedges and used the tiniest of verges to try and get down safely....not enjoyable at all!
 
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My horse an others are slipping on the roads too. Farrier put road nails in but its still happening - it is an awful feeling when the backend just slides.
 
The surfacing they are using is probably SMA, smooth mastic asphalt. Yes it is covered on the BHS site and they have raised it with the government minister for Highways some time ago. As a result, the government did a consultation with various road users including a BHS representative and then a booklet was published which is available to local highways departments. I did find this booklet, published as a pdf, and printed one out and gave one to my local council. That was about two years ago so I don't know if it will still be available on line now. I'm in a rush now but I will try to find it and post the link later today.
 
Smooth road surfaces are a problem - where I ride some of the horses slip badly, others are fine. My horse fell on a local lane I got a cracked rib and he had grazes and bruises. There was a car directly behind us but they stopped and helped.

The BHS said they would contact the local authority - I asked them once but I had no feed back.

My horse now has 2 road nails per shoe and we seem ok, but will hug the kerb where there is dirt and grit for some extra traction.
 
We are out in the sticks, and don't see new road surfaces - if we're lucky, the potholes are filled in every few months! Old surfaces can be very slippery too though - I'd forgotten what a horrible feeling it is to be on a horse out of control of it's limbs. These days my horses are either bare foot or in boots, and it is great to be able to stride on, even down steep hills, with no worries of slipping. OP - I have the council take yours and others into account, and can work on a remedy.
 
I do remember one council being sued for injuries caused to horse and rider in two separate incidents due to their roads being re-covered in SMA, can't remember which council it was though :o
 
I am going to look into this with the council this week and I am member of BHS and am going to contact them too. One of my hacks out I will only go round clockwise because of this new tarmac down the hill as its like riding on glass! You can see the marks on the tarmac where numerous horses have been slipping. Just horrible...... As mentioned in my original post it seems better wet, lethal when dry??
 
Here is the reply from the local council - interesting as he is a fellow horse owner:


"We have as you say recently resurfaced these roads and the grip for vehicles will be much improved, along with structural integrity this was the main reason for the surfacing.

The material we have laid has a negative texture ie the material is flat with indents in it to remove water spray and reduce road noise, previously it had been positive textured material which is a mat in which the aggregate protrudes. Negative textured material has it's skid resistance within the aggregate, as vehicles travel along it, they remove the binder and expose the aggregate, good for rubber tyres but not so good for 800 kilos of horse standing on slippery metal shoes.

It is our intention to surface dress ******* Road and ******* Lane (where we have not done so already) , this will be carried out in our ongoing surface dressing programme over the next two years, budget provision permitting.

***** Hill was replaced using Superflex and will not be Surface Dressed

I do believe that there are no materials on the market specifically for horses, that we could have used here, all the roads you mention have significant slopes and this is obviously a contributing factor, as a fellow horse owner I have sympathy towards your predicament, however I cannot provide a solution beyond Surface Dressing, as all materials are designed to react to rubber tyres not steel shoes"

Very interesting but still no solution. I have been looking at alternative shoeing as this seems to be an ongoing surface to the roads which it will affect many, many horse riders.
 
If you have a problem like this ,always write rather than phone the council ,AND SEND THE LETTER RECORDED DELIVERY. This is proof that they have been told there is a problem. If they then choose to ignore the problem and there is an injury,they no longer have the defence that they were unaware.
 
Thanks Mike, I think I might do this, this week and send my letter again. I've emailed my letter and no response so far. The reply I put on my earlier post is my friends response from the council. If you read between the lines, there is a problem with this new surface as states not suitable for metal shoes. If they use this surface across the country as its cheaper and meant to reduce road noise, this is going a big problem for riders that use roads for their hacking :0(
 
I think horse riders are on a hiding to nothing with Councils on this one. If the surface is safer for cars etc. thats it.

A road near us was done similarly years ago, and shod horses couldn't walk on it unridden without slipping. Very dangerous and distressing for the horses. If they do the splits you've lost your horse, its that bad.

Now, we are barefoot, this sort of thing doesn't affect us, and these sorts of roads are a pleasure to ride on.
 
Going barefoot has been thought about and to be very honest its not something I know too much about. Perhaps some research on my part is needed. Absolutely the council are not going to spend money they probably haven't got on resurfacing the roads again just because a dozen or so riders may use it. I have written to the BHS about this and waiting for a reply because I think this is the start of a big problem out there for the riders that use the roads for hacking and that is probably 85% of us and more. There are very limited places to ride now without having to come across a lane or a road.....
 
We are in a very hilly area too, and some lanes are un-rideable due to this. I actually look forward to potholes on these lanes, to give the hooves something to purchase on when they slip.

I would consider a letter to whoever replied to you, asking whether the council would be liable if a horse slipped due to these surfaces and either them or the rider was injured. I am very against taking legal action, but it may be the only way to make these silly cost-cutting councils see sense!

Barefoot is not always an option. My mare has great feet, and has been unshod for over a year due to her being at stud, and then me being injured, yet she cannot tolerate roadwork without shoes, and would never get event fit without shoes...
 
I still haven't had a reply from my letter yet from the local council and highways department. I did put in my letter are they responsible when an accident happens? If you look at the earlier post that I put the reply from the council that my friend received - its states "They cannot provide a solution beyond Surface Dressing, as all materials are designed to react to rubber tyres not steel shoes". This is a admission to the problem I my opinion!
I had a reply from BHS yesterday and they said they are having more and more complaints about this and are dealing with ADEPT (formerly the County Surveyors Society) trying to resolve this growing problem. I had to fill in more forms to them to forward on to ADEPT.
This is going to eventually effect all riders that use roads and lanes - I cannot stress this enough and its the most awful feeling when the back end of horse disappears and legs splay out trying to stay on all fours!! Just horrible.....
 
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