Prefers walking on hard surface of paths

[Birker2020]

I'm curious more than anything which is why I ask the question. My horse when given the choice between a) walking on a flat grass strip such as that, that runs up the centre of a footpath or lane or b) walking on the hard surface compacted soil/concrete/tarmac next to it prefers to take option b. I've noticed this a few times, can't say its a new thing with him, he's probably always done it. I would have thought it would be the other way round. On the fun ride I did on Sunday there were many tracks with the grass centres and when I gave him the buckle end of the rein he kept choosing the hard ground time and time again, even though I placed him on the central part which I thought he would prefer to the stony hard sandy soil track.

He's shod every five weeks, vet impressed with foot balance and highly rates farrier, nothing of any note raised in respect of his feet by the farrier, horse sound and passed by vet after previous injury, is jumping small courses/gridwork, schooling (albeit minimal) and fun rides, hacking, etc. always seems to have his ears pricked and forward going, enjoys his work. He seems to love hacking out, strides out purposefully. Trying to keep his weight down as much as I can (as much as you can do with a hungry good doer anyway!) Horses that have laminitis hate hard ground anyway so I don't think he has as he would be pottery and wouldn't want to walk on it, but I am worried about the laminitis risk so is strip grazed with minimal amount of grass increased every day, fed small amount of pasture mix and chaff for supplements, have cut down on treats such as mints and liquorice that I use for physio stretches and carrots.

 

[stormox]

maybe its not coz its hard or soft ground, its hanging to the fence/hedge, like horses hang to arena sides?

 

[Birker2020]

maybe its not coz its hard or soft ground, its hanging to the fence/hedge, like horses hang to arena sides?

Yeah never thought of it like that! He may have been doing that on Sunday as there was a nice field of Barley/Wheat and he wanted to pick at it!

 

[Rollin]

My old boy did not like soft ground. He would not walk through a shallow puddle, hated muddy gates. He always opted for tarmac as opposed to a grass verge. He lived to be 36 years working until the last few months and never gave me a vet bill. Super feet. I was sure he was an un-registered Cleveland Bay, which is how I became hooked on the breed.

 

[Lexi_]

Monty (who's 1/2 Cleveland Bay and also has very good feet!) much prefers a gravel or tarmac path to a grassy stretch, whereas his field mate is the exact opposite. Both have exactly the same regime so it must just be personal preference.

It's not a case of hanging to the fence either - we have one stretch we hack down where there's a rough sort of track with a grassy middle and a broad grass verge to the side, so potentially four separate choices. He'll always prefer to go down one of the track parts of it and Rocky will always prefer the grassy parts.

 

[be positive]

Horses will nearly always choose the worn track and stick to it as they innately know it is safe , when turned out they often make their own tracks and use them to move around, a well known racing trainer has made the rubber paths around his yard look like tracks, his are I think brown in the middle and green outside to mimic natural tracks and encourage the horses to relax and stick to them.

 

[Birker2020]

when turned out they often make their own tracks and use them to move around, .

Yes this is evident sometimes when a horse walks towards you from a distance they rarely come 'as the crow flies' more of a slight zig zag deviaton, the same sort of thing that cows and sheep do too.

 

[DD]

they are creatures of habit, if hes been asked to walk on the path surface that is where he will go even if the grassy bit is there. have noticed this with mine, where ever I place him is where he goes next time we are out irrespective of surface available. mine is barefoot btw

 

[Templebar]

I have noticed that all mine are taught to walk on field tramlines to avoid our crops, I think mine do this on paths too as they have been taught to walk a path. And as the others have said even reverting back to wild states they follow invisible (depending on the ground) paths to come across a field.

 

[Abacus]

Perhaps he has learned at some point in his life that within the grass there are stones etc, whereas the flat surface is more comfortable (as he is shod) as nothing touches the sole or frog.

 

[Goldenstar]

A horse who chooses hard flat ground to softer uneven ground can have soft tissue pain .

 

[Birker2020]

A horse who chooses hard flat ground to softer uneven ground can have soft tissue pain .

There must be a lot of horses out there then that have soft tissue pain because judging by the replies I've had he's not the only horse who prefers the hard ground.

 

[Michen]

There must be a lot of horses out there then that have soft tissue pain.

Probably!

 

[Birker2020]

There are hundreds of reasons other than pain related reasons that make horses do certain things, the same with us. Why has it always got to come down to a connection with pain???????????

 

[Goldenstar]

There are hundreds of reasons other than pain related reasons that make horses do certain things, the same with us. Why has it always got to come down to a connection with pain???????????

Because it's our ethical duty to consider in every situation at every time does the horse do that because something hurts or (but not appiciable in this situation )because it does not understand what you want .
That was instilled into to me in my early training and it's never left me .

 

[Birker2020]

Because it's our ethical duty to consider in every situation at every time does the horse do that because something hurts or (but not appiciable in this situation )because it does not understand what you want .
That was instilled into to me in my early training and it's never left me .

I quite agree if there is a problem and have always done so in my own horses case however i would need a bit more to go on than a preference to walking on a path lol . the vet would think i was mental!

 

[AandK]

There are hundreds of reasons other than pain related reasons that make horses do certain things, the same with us. Why has it always got to come down to a connection with pain???????????

GS said 'can have' soft tissue pain, not 'does have'. There could be many reasons why your horse choses the hard path rather than the grass, could be habit, could be because it's more comfy (and not necesarily due to pain), could be because of past experiences (e.g. more hacking on roads/tracks than grass) and so on.

 

[Goldenstar]

I quite agree if there is a problem and have always done so in my own horses case however i would need a bit more to go on than a preference to walking on a path lol . the vet would think i was mental!

Would he that's interesting .

 

[Birker2020]

Would he that's interesting .

Are you for real? And your vet wouldn't? Sorry if I am a weeny bit cynical, I just feel that there's a point you are trying to make somewhere cleverly disguised and wrapped up so not immediately obvious to others reading this post maybe, but very obvious to me. A tiniest little dig at me maybe? 'Lets have a go at the OP but try not to let others see this' type of thing??? Or am I being paranoid?

 

[ozpoz]

I don't see any digging. Goldenstar is correct - If your horse consistently chooses hard ground over soft then soft tissue injury/pain would be something to consider.
To be a good horseman means following up on all the clues your horse can give you and if my vet was unable to pick up on these but thought I was "mental" then I would be swiftly changing my vet.

 

[Mongoose11]

You are being paranoid. Soft ground would exacerbate soft tissue pain so a horse with soft tissue pain may choose the hard ground. By posting public ally you asked for reasonS why and this COULD be one. You've had plenty of other reasons that you prefer and nobody has said your horse is in pain.

 

[Michen]

I noticed my horse was alternating resting back legs more than I thought was normal. He flew flexion tests in those hinds and vet told me I was just being paranoid etc. Bone scan showed arthritis which very, very quickly went downhill despite having passed flexion sweets before.

My point is that sometimes the smallest thing is actually a massive clue and as they can't talk it's all we can do to pick up on them and monitor it. So yes if I had a horse that suddenly was actively trying to walk on hard ground (doesn't sound like that's the case here, sounds like he's always done it so probably just him!) I would be telling my vet and I would expect said vet to take me seriously. If she/he didn't, I would be getting a new vet. I learnt that lesson the hard way though!

 

[gunnergundog]

Applecart, methinks you are being a tad oversensitive/paranoid in this instance - call it what you will. Given some of the history on this forum however, some may say that is not unreasonable.

HOWEVER, if I was to have a horse vetted or to take one for a loss of performance work up I would always expect a vet to view the horse on both the hard (tarmac) and the soft (surface). I'm sure you are aware that bony issues will often show up on the hard and as Goldenstar says, soft tissue problems can become apparent on the soft.

It is being alert to subtle changes and acting on them that can make all the difference to a successful outcome or not. If you can detect something early and get on top of it, treatment is often more successful than if left - likewise early management changes can aid/prevent things deteriorating. Yes, diagnostics are expensive when you have little to work on, but that can be offset by still having a horse for the longer term!

My vets certainly would not be laughing/thinking I was mental, but asking further questions and agreeing a way forwards with me.

As you say, you think your horse has done this for a long time, so hopefully just his little foible, but just wanted to add some perspective to some of the comments above that you seem to have taken exception to.

 

[Wheels]

Applecart you say in your OP that horses with laminitis hate hard ground so that you don't think it's that but actually sometimes horses with lami and sore feet do prefer harder ground, I think the soft ground can sometimes create more pressure on the sole as it pushes up more whereas on tarmac they don't get the same pressure

So, personally I would keep my eye on him and maybe have a chat with the vet to put my mind at rest

 

[Birker2020]

Applecart, methinks you are being a tad oversensitive/paranoid in this instance - call it what you will. Given some of the history on this forum however, some may say that is not unreasonable.

HOWEVER, if I was to have a horse vetted or to take one for a loss of performance work up I would always expect a vet to view the horse on both the hard (tarmac) and the soft (surface). I'm sure you are aware that bony issues will often show up on the hard and as Goldenstar says, soft tissue problems can become apparent on the soft.

It is being alert to subtle changes and acting on them that can make all the difference to a successful outcome or not. If you can detect something early and get on top of it, treatment is often more successful than if left - likewise early management changes can aid/prevent things deteriorating. Yes, diagnostics are expensive when you have little to work on, but that can be offset by still having a horse for the longer term!

My vets certainly would not be laughing/thinking I was mental, but asking further questions and agreeing a way forwards with me.

As you say, you think your horse has done this for a long time, so hopefully just his little foible, but just wanted to add some perspective to some of the comments above that you seem to have taken exception to.

Ok. Maybe you would like to help me out with the post I put on last night when I was wanting an answer about my horse's photosensitivity. I would find that much more useful tbh, thanks

 

[ycbm]

The majority of horses will follow the path that has already been made by other animals. It's a safety issue, as Cortez said earlier but I think is worth repeating given where this thread has gone since.

What Applecart originally posted seems to be this innate behavior and nothing to do with choosing hard ground over soft ground.

 

[Mongoose11]

It may well be choice, horse sense or simple preference but it could be pain. This thread didn't 'go' anywhere, it continued to discuss the possible explanations for the horse's choice.

My horse chooses hard ground on one particular ride and I am certain it is because she can't be certain of the very rough alternative as she doesn't choose hard ground elsewhere. I'm open to all possibilities and it's a public forum. Perhaps AC should put a rider on her posts that explains that only responses she agrees with will be discussed sensibly and all others will be classed as personal attacks.

 

[ycbm]

Perhaps AC should put a rider on her posts that explains that only responses she agrees with will be discussed sensibly and all others will be classed as personal attacks.

Applecart has explained at length on this forum about the level of bullying she went through when younger. It's easy to understand why she has a bit of a hair trigger. Perhaps people could cut her a bit of slack?

 

[Mongoose11]

Applecart has explained at length on this forum about the level of bullying she went through when younger. It's easy to understand why she has a bit of a hair trigger. Perhaps people could cut her a bit of slack?

I have no knowledge of her past and I've been involved in very few of her threads. We can't all have personal knowledge of anyone that we interact with on the net.