Shod horses on roads

[serenavdw]

My horse has four shoes on but he doesnt have 'road grips' on them because i forgot to ask farrier, just 4 standard shoes. If we're only walking on roads will this be okay? I really need to do roadwork to fitten him

 

[Goldenstar]

What exactly do you meanby road grips ?

 

[JessandCharlie]

You should be fine! In fact, I'm yet to hear anyone say they do anything other than jar the limbs tbh. I've never had road studs in any of my shod horses and not had a problem Try to avoid slippery tarmac, but I suspect you'll know of any particularly nasty tarmac around you and avoid it anyway

J&C

 

[LynH]

I have a particularly slippery bit of Tarmac outside my house but currently just use normal shoes and slowly creep over the worst part as impossible to avoid. Do road nails/studs actually work? What are the negatives?

 

[Venevidivici]

Our farrier puts in one road nail, on outer edge of each shoe. They definitely help slippage on the roads-we have a small stretch of gentle hill just down our lane (only about 100yds)where the tarmac is worn and shiny
smooth & any horses without
road nails slip &slide quite a bit on it but those with road nails rarely do,especially if they've been recently shod,as the nails are more 'proud' from the bottom of the shoe. Farrier said he can leave them to stick out a bit more/be prouder on a horse that slips more. He did say that some owners report that if they have 2 road nails in each shoe(on inner&outer edge of shoe) that turning on roads/concrete can be more difficult,as horse can't pivot as easily on two nails as it can on one.

 

[YorksG]

We have road nails in all four shoes on the appy and as the other mare is only shod in front, she only has road nails in the fronts On one occaision when between us the farrier and I both forgot for one of them, I rang him and asked if he could call in when passing and put some in, which he did.

 

[starryeyed]

You should be fine, ours have never had them and as long as we avoid any obvious slippery bits of tarmac we're fine

 

[Ollie's Mum]

I have to do a lot of road work and I have road nails put on, one in each shoe - they are tungsen headed and stand just a little proud and don't wear down as quickly as the metal of the shoes. I pay an extra £1 per nail, and in the words of my farrier they are "cheaper than broken knees".

 

[Rose Folly]

Like Ollie's Mum and Venividivici, our horses have one road nail in each shoe. I wouldn't be without them. There is a steep hill out of our village where there is a damp groove at the side of the road. If you get on that (moving in for a passing car etc) without road nails you are in trouble.

I've used road nails for years, and dislike riding a horse without them.

Our farrier alsos charge £1 per nail. A cheaper way is to order them yourself, in bags of 24, 48, 96 from Mordax Studs up near Skelmersdale. They provide an excellent service, the nails are with you within 48 hours, and it works out - or did when I last ordered some - at under 40p per nail. Our farrier doesn't object. You need to know the correct size. For example my middleweight cob mare but small feet is a Size 5; the 14.2 pony is a Size 4.

 

[lady_annabelle]

The roads around us are very slippy my new mare doesn't have road nails and we nearly went down a few times my old mare had them still slipped abit but a lot better nearly all ours on the yard have nails or studs the big heavyweight cob has studs as does the 16:3 Clydesdale x have a chat with your farrier see what he thinks

 

[Copperpot]

I always have road nails some steep up and down hills near me.

 

[Jazzy B]

I have never put road nails in ever not even when lived in some pretty steep hilly places and "touchwood" have never had any problems at all.

 

[Arabelle]

It depends on your horse. I never use road nails, and have done quite a few miles on various tarmac stretches (we competed in endurance) but my wee pony is incredibly nimble and sure footed. Some horses may benefit from them.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Better safe than sorry, I'd want them if I did a lot of roadwork.

 

[lannerch]

Never used them in my life ridden a lot of different horses through the years on the road never ever had a problem

 

[Miss L Toe]

I have to do a lot of road work and I have road nails put on, one in each shoe - they are tungsen headed and stand just a little proud and don't wear down as quickly as the metal of the shoes. I pay an extra £1 per nail, and in the words of my farrier they are "cheaper than broken knees".

Well maybe, but I find that horses without shoes are very stable on their feet. and I still have a mark on my leg where I fell off one day and Clumsy Claude stood on me!
Having pins sticking out of shoes is bound to make the horse unlevel imho. I stick to walking on tarmac if a horse is shod, very little trotting as it causes concussion.

 

[AmyMay]

My horse has four shoes on but he doesnt have 'road grips' on them because i forgot to ask farrier, just 4 standard shoes. If we're only walking on roads will this be okay? I really need to do roadwork to fitten him

He'll be fine. Just take it easy going downhill if he has a tendency to slip.

 

[Marydoll]

Never used them in my life ridden a lot of different horses through the years on the road never ever had a problem

Yea me as well, but a couple of years ago they changes the tarmac for cheaper stuff that is very slippy, so if riding on roads regularly id invest in road nails .
Im lucky thers none around where i hack

 

[Flame_]

A lot depends on the road surfaces you hack on. You can't hack on many of the lanes near me without road stud nails.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Yea me as well, but a couple of years ago they changes the tarmac for cheaper stuff that is very slippy, so if riding on roads regularly id invest in road nails .
Im lucky thers none around where i hack

This, we couldnt do without them at our old livery yard as the road corner outside was just shiny and slippy. With nails no problem, without very hairy!! Horse had them from age 6 when we got him to 15 and has never had a lame day in his life, he is now 19, so it doesnt always make them unlevel, and he is 17hh heavy hunter, heavy on his pins!

Pony is unshod and she used to manage ok but stil slipped a little.

Youll probably be fine without but if you need them you need them, and my experience has been good.

 

[Ollie's Mum]

Having pins sticking out of shoes is bound to make the horse unlevel imho. .

They aren't exactly pins stuck out of the shoes LOL! If you picked up the hoof and looked you'd hardly notice any difference from an ordinary nail - just a tiny tungsten blob. Nothing that's going to make the horse uneven, it will hardly notice them but they do make a difference and we don't all have the option of not riding on tarmac.

 

[Puppy]

I do lots of roadwork and I've never had road nails on any of mine. I am in the fens though, so not a sniff of a hill around here!

 

[HihoGinger]

I do lots of roadwork and I've never had road nails on any of mine. I am in the fens though, so not a sniff of a hill around here!

I'm in the fens too. Not a sniff of a hill at all, but plenty of roads so shiny you could put your makeup on in them!
I have a road nail in each rear shoe, as do my two hacking buddies, and we have found it much safer than when we used to go without.