Slipping on the roads

DappleGreyDaydreamer

DappleGreyDaydreamer

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I was hacking yesterday with some yard friends in quite a large group, and it'd been months since my horse had ridden with so many horses, so he was VERY lively!! I struggled with him for a while until he calmed down a bit and walked nicely, that is, until a huge truck carrying our yard's hay delivery passed us on the roads. One horse we were out with is only 4 and barely backed, so he flipped his lid and panicked which set everyone else off - my boy would ordinarily not have batted an eyelid but y'know, herd instinct and all that.

Anyway, once it had passed us he kept on spinning and backing up and I was terrified he'd go down into the ditch behind us so I booted him to shock him forward, it worked, but once we were off the verge and onto the road his back end just went under him completely and he was lucky he didn't fall on top of me. That shook me slightly, and my yard owner recommended I put some back shoes on him instead of just fronts, but when I asked my farrier about that this morning he said back shoes wouldn't help him grip on tarmac unless I put road studs in, which honestly I cannot afford to do.

Sorry for the incredibly long story, but does anyone have any tips on how I can help my horse not to slip so much on roads? I couldn't bare it if he was to hurt his leg.
 
I'd be inclined to agree with your farrier, personally I find my horse less likely to slip on tarmac if unshod than just normal shoes. No tips I'm afraid but it sounds like it was just an unfortunate series of events leading to the slip,and I wouldn't worry too much unless it becomes a regular thing.
 
Road nails cost pennies, or at least they used to, peace of mind and savings on vet bills etc is worth back shoes if you are slippy roads. :)
 
*following* I have had the same problem while out on the roads, although not as severe as you describe. My boy tends to have a little slip then corrects himself quickly. However, it has really put me off going up/ down hills as it really shakes me when it happens!
 
I would also agree with your farrier, one of the main benefits from my point of view now my horse is barefoot is that he never slips on the roads unlike the shod ones which do at times, I suspect he slipped more due to being unbalanced and upset so lost his backend rather than anything to do with having shoes or not and it may be that if he was shod the slip could have been worse.
Roadstuds are not too expensive but I would prefer not to use them.
 
I hate slipping on the road my heart goes in my mouth! used to pay 5quid per shoe extra for road nails and they were pretty good. But Now she has only fronts so i don't bother. If the road is slippy i try to let her walk sideways a bit with shod feet on the verge or more gravelly bit at the edge. The unshod back feet seem slighly more grippy on the tarmac.
 
be positive said:
I would also agree with your farrier, one of the main benefits from my point of view now my horse is barefoot is that he never slips on the roads unlike the shod ones which do at times, I suspect he slipped more due to being unbalanced and upset so lost his backend rather than anything to do with having shoes or not and it may be that if he was shod the slip could have been worse.
Roadstuds are not too expensive but I would prefer not to use them.
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Funny I just realised that it had been ages since I'd had any kind of slip either and realise it's because my horse is also barefoot, the last time would have been on the shod horses I rode at the riding school when I was working there. They often had a little slide once or twice.
 
Having been once caught out in London when they tried using plastic zebra crossing stripes on the road and my horse slipped on the plastic surface and went down I now always wear knee pads on the front feet and shoes with road nails on the rear.
The cost is insignificant compared to the worry and expense of a horse coming down and hurting itself and/or the rider.
 
Sounds a bit like a load of things added together caused the slipping not the fact you have no shoes on.

My mares hooves have got v hard recently due to no rain and she will slip on one back hoof coming out of her stable when turning at the moment. She doesn't have any shoes on front or back. I won't go getting her shod as it's not going to solve the problem.

Hard ground, hard hooves equals little slips for the minute.
 
I have both unshod and shod horses, in my experience unshod horses cope much better on the road then shod. Road nails can help but once the coating wears off they are just nails. I have road pins in my shod horse's shoes. The farrier drills the shoe and puts them in. It takes a matter of minutes and they work. Also he doesn't charge extra for it, but some might I expect.
 
When shod we always had road nails/pins, much prefer no shoes at all though, haven't slipped once even on the really slippy private road we come across hunting.
 
My lad will slip on the yard when his feet are freshly trimmed, but otherwise he has better grip than he did shod.

I agree with the others that it sounds like a set of circumstances which caused the problem.

You could try hoof boots - I use them hacking as he's more confident on his feet because he feels he has slightly better grip.
 
Having shoes on will just make him slip more. If its a one off, i wouldn't worry too much about it. I have a lot of hills around us that i hack on so i got my farrier to put some road nails in which have made a world of difference, no slipping and only £5 more.
 
Is your YO insane? Shoes will make your horse slip more than bare feet even with road nails!

Our roads are steep and slippy, my barefoot horse has slipped on the road maybe twice in the last 3 years since having her shoes off. Whereas those shod all round with road nails will slip several times per hack every hack. It was the main reason one of my friends had her mare's shoes off, because the slipping was getting dangerous, she now uses hoof boots and hardly ever slips.
 
It sounds as though it was the horses behaviour which caused it to slip, particularly if he doesn't normally slip on the road. Having tried road nails & barefoot I don't think either really helped. We have a lot of slippy areas of Tarmac on our hacking routes & my horse slips quite a lot when she's ambling along. For my horse the thing that worked best was physio work concentrating on getting the sacroiliac area moving. We also make sure any extra slippy areas are tackled uphill, & avoid going downhill on those areas.
 
My daughter had a serious fall yesterday . Her unshod 5 year old pony slipped on the road and fell on her . It has been dry for quite a while down south so a good splash of wet left the road very greasy along with loads of mud from tractors . Just one of those things , poor daughter laying flat out in bed and me left to look after the 5 equines !!. I wouldnt consider using shoes either , it was just one of those things , I slipped wearing trainers walking round the ambulance . If the pony had been shod I think it would hve just made even more of a mess of my daughter while the pony struggled to get up .
 
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