Trotting on roads

[Lill]

Don't quite get this. (Re other post by DD)

Why do some people not agree with it? Also what are you supposed to do if you are driving? People get annoyed with you if you are trotting when driving nevermind if you walked everywhere!!

(driving as in horse and carriage if that sounded confusing)

 

[Rambo]

I do it....don't see the problem.

I think people are concerned about concussion, and the possibility of breaking knees if horse trips over.

We were always taught that it was a good way to fitten your horse though.

Differences of generations I guess

 

[CobMania]

I always trot on the road, my friend has two horses and we ride out together. We mainly just trot up hills.

Goodness when I was younger I didnt think twice about cantering along grass verges - ooops secret is out now

 

[TGM]

I try to avoid it as much as possible as I am concerned about the dangers of concussion (although I'm not sure whether there is any scientific evidence regarding this). However, I do a limited amount of slow trotting on the roads and will trot on to get out of a vehicle's way - however I would never trot flat out on the roads for a long period of time.

 

[AmyMay]

Always trot on the road. The key to looking after your horse is to do it in a controlled manner. i.e not a million miles an hour .

 

[miamibear]

I do it but some say its bad for the horses legs.

Unfortunately i dont have any off road hacking so i have no choice!!

 

[happyhack]

some ppl wrap their horses in cotton wool

 

[pixie]

I've never had to do much roadwork (perhaps a few hundred metres), but we usually would do it at trot, just so that we could get off the road quicker!

 

[riotgirl]

We only really have road hacking round us, so I always trot. As someone else said, the key is to keep it controlled and not go flat out.

 

[CobMania]

I would be very stand offish if I was on a finer legged horse, but she has 2 cobs with nice thick legs.

I was always told that its kinder to trot a horse uphill than to walk it

 

[Lill]

Well no i have no off road hacking either... well i do but its about 4miles of roads to get to it!! So have not really had much choice. I used to do that too!! Canter down grass verges!!

I guess it could possibly damage their legs if you were really going some but then why would you do that?!

 

[Tierra]

As the above poster said, theres a school of thought that believes trotting on roads causes excess concussion on the lower legs and can causing jarring. So, while road work in walk is advocated to harden the tendons and decrease the chance of damage to that area in fast work, road work in trot is thought to increase the chance of bony-type issues later on.

Before anyone shoots me down - Im not saying this is my opinion - but i know of many people who are of this thought. Personally, I go with my trainers view that everything should just be kept in moderation.

p.s. I just did a quick google search on this to try and find out exactly what problems were associated with trotting on roads and the RSPCA sites are categorically stating laminitis!

 

[filly190]

Interesting, I asked my farrier who said "it strengthens the legs, and these people who only ride in schools are doing their horses no favours when it comes to taking them out for competitions" He went on to say that people should slowly build up the trot over a period of time and be sensible.

He blamed more tendon related injuries on sand schools being too deep and had a huge rant about that

 

[samp]

I am sorry but I do always trot for longer rides. if out for just an hr I walk most of it, everything in moderation is the key and I always believed it helped to haredn the legs up

 

[Blizzard]

Sure I trot on the roads, horses have been doing it ever since man put hem in harness and got on ther back, its only with todays cotton wool approach that people have a problem with it.

 

[Kelly1982]

I always trot on roads, i dont see a problem with it and all my horses have been fine with it.

 

[Lill]

See thats my point! Driving horses have always been trotted and i've never heard of anything wrong with them!

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
See thats my point! Driving horses have always been trotted and i've never heard of anything wrong with them

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually an awful lot of them end up buggered. But that's a different story.........

 

[RobinHood]

I don't trot on roads if I can help it, but having a horse that is more often off work than in work has made me paranoid. I just worry about the concussion because the frog isn't in contact with the ground. My mum's haflinger is unshod and I would be much happier trotting him on the road than my shod horses. Feel free to put me right but whenever I trot on a hard surface the diagram of the internal structures of the leg and hoof pop up in my head (I know how mad that must make me sound!).

 

[CobMania]

I know im guilty of cantering my horse on the grass verge, however I was only 10-11 at the time and in my defence, i did check the verge beforehand.

As I said, only time I trot on the road is going uphill

 

[H-J]

It strengthens the horses tendons and legs I always go road hacking in the winter in between the event season to strengthen their legs

 

[Tierra]

Do we have any vets that use the forum?

What RH said is correct in that the horse's own shock absorber isnt in contact with the road because of the shoe (in the case of shod horses obviously). I cant imagine metal shoes being that great shock absorbers for the legs

That being said, I remember a few years ago, the YO of the livery I was at switched her horses to rubber shoes rather than metal. However, the vet at the time warned her that the rubber shoes would cause more problems in terms of jarring on the roads than the metal ones.

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

I dont understand why people dont. I've always been taught its the best way to get a horse fit, all the hunters are kept fit like this
Either way i always have and always will trot on the road, it is actually currently a very big aspect of Rocks fitness training, especially trotting up the hill. Always have, always will and have never ever had any problems with soundness from a horse other than rocks foot infection

 

[CobMania]

I know not everyone has the chance to do so, but my friend and I take her horses to the beach and take them out in the sea to their shoulders and walk and trot about. That helps to strengthen them up.

Im at the vets tonight with my dog and im going to ask him, as he himself has 3 horses.

 

[Lill]

Sorry possibly being thick - why would rubber shoes be more jarring than metal?

Mine only have fronts on so guess their back feet would be ok!

 

[Parkranger]

Best way to build up your horse is to trot on the roads (up hills etc)

I don't trot everywhere in an extended trot though.....I think it's a generational thing though.....re. differences of opinion.

 

[Madam_max]

I always have done. Don't obviously go mad. We have a very, very steep hill next to our yard on a road with hardly any cars. I think it's about a mile and a half start to finish. I make my girl trot from top to bottom. She's never been lame from it.

 

[KatB]

Cos the foot wouldnt be able to follow through with the action, the grip of the shoes would cause a sudden "stop" and jar the joints. Hope that makes sense??

 

[CobMania]

I never trot downhill, only uphill. My friend would kick my bum if i did that

 

[hussar]

As I touched on briefly in the other thread, I always used to believe that moderate trotting on roads hardened tendons and was A Good Thing. But when my older horse was diagnosed with navicular in 2004 (he'd done 3000 endurance kms by then and god knows how much training on roads) the vet hospital suspected that the amount of concussive road work coupled with his conformation (short upright pasterns)had contributed to the onset of the disease.

So my youngster does plenty road work but always at walk except to get out of the way of traffic etc. In competition he'll be doing plenty trotting on roads but this way at least I can limit it to some extent.