Trotting on roads...

Katie__Connie

Katie__Connie

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Some people I've spoken to say that you shouldn't trot on hard surfaces (ie roads) because of the risk of laminitis etc...
Others do trot on the roads and say it's ok...
I've always done a fair amount of trot work on the roads and *touch wood* haven't had a problem...
So what are your thoughts/opinions on this? Do you trot on the roads?
Choccy for reading :)
 
Sorry but can someone tell me why trotting on roads increases the risk of laminitis??? I thought this was caused by eating certain grasses? :confused:
 
Yes I trot on roads, although I don't hammer them so to speak, if I didnt have the occassional trot, hacking would eventually bore me to tears.

I think it's more about what is best for the individual horse, the horses fitness, if a horse is not used to a lot of work and not used to being worked on hard ground and then does a weeks worth of heavy trot work on the roads, then yes your asking for potential problems, its needs to be a gradual process.
 
i do alot of trotting on roads mainly as if i want to go for a hack off of the estate its road work before we get to more off road hacking and its a busy road that joins it up so not a chance am i going to walk along a 60mph road so taz trots along this road for about 2 and a half miles once a week and it has never done him any harm, plus i do the common rides on him and half of them have alot of trotting on roads in them, and he's still fine :)
 
I used to do some nice trots uphill on the roads with no ill-effects. Since her last laminitis bout though mine is meant to avoid being ridden on concrete full stop (although she is totally sound currently - inc without shoes on concrete).
 
I never ever trot on roads or any hard surface unless to get out of trouble as I have a lami prone horse.
 
If you build up gradually, not sudden bursts of it, I think its ok. I do a fair amount of road trotting but also a lot of moor and mountain and foresty stuff. Mind you my pony is barefoot and I dont think it jars her as much as a horse with shoes.

One advantage too, you get off the road quicker!

Ive started endurance and quite a few routes have 10=15% roadwork and thats always at a fairly spanking trot.

But I would do less if horsie wasnt used to it or had any issues re joints or lami prone etc.
 
I used to do a lot of endurance training trotting on roads but when my old horse was diagnosed at age 14 with bilateral navicular the vets suggested one contributory factor might have been excessive concussion on roads. So my current horse only trots on roads in competition - we do a lot of walk training on hard forestry tracks instead.
 
I don't see any issue with trotting on roads and have never had a problem with it.

as long as the horse is on a contact, well balanced and not being hammered along i think it is fine.
i also try to do one long trot rather than lots of little trots.

however, since moving to new yard i do most of my trot work on grass or on tracks- mainly as it is nicer for horse and i to be off road!
 
I have always trotted on roads and will continue to do so. However I have never had a horse that suffers from laminitis (touch wood). I see nothing wrong with trotting on roads so long as you build the length of time spent trotting gradually, and if anything I believe it strengthens their legs over time.

If I didn't trot on roads then it would take me ages to get anywhere and I would have a very fat horse! Also when I go out hunting I don't have much of a choice!
 
I was taught that you should do some trot on roads to leg up a horse and strengthen its tendons. Same school of thought as use of tendon boots actually weakens the tendons as they don't do as much work.

My boy has splints on all 4 legs - did have even as a 4 yr old when he came over from ireland - he was prob trotted on the roads loads. Never had any foot problems what so ever and has lovely large hard strong feet and legs.
 
I also trot on the roads at a steady pace. Can't remember who posted but why is it important for them to be in an outline at trot? I see hacking as an opportunity for both to unwind so tend to do it all on a pretty long rein? :)
 
I do road work to get to the offroad hacking I have access to. I would say troting on roads would be like people running on roads - there is two schools of thought, one its good and one its bad! But I think its good for the horse when done in moderation - and this is depend on the horses fitness and also its history.

I run on the road and have built my muscles up to it and my horse is the same. But I do make sure he doesn't go on the roads trotting everyday so he has a change and I vary the trot lengths. He is used to trotting on the road and I would say in todays world its safer to trot the mile to get off the road than it is to walk it - the dange of meeting into some headcase is reduced and I think thats the biggest danger on the roads to horses and riders.
 
I do quite a lot of road trotting, our main hacking route is the estate road, only bits of it are properly concreted though. Dylan's never had any problems.
 
The horses I ride are trotted on the roads lots, their morning exercise is to go on "watering order" around London for a walk and trot to stretch their legs.
We trot them along the Serpentine road before taking them for a canter as they settle easier on the roads before taking them to the sane where they know they're due a run - cue bouncy ness!!
Ours all manage fine with mainly road work, if they become lame/injured for any reason roadwork is always built back in gradually to break them in gently
 
This is a difficult subject. I was told not to trot my horse on the roads as it was too much concussion. Then I was told that my horse wasn't fit enough and should do more work!
I do not have any where to ride other than roads and in the fields, no long grassy tracks or forest trails or moorland for me.
I remember a German girl who was just horrified to find that English people trotted their horses on the roads as it was a complete "no-no" in Germany. But maybe they have lots of forests and indoor schools for riding?

I have come to the conclusion that it is OK to trot on roads so long as you slowly build up length of trot and go reasonably slowly. The road is, after all, reasonably level, unlike trying to trot on bumpy, rough tracks. Like any road work the horse has to get conditioned to it and build up. I wouldn't normally do a fast trot for hacking.

But then you think of those endurance horses and hunters that trot fast, and what about driving animals that can trot for 2 hours at a time?

Lamminitis can be caused by concussion, but isn't it more to do with a sudden incidence, like a horse bolting on the roads, or trotting for hours at a time when they aren't used to it?
 
Also..........trotting on a hard surface with shoes is worse than unshod as the force is transferred up the leg with shoes on. Unshod more of the force is dissipated through the slight spread of the hoof.

Least thats what the farrier told me.

So you shouldbe more careful if horse is shod technically.

I don't see how trotting on a road is any diff to hard ground.
 
Ours regularly trot on roads. We wouldn't do if we thought it would harm them.
 
I do short amounts of trot work on roads usually, but when I am working on his fitness for hunting I will do longer trots. I keep him steady and not rushing to try and reduce the impact the surface has on his legs.

I have heard mixed opinions on this subject. I once heard that if your horse doesn't have shoes on, you are actually better to canter it on the roads as the action of the canter is less concussive on the legs than the action of the trot. Apparently the only reason most people don't canter on the roads is because their horses have shoes on and they could easily slip over on the hard surface of the road. I am unsure as to how true this theory is, but I can see how the action of the trot could be more concussive than that of the canter.
 
Concussion can predispose as it begins to affect the sensitive laminae, although I haven't ever known a perfectly healthy horse not prone to lami get it for this sole reason.

And plenty of hunters canter on the roads, showjumpers will compete on grass in the middle of summer when the ground is hard, these are two types of people wanting to keep their horses tip top so they can perform properly and I dont think they would do si if they thought it was a serious contribution towards such a potentially fatal disease.
 
Interesting subject. I trotted my little ponies on the roads loads when I was much younger (because i wanted to get to the galloping bits quicker!) without any ill effect and have always been of the school of thought that some road work in trot is good to harden the feet / legs. However more recently I did stop trotting my shod horses on the roads because I started to think about how much the metal shoes slamming on the hard concrete must actually do more harm than good.

However my mare is now barefoot (for last 3 months) and wears hoof boots on front feet and both her trot and walk are much freer and sure footed and it is much less jarring and I think she finds it more comfortable and I do and the trot work is helping her loose weight especially as most of our hills on roads!

So I think trotting in shoes is more likely to cause problems, trotting lots and trotting fast cant be good but some trotting on roads may help with conditioning legs (espec barefoot horses)
 
We rarely ride on the roads (no need) but we do tend to trot on when we do, to get out of the way of the traffic/off the road again pdq. This doesn't mean that we hammer along, just a normal trot. However, we do ride along a lot of gravelled forestry tracks which I think are worse than roads for concussion/bruising. We tend to walk along the gravel tracks and look for as many opportunities to take side tracks on the grass/mud as possible.
 
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