Trotting on the road

Even that refers to short bursts of sprint exercise though! Thankfully my pony keeps breathing while in canter as it would seem do many others. Yes of course anaerobic respiration exists but not just from working your horse at a canter!
 
I also think it must depend on your location, at mums in winter is you didn't trot on the road the horses wouldn't get out of walk much at all as that is mostly all there is, in the summer the clay bakes hard so even off road is no better. I think even F would start to get fed up only ever walking everywhere. At my wilts location lots of off road but as hunting I did make sure we did enough that I felt he was ok for that.
 
ester said:
Even that refers to short bursts of sprint exercise though! Thankfully my pony keeps breathing while in canter as it would seem do many others. Yes of course anaerobic respiration exists but not just from working your horse at a canter!
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Aerobic and anaerobic refers to the way the muscles use the oxygen, and chemical reaction
 
Tnavas said:
Why? What is wrong with the article? Why do you think horses that have just raced, competed cross country etc require several days recovery?
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There is nothing wrong with the article.
But the article does not say that cantering burns muscle
 
Tnavas said:
Aerobic and anaerobic refers to the way the muscles use the oxygen, and chemical reaction
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And as someone with a science doctorate funnily enough I know that! Respiration is the name for that chemical reaction, hence me saying that of course it exists in both forms, just not when cantering your horse!
Even when racing it will only really be the finish that is anaerobic
 
Tnavas said:
Why? What is wrong with the article? Why do you think horses that have just raced, competed cross country etc require several days recovery?
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They don't, if they have been properly fittened for the activity. That's why three day eventers show jump on the third day, to prove their fitness. Race horses could probably run the course again the next day, but slower, so they couldn't win, so no-one would do it. It's all about fitness for the activity.

One of the best books I read on fittening a one day eventer said that if your horse could not have gone out and done the same event the next day (barring injury), then it wasn't fit enough to do the first one without risk of muscle, tendon or ligament injuries.
 
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Just want to point out, too, that a walk is not as good as a trot for fittening the heart, which is also a muscle.
 
ycbm said:
They don't, if they have been properly fittened for the activity. That's why three day eventers show jump on the third day, to prove their fitness. Race horses could probably run the course again the next day, but slower, so they couldn't win, so no-one would do it. It's all about fitness for the activity.

One of the best books I read on fittening a one day eventer said that if your horse could not have gone out and done the same event the next day (barring injury), then it wasn't fit enough to do the first one without risk of muscle, tendon or ligament injuries.
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Theres plenty of racehorses won two days running including Cheltenham festival and ascot. They run better on the second day than they do if you miss a day its well known in racing
 
catkin said:
Interestingly, my native ponies prefer to trot on a good tarmac surface rather than the grassy verges, they will veer onto the road off the verges. Probably some instinct to keep their feet well away from potential soft patches/bogs after all they are the experts on where it's safe to put their feet.
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Mine do too, including the Anglo (all barefoot). I generally let my horses set their own pace out hacking (obviously providing it's safe to do so) and my mare in particular seems to actually prefer trotting over walking when on roads, she's ex gypsy broodmare so perhaps she was previously driven and it's just habbit though??
 
popsdosh said:
Theres plenty of racehorses won two days running including Cheltenham festival and ascot. They run better on the second day than they do if you miss a day its well known in racing
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I don't know that :) Just proves the point about fitness, doesn't it Popsdosh?
 
There is a big thread on Facebook about this at the moment by a Veterinary Researcher. I used to trot on the road a fair bit, but since I learnt more I realised how conclusive it is for them. My Appy has bone spavin but has been a lot better since being barefoot behind last summer. I have spent the past six months just walking on the roads except for out hunting, but have recently introduced some small bursts of steady trotting into our exercise - due to my horse telling me this is what he is happy to do! Obviously we trot on the roads more out Hunting but as this is only once or twice per month I see it as not too much of a problem.
 
ycbm said:
I don't know that :) Just proves the point about fitness, doesn't it Popsdosh?
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Why make a statement that they cant!

About the Busiest was Commercial Flyer back in 2005 he ran on 3 consecutive days and won two but if that wasnt enough he actually won two more in the next nine days . Rushaway won two derbys on consecutive days. Going back to 63 Shannons hope won 5 races in 8 days.
 
Tnavas said:
Watched the movie and wondered if you noticed how many of those wild horses actually were moving unlevelness on that stony surface.

I can't find the article, archeologists working with fossilised horse bones found that many had signs of navicular, ring bone, side one and laminitis. These ones had never even seen a human.
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Your first point - well of course, it's very rocky terrain and steep sided hills. How can they be level if the terrain is not level? The aspect was from above so hard to properly judge the gradient.

Second point - I'm sure that many wild horses will have some ossification but there are some researchers who think they may be adaptations. Navicular has many definitions - what exactly was found wrong with the navicular bone in these samples? What were the signs? From the latest research, navicular doesn't really mean anything as it is a collection of symptoms of pain in the area where the navicular bone is. Pinpointing "navicular" is still a bit finger in the air here in the UK. Laminitis I can quite believe because that has been noted in Clouds' herd when they reach lush grazing but is transient rather than what we see in domesticated horses who generally eat rich food for a prolonged period of with no natural "wax/wane" cycling.
 
AdorableAlice said:
Interesting comments.

I prefer to walk, on the bridle, up hills. It is harder work for them to walk and the rider can or should be able to feel the back and hind end working. Horses find it much easier to trot up hills than walk, especially the lazier ones.

Until the horse is balanced, able to carry weight behind and is up through the wither mine do not trot on the road. This is the key for safe and beneficial trotting on the road and sadly many riders will never have experienced the feeling of an uphill off the forehand trot that can be maintained for a period of time.

Not many will agree, but that is my take on trotting on concrete.
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But most roads (none round here) are not concrete. Trotting on tarmac is not the same as trotting on concrete. I find that trotting up hill helps the horse to develop the musculature to work correctly, so long as the trot is not the hammering along on the forehand that I see so many riders allowing/encouraging.
 
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I am always aghast at how the mounted followers of the local hunt hammer past on the roads in an unbalanced butchers boy trot when they are round here. I am also reliably informed (by a subscriber to said hunt) that the average viable sound working life of hunters round here is just 3 seasons.
 
We do plenty of trotting on roads, on the level and up inclines and hills.
Never trot downhill on the road.

The better schooled the horse, the longer the trot periods- you want them off the forehand, in self carriage with bottoms doing the work.
Youngsters and unschooled horses do trot but only shorter bursts and walk again as soon as the balance starts to flag.

My older horse can now trot easily for 10mins at a time on the road as her balance is much improved.
Youngsters may only trot for 20 seconds at a time and slowly build up over months and years as their balance and carriage improves.

Hunting, if we are going a fair clip down the road, I'd rather slow canter than hammer along in medium trot.
 
How odd this topic showed up as I saw something today that puzzled me a bit. Saw an advert for a hunter and in two of the pictures the horse was cantering on the road. Kind of made me think would I want to buy a horse that is cantered on roads? I can get trotting for a bit to get round a bend or move quicker to get to a layby to let cars past but otherwise I don't bother. Certainly would never canter on the road.
 
Whereas as the owner of a welsh cob, who would usually bring out the slamming cob trot only when hunting I would much, much rather he cantered at that point than and many people feel the same. My most recent pack did very little road work though so never for long, the previous one did a bit more.
 
All of mine trot on roads we normally do 6 miles plus in summer they normally trot up and down hills and on the flat whilst pulling a carriage. They are all pretty fit and also canter in harness on gravel tracks.
 
Only ever trot uphil nowadays but my old eventer (novice level)was trotted up hill and downhill for the 23 years I owned him and he was sound till the day he died so it's a bit of strange one really isn't it? IMO if doing a bit of trotting on roads 'breaks' your horse, it probably would have broken anyway!
 
I trot more if I'm on my own, I find lots of people don't like trotting on roads but my horse needs to trim his own hooves and by trotting it helps keep them nice a neat!

I wouldn't trot the whole hack but I would do a good 3rd of the hack or half, depending how far I'm going
 
ester said:
Whereas as the owner of a welsh cob, who would usually bring out the slamming cob trot only when hunting I would much, much rather he cantered at that point than and many people feel the same. My most recent pack did very little road work though so never for long, the previous one did a bit more.
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There is a higher increase of slipping or falling on the road, purely because at one point only one foot is on the ground and the period of suspension is quite elevated, if unbalanced at any point in the stride the risk is increased. At least with trotting 2 feet are on the ground and the period of suspension is of minimal height.

Never had a problem with trotting any of the horses I've owned or worked with trotting on the road, they have all remained sound. The main concern I would have and would check daily is sore shins - and that is caused by the concussion - legs checked twice daily for heat over the front of the cannon bone.
 
No shoes, balanced, well schooled pony, never slipped on tarmac ever.

We did have one nasty metalled road on a nasty hill on one of the estates that everyone was careful with and I hated seeing shod horses on at all but we never slipped on that either though always sensible. He has an excellent 'woah listen to me I know best you sod' installed :p.

It is of course completely each to their own but in my circumstances once I got over the intial BHS instilled OMG cantering on the road I have never had an issue with it on occasion, in it's place as sometimes a better option than the alternative at that time when you know the situation and your horse.
 
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