Trotting on the roads... Opinions please

I don't think there is anything wrong with trotting on the road, but you do have to build up to it and trot in a balanced collected way.

If you took an unfit horse that wasn't used to road work and hammered it in a spanking trot you would risk all sorts of problems, but I think a good trot does them no harm at all.

And agree with the comments about riding in the school a lot on a deep or inconsistent surface causes more problems (albeit different ones!)
 
Allover said:
I will be interested to see if any hunting folk post on this, when i worked on a hunting yard we did a LOT of trot roadwork in their fittening regime, i dont remember any of the horses being lame from it and they went on for years and years (i regularly go to back to the yard and some of the same faces are still hanging over the stable doors).

Horses need to be conditioned on all ground to be physiologically strong.
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^^^^^ this-
 
i have always trotted on roads, not brought up in hunting scene really although mum was so maybe thats where i get it from. My pony i have had from 4yo he is 16 this yera and never had a problem from trotting my old boy is retired now but we have had him since 9yo he retired at 19 due to an old shoulder injury causing arthritis, road work never affected him (both shod). A lady on yard has a TB who she would never trot on roads, always having problems from looning in the field and very experienced vets told her to start doing some road work and trotting up hills mainly to build up the bone density. She is now much better with her legs and is rarely off work due to looning about.
It is a bit like people young girls (upto early 20's) espec need to do concussion work (jumping/running etc) to build up the bone density and reduce the likelihood of a getting brittle bones when they are post-menopause. So same principle apply for horses
 
Allover said:
I will be interested to see if any hunting folk post on this, when i worked on a hunting yard we did a LOT of trot roadwork in their fittening regime, i dont remember any of the horses being lame from it and they went on for years and years (i regularly go to back to the yard and some of the same faces are still hanging over the stable doors).

Horses need to be conditioned on all ground to be physiologically strong.
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i have always worked in hunting yards and the same always trotted on roads now i look after hunters and dont and i haven't had any problems whatsoever i just think its not really necessary and once a horse has been fit for a few seasons the legs are stronger and as hunters usually have around 3 months of they aren't that unfit when brought in they obviously will do trotting on roads whilst out hunting but the owners are under strict instructions not to hammer as they will eventually stop and you can catch up and always find a verge to trot on believe me i am scary so they do take note!! i do have a mare at the moment who has quite bad arthritis so unfortunately i dont think there is any proof of joint damage i think its just a preference . i do tend to use cubbing for getting them fit that way we have access to much nicer ground. trotting over uneven hard ground is 100 times worse than trotting on roads.
 
I walk for miles on the roads, and when they are fitter and more conditioned I trot up and down hills on the road. I feel it hardens and conditions their legs. My youngster trotted for a mile, walked for a mile, then trotted for a mile only last week, (with warm up & cool down) all on our lanes. I trot at a steady pace & with the horse into the hand.

We've always trotted on the road, we've never had a horse with navicular, arthritis and only one with a tendon problem, which was a sprain/knock. We've had horses all their lives and had 40 odd horses/ponies on and off.

The people I see with horses with foot/limb problems tend to keep them in for sustained periods, keep them turned out on hankerchief sized patches of flat land, work for hours in arenas, expect them to work on poor going when they are not conditioned, have badly shod horses & feed hard food for no apparent reason. I think those things are far more damaging than trotting on a firm surface.
 
Well I hunt...and I have had my horse 8 years, and he hasn't been lame once. I don't have an arena, so all the schooling / fitness work I do is out on the roads, so yes I trot on the roads a fair bit, even for a few miles (up to about 4ish before a small break) at atime and I have never had a problem :)

My horse does however have good bone, and so i'm not suggesting all horses would be quite the same, I think it depends on your horse :) Obviously I wouldn't recommend going 'hell for leather' down roads at a trot, that would just be silly, but a nice steady held together trot I fail to see a problem?

Obviously if the verge is there, then I tend to use it if needs be, so long as I know its safe. Also basic amounts of trotting on the road helps to strengthen tendons anyway, if my old DC's sayings anything to go by! :D

I would like to mention though...carriage horses....days gone by? Horses were trotted extensively on the roads for hours on end, and yes there was the occasional 'black beauty' case but the majority survived...
 
In an idea world all horses would trot on the roads. BUT only after conditioning by walking lots, then very short bits of trot, building it up over weeks and weeks.

I think too much work on soft surfaces softens the tendons etc. There are far more horse with tendon injuries over recent years than ever before

however I am guilty of not doing this!! We don't have anywhere safe near enough so spend most of my time in the school or on soft grassy tracks:rolleyes: not good in my opnion
 
No trotting for mine on roads! the surface is far to hard it concusses their joints/heels too much.
 
I trot on the road but I build it up.
I don't hack much in winter so I just walk but coming into summer do little bits of trotwork on our first hacks then build it up.
I always have my mare in the bridle, nice steady trot and usually uphill or along a nice straight. Never for too long either.
We have grass bits on the sides of the road too so a sneaky canter along those is always called for ;)
 
A lot of endurance rides are ridden at a trot and steady canter. Endurance horses cover hundreds of miles at a trot. Providing you harden the legs off at the start of you training program you should have no problem at all.

I have had 2 ponies and 1 arab that have competed in endurance. The arab is 24 years old and still has a clean set of legs.

Edited to say, most of the endurance horses I have know have retired sound after a full competitive life time.
 
I don't have a problem with horses trotting on roads. My horses are mostly driven and that is the most practical pace for them on the road.
 
I do a lot of road work so what I tend to do is:
Walk for a few weeks.
Build up trot slowly and in short bursts.
Gradually we go for longer - still keeping a steady pace.
I check her legs thoroughly every time we come back.

As long as you don't go straight out and start trotting, then I believe you'll be fine. As everything - it's each to their own. She could get concussion from it but as someone said, their horse spooked at a digger resulting in concussion! As long as you take necessary safety measures.
 
My pony who I have had for 9 years is quite fiesty and constantly jogs and stamps around on the road whilst out hacking and she has some of the cleanest legs going and she is 20!

I also agree with peoples comments on deeper going (such as in a school) sometimes being worse... my other mare's legs always tend to fill slightly on the back after a hard session schooling where as after roadwork...absolutley nothing!
 
This could almost be in the thread "You know you're old when..." as we used to trot for miles to fitten horses. Years ago we did a lot more hacking as schools were very few and far between. Now I still to trot up most hills to get the back end working. Never had a problem but always fittened horse gradually.
 
They key is condtioning. Endurance horses have long slow conditioning, go for miles in trot & canter (up to 100 miles in a day), roads encountered on most rides. Pads only tend to be used on stoney ground, rather than hard ground. Personally I would worry much more covering the miles on rutted or boggy/soft ground than on hard ground. My girl loves hard ground & positively bounces off it. She isn't hammered along, but moves at her own pace & floats (being an arab). I would worry riding a horse with a hard action which isn't able to absorb the concussion & jars itself with each step.
 
It's interesting how divided opinion is on this. I definitely agree with whoever posted about damage caused by schooling on soft surfaces (as per my post as well) and horses being stabled for too long and not having enough turn out. I do feel this sort of management and riding has a lot to answer for and where many problems stem from. People school and school their horses, don't do any work on hard surfaces as they feel it's cause too much 'concussion' yet they then expect their horse to compete at various disciplines and suddenly the horse goes lame with some tendon problem.

It certainly seems more common these days than it used to be when people didn't have arenas to exercise in. I have a friend who's horse (now aged 11) has been unsound for the past 3 years with collateral ligament damage. I strongly suspect a lot of this is due to the horse being ridden a lot in a school (friend finds hacking "boring") and then said horse is evented - lameness occurs!

I recently changed jobs and walk 10/15 mins on a pavement to get there, to start with my shins were sore (yeah i was unfit!) but now I can do it at a brisk walk and my legs have toned up a lot. It does help your legs to walk/jog on hard surfaces and the same can be said for a horse. Try it yourself - run for a few hundred yards on tarmac and then try do the same in a sand arena - which one is easier?!
 
siennamum said:
I walk for miles on the roads, and when they are fitter and more conditioned I trot up and down hills on the road. I feel it hardens and conditions their legs. My youngster trotted for a mile, walked for a mile, then trotted for a mile only last week, (with warm up & cool down) all on our lanes. I trot at a steady pace & with the horse into the hand.

We've always trotted on the road, we've never had a horse with navicular, arthritis and only one with a tendon problem, which was a sprain/knock. We've had horses all their lives and had 40 odd horses/ponies on and off.

The people I see with horses with foot/limb problems tend to keep them in for sustained periods, keep them turned out on hankerchief sized patches of flat land, work for hours in arenas, expect them to work on poor going when they are not conditioned, have badly shod horses & feed hard food for no apparent reason. I think those things are far more damaging than trotting on a firm surface.
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Good post.
I have always trotted on road, never had any problems in 20 years of doing so.
 
a lot of endurance rides involve a lot of road work and people either trot or canter all the time on endurance rides.
wether its right or wrong I wouldnt like to say.
 
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