will i sell him to a treking center ?

[neddy1]

only joking ! but seriously what do other people do when the ground is so hard and you dont have a school to ride in ? My stable backs directly on to over a 100 acres of common ground and while i am only a happy hacker my horse is a ex race horse and does love a high speed canter a couple of times a week ! at the moment the ground is so hard we've spent the last week walking with a small bit of trot , he is getting so fat and lasy this summer that this doesn't seem to to bother him much ! i am worried about concussion and he has very flat feet and can feel a bit foot sore at times . Am i destined to spend the summer at a walk ?

 

[debsflo]

dont have the answer ,just same worry re hard ground.im not prepared to risk horses legs but given the forecast its going to be a problem

 

[xXGemblesXx]

There is an argument to say that a slow, steady canter on hard ground isn't probably the worst thing in the world for horses legs (post below "cantering on tarmac")

However I'm not sure if I would like to risk it.. having said that I used to canter along the hard forestry tracks on my pony :O dont think I would do that on my new girly though

 

[hellybelly6]

Could you loose school him to take the tickle out of his feet?

I only walk when the ground is hard too.

 

[annret]

[ QUOTE ]
There is an argument to say that a slow, steady canter on hard ground isn't probably the worst thing in the world for horses legs (post below "cantering on tarmac")

However I'm not sure if I would like to risk it.. having said that I used to canter along the hard forestry tracks on my pony :O dont think I would do that on my new girly though

[/ QUOTE ]

There was an article in H&H about this a couple of months ago, regarding the number of withdrawals when ground wasn't perfect & it pointed out that in Australia they gallop on hard ground & though concussion could be a problem often it resolved itself in a few days of rest, unlike heavy going causing tendon/ligament damage which took months to repair.

Being honest, I think some hard ground is good for building muscle tone / bone density through trotting, and I wouldn't be totally adverse to a canter along a fairly hard track so long as there was some give.