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Re: [RC] hard roads effect, lameness - rides2farI have concerns about "hard" road travel. Some say it's not harmful, in> fact will strengthen the legs. Some say it will cause injury, lameness.> Which is it?> I will say that this is the main issue that I have been afraid to go to endurance riding, Coming from an endurance background, I have been dumbfounded by the number of serious injuries I see in the dressage/show crowd. (one halter horse I knew bowed a tendon trotting into the ring) The more they try to keep them safe, the more they put them at risk, but how can you convince them of that? My friend who is a dressage rider and a vet lets me come ride in her ring. She keep apologizing for the bits of rocks or whatever on the groomed surface. It's so funny to me when I think of things like doing 100 miles on the rock hard dirt roads of Vermont, or trotting over exposed roots in the dark at the Biltmore 100 , and through 100 miles of deep sand at Augusta. She has a huge Andalusian/Lipizzan cross and she's a much smaller percentage of his body weight than I am of my horse, yet my horse was sound and her horse had one problem after another. To answer your question about hard surface making them stronger...it will, if used in moderation with ample time for the body to react and grow stronger. You ride on a hard surface one day, the next day the body lays down more bone to be prepared for "next time". However, if you ride them on a hard surface day after day without time to rebuild you are weakening the bone and will eventually have a breakdown. Race horse trainers thought at first that they'd be able to keep horses sound by swimming them to get them in shape, thus protecting their bones & tendons from the shock of galloping. They ended up with strong muscles and extremely weak bones & tendons that broke down much easier than before. The show people wrap their horses in bubble wrap and keep them in padded stalls until they grow weak, then they hurt themselves when they're let out to play. Train your horse in a reasonable fashion and he'll be safer all around. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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