[QUOTE=jerry;3266380]
The chance of road founder is a tiny risk compared to bolting into an intersection. I have this bad habit of putting safety first. Of course, I wouldn’t do it to a fat, out of shape animal. I will do it again in a heartbeat if necessary.[/QUOTE]
You know what you are dealing with in that horse, I don’t. You make your choices, have to live with the results. I would be trying other methods first, as I wrote above.
As with any “re-do, retraining” situation, there can be good or bad results to methods used, so the person getting advice needs to consider them. Each animal is different, the location they are used in, methods, can be successful, or NOT.
A horse going 20 miles on soft trails, sandy roads, probably won’t Road Founder. Same horse, doing 10-15 miles or more, in hard hoof concussion of pavement or packed down, hard dry dirt roads like we have locally, stone roads, could get Road Foundered…
A horse jumping out into intersections IS dangerous. Yet putting 20 hard miles on him doesn’t really address his intersection problem specifically. If he isn’t tired that day, WILL he stop and stand for me? Maybe, or maybe NOT!! He is still not TRAINED to stand, with dependability.
I do believe in working horses, going distances, and do use them that way. Trail riding all day puts the BEST walk on a horse, makes him forward, eager to reach the next camp for some food. Mine really march along, so it improves their driving gaits too. Riding for long times lets me use my leg aids 100 times to improve his sensitive reaction, sidepass, shoulder in, lighten him up on the reins and legs. He is not staggering exhausted, yet pleasantly less reactive to new things, gets more focused.
However, his basic training was already in place, knows walk, trot, canter, whoa and stand for long times BEFORE we set out on the distances. I am improving his responses, having a good time riding all day. He ALSO should be having a good time. Exhausted horse has no mind left for learning.
Horse handler, owner, just needs to be informed of both side to a method, before they make their choices. Doing milage can help, but it is very easy to overdo as well. Know that some horses just won’t give in to exhaustion, can and will hurt themselves if you keep asking. You may not see any results at the end of that long day, but horse will be in rough shape the next day or for a number of days after. Road Founder is mechanically caused by concussion, overdoing the work that day. It is not reversable.
You have to look hard at old-time methods, before jumping in. Those folks were dealing with rough-broke horses. Large MATURE animals who often were unhandled, unwilling to cooperate. HAD to get them going, and if you messed him up, there were lots more where he came from, all cheap. I have a large quantity of hard core old-time tricks in my training arsenal, yet get way better results with other, newer methods. Grampa bought his horses off the train at the stockyard in town. “Out of The West, by Train” was what he said when asked breeding! He had to deal with all those sorts of problems since they never were broke at purchase.
My horses now, are much better broke, responsive, with no trauma to anyone. A good sweat on a tired horse is fine, but not finishing with a leg-weary, staggering, exhausted animal. I learned, and then improved on what Grampa taught me. You need a lot of methods to hand, since just one doesn’t work with all animals.
