I have two young TWH fillies that I am starting. I know that many, many people ride their Walkers on pavement all the time, but I am concerned about damage to their legs. Our girls are barefoot and I prefer to keep them that way as long as they remain sound and don’t become footsore. As a kid, I always rode my horses on pavement and none of them ever seemed to have a problem. As an adult, I am more aware of potential dangers. Because I need to work on their gaits (running walk, saddle rack) we are talking speed and more force on the legs. I would prefer a nice arena to work in, but we have hills and other turned out horses who want to tag along and cause other problems. We have almost no flat space big enough to do more than ride away from the barn to the house, turn and ride back. If it comes down to that, I would rather do that than harm their legs. I need facts. Can anyone help point me in the right direction or does anyone have long-term experience with Walking horses and pavement? Any solid information would be greatly appreciated.
I have no experience with gaited horses. That said I think horses are pretty much horses and I would not do a lot of work on pavement and would build up very slowly and gradually especially with the faster gaits. And carefully monitor their feet to make sure they don’t break off or wear down too fast.
Is there no dirt or gravel shoulder along the side of the pavement you can ride on instead? No way would I do anything more than walk on pavement with my horses.
I can only share that my Walkers (all keg shod) are not as relaxed on hard dirt roads vs. Riding on the softer shoulders. That hard ground stings when you are asking for more than a dog walk or normal walk.
So people in other parts of the world do a lot of hacking out on paved roads because it’s all they have. Some even gallop on those roads when they fox hunt. I think if you use a strict fitness regimen to built up strength some roadwork is not harmful.
However, I believe that lots fast work on roads will wear a horse down faster. See Amish horses as an example, although they probably spend more time on the road than any average horse person so this is an extreme example.
Also, gaited people like to hear the sound their horses make on the pavement, which is why many ride on the road. I think they do it more because hearing the noise is traditionally pleasing and old habits die hard. As a non gaited person it’s super annoying to be at a public campground and the gaited people are raising their horses around camp all night long. Obviously this is a select group and not all gaited horse people.
If you have horses, gaited or no, and ride on trails or other parts of the “real world” you’re going to have to ride on pavement. As with all things, however, you have use sound judgement and moderation in what you’re doing. Hard pavement is hard on equine feet. With young horses you must use more judgement and discretion and limit such environment to that which is necessary to the work that the horse is doing.
We had Walkers for many years before we got our Marchadors. We ride on pavement from time to time but not routinely. We usually limit ourselves to a walk and get off as soon as we can. Not only is pavement hard on the horse it’s hard on the rider in the event of an "unplanned dismount. 
There is a sad history in the TWH of breaking horses at 18 moths in stacks so they can compete as two year olds. And riding on pavement to “road founder” the horse and achieve the Big Lick gait without using soring chemicals (and thus getting around the strictures of the HPA). You don’t sound like you’re doing this; that is Good. But riding on pavement is something to be done with discretion, no matter the breed or gait.
G.
I have gaited horses but i would never purposefully ride on pavement for any great length of time. Most of my horses stay with me for life so i want to preserve their soundness. If we ride on pavement, it is at the walk only, and usually only for crossing the road or going around driveways.
I keep my truck hitched most of the time and am always trailering off some place. It’s boring riding on the property and there is no one to ride with. Much better to just trailer someplace.
[QUOTE=Guilherme;n10526552]
There is a sad history in the TWH of breaking horses at 18 moths in stacks so they can compete as two year olds. And riding on pavement to “road founder” the horse and achieve the Big Lick gait without using soring chemicals (and thus getting around the strictures of the HPA). You don’t sound like you’re doing this; that is Good. But riding on pavement is something to be done with discretion, no matter the breed or gait.
G.[/Q
oh my god! That is horrible! I had not heard that before. Is that still done?
A few days back on FB I got a photo of a trainer riding what looks like a very young (or maybe just very small) Walker in stacks. No date on the photo but I’d not seen it before and it had the “look and feel” of relatively newness. So, yes, it’s quite likely these practices still continue in some places.
G.
