Driving surfaces

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MajorClementine

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I live in a fairly rural area with very minimal traffic on the back roads. Once Major is ready to expand from driving in our pasture I plan on coming up with a couple of routes on some of these back roads. The only problem is there isn't much of a shoulder thanks to irrigation ditches and fence lines. The only reason this might be a problem is that keeps us on the paved road. Would this be to hard on Major's feet/legs? We'd work up slowly obviously but I don't want to cause him serious problems.

I've used easy boots for my riding horses and I really liked them. Has anyone used them for minis and had success with them? I know they are expensive but I'd rather do that than have an injury. I've heard the build a bear shoe theory on here as well but I'm a long ways away from a BaB.

The only dirt trails around here are narrow, steep, rocky or a combination of all 3. Not really fit for a cart.
 
I am no expert. I talked to the farrier about Wiseguy's feet when he did my little guy's feet for the first time I have owned him. I've only had Wiseguy since April. We are driving on asphalt, sandy areas, hard packed dirt/alkali lake beds and road base which is a kind of a sharp small gravel that packs down and we went to another valley and there were rocks on the road. As far as his feet go, the farrier said his feet look great. The farrier is coming out again on the 28th and I will be quizzing him on how his feet look again.

One thing is that asphalt is a bit slippery so I always get Wiseguy to walk and then whoa him on the asphalt and I walk him if we are making a sharp turn since I wouldn't want him to slip on the asphalt. I don't whoa him from a trot since he was trotting once when I whoaed him at a stop sign and he kind of skidded. Scared me that he might get hurt. Several ladies that drive around here seem to think it is okay to drive him on asphalt as far as his legs and such.

I am really interested to hear what people have to say on this topic. Been meaning to ask this question myself.
 
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Are your roads "asphalt" as in new home driveways, or are they tarmac, as in the old roads that tend to bubble on scorching hot days? We have more of the latter, and they have a lot of give. We are careful on the modern asphalt areas, but have no problem on the tarmac. Mingus much prefers it to gravel. We do make a point to build his time up on the pavement every spring.
 
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I think we've got some of both. The roads that were really "bad" they have redone with asphalt but I'm pretty sure some are tarmac or chip sealed. Although we don't have any scorching days here so as far as bubbling goes...
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That sounds way too hot for me.

I wondered if the even surface would be better than gravel or road base for their feed (less chance of stone bruises etc) but harder on their knees. Sounds like we'll be okay if we work up to it and don't try to go at break neck speeds. Dang, no street racing the minis...
 
Are your roads "asphalt" as in new home driveways, or are they tarmac, as in the old roads that tend to bubble on scorching hot days? We have more of the latter, and they have a lot of give. We are careful on the modern asphalt areas, but have no problem on the tarmac. Mingus much prefers it to gravel. We do make a point to build his time up on the pavement every spring.
I think the roads here are mostly chip seal if they are asphalt. I'm not sure on a couple of the "busy" streets but we haven't any really new asphalt anywhere near me. We went out today and started on a sandy road for a half of a mile. Then a hard packed sandy road for another half of a mile. We got onto the chipseal for about half a mile. Then we turned onto sort of loose sandy road with a couple of gentle rolls in the terrain for a mile. That was a lot of walking but we did hit some firm parts and managed to trot here and there. By then we were back to our street for the half a mile home. This was a new route for us and I think we did about 3 miles, maybe a bit more.
 
We drive on all our asphault and tarmac. The only thing we do is make sure they have moisture in their hooves that way they give a little. If the hoof seems to have too much moisture and they are chipping up a lot we use tuff stuff. Only once a year though and we never apply before winter. I don't like shoes as they can rip your minis feet to shreds.
 

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