Draggin hind toes???

M

MrsMagoo

Well-Known Member
Joined
13 July 2005
Messages
5,152
Location
Harrietsham, Kent
Visit site
What can it mean if they are draging there hind toes on the lunge, trot up etc?? (apart from being lazy lol) The back lady noticed it the other day when we trotted up Star, although she did have shoulder/neck problems which she could be a reason...

any ideas?
 
[ QUOTE ]
What can it mean if they are draging there hind toes on the lunge, trot up etc?? (apart from being lazy lol) The back lady noticed it the other day when we trotted up Star, although she did have shoulder/neck problems which she could be a reason...

any ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

Does horse do this under saddle, struggle to walk downhills? How old is your horse?

Could be a number of things.
 
Sienna does this as she's so common. She doesn't naturally step through, she idly swings & shuffles. It's noticeable on the road, so would be worth a hack to see if it's happening there as well.
Solution for S is to make her work in a more engaged way & move more actively behind. I would be wary of lots of diagnoses that it's a problem that needs treating, when it's more likely a schooling issue.
 
Could also be hock related and has made her shoulders/neck sore from dragging herself round on her front end, rather than pushing from behind. This was the case with my friend horse which drap his near hind when totted on the lunge (more obviously on a firm surface).
 
well she hurt her shoulders/neck while pratting about on the lunge a few weeks ago and fell onto her knees etc...thats what caused that problem. We were thinking, a bit like you said cause she was hurting on her front end, she wasnt pushing from behind??
 
My horse as always done it. He has a problem with his pelvis in that it's asymmetrical i.e slightly twisted and 'out', regular visits from the equine chiropracter help to make him more comfortable.

He used to drag his off hind so badly that he'd wear the toe of the shoe into a straight line within a couple of weeks of shoing. A couple of farriers had told me never to let him go barefoot as he would wear his hoof right down to the white line and cause massive damage. However he's been barefoot now for three years and interestingly he hardly drags his toes at all. I think it's because he can feel where his feet are, as opposed to being shod where they lose that sensation, and possibly he just feels more balanced without shoes.
 
Maybe.

Is she wearing the toe away at all?

Patches has always dragged her hind toes in both walk and trot. Not at every stride, but pretty much.

She's had a full lameness work up and is seen by an Osteopath every few months. The vet can find nothing wrong with her, apart from very slight changes in the hocks. These changes a minute and certainly didn't draw the vet to conclude that they could be the reason why she's dragged her hind feet for over 6 years that I'm aware of.

Interestingly, when Patches is "on her toes" she doesn't do it. Flexion makes it no worse and she can turn in tight circles and back up with ease. Vet is flummoxed and has come to the decision that it's just her way of going.
 
My Tb does it - had the vet and physio out, vet seemed to think arthritic changes in hock, but physio just said laziness (i dont really know what to think!!). He squares off his shoes quite quickly, however the vet said not to worry unless he started wearing down the sides of his back shoes unevenly (as this means that the arthiritis is starting to cause pain and a change in mechanics to compensate).
 
My TB has does this and she squares off her toes, but doesn't do it when she being ridden, so I think her is down to her being lazy. Speak to your farrier about it as they can shoe in a way to help with it, mine is now shod with a shoe similar to the natural balance shoes, and the shoe is set back slightly and this has helped loads.
 
Assuming your horse hasn't injured itself or have some kind of congenital problem.

It's interesting that your chiro tells you the horses pelvis is 'out', as science will tell you that it's a near physical impossibility for a horses pelvis to be anywhere but 'in'. In fact there have been experiments on dead horses to move a horses pelvis by physical means - to rotate it or get it to do any of the things which 'back people' describe, and they were only effective when heavy machinery was used.

It makes it hard to believe a horse would be able to perambulate if it's pelvis was 'out' given the amount of force which would be required to move it.
I have seen horses whic h have twisted their pelvises and they are crippled. Horses which have 'moved' their pelvises are likely to have serious ligament and tendon damage.
What your chiropractor is probably describing to you is muscle assymetry which is nothing to do with the pelvis, but everything to do with a problem else where which manifests itself as a pelvis problem. If your horse drags a hind leg then maybe it has a spavin forming or similar.
You may know all of this - your chiropractor may have explained that what they are doing every couple of months is a but of manipulation to ease muscle soreness - a symptom of the real problem.

I hope so because otherwise you - like hundreds of other people are otherwise believing a myth perpetuated by bad back practitioners which not only rips people off but causes a great deal of unneccesary suffering to horses and ensures they are not treated correctly.

I'm trying not to lecture, but this is my hobby horse subject and I see red whenever people state their horses pelvis is out or rotated.....
 
I completely agree... one 'physio' who did my 11 year old mare told me she had rotated her pelvis which I found incredibly worrying. I started digging about on the internet and it looked impossible for this to be the case when she was sound etc etc. I then took her to a well known chiro, and he told me her pelvis was absolutely fine and there was nothing at all wrong with her back
blush.gif
 
Interestingly, Patches used to wear the outside edge of her shoe, as well as the toe. Farrier said it was more to do with her being cow hocked, than pain.

However, all the lateral extensions in the world made no difference. One hydro cortisone jab into the hock later and she's never worn her shoes in that way since. They now wear evenly laterally, although still still wears the toe quite heavily.
 
Can be a symptom of hock spavins, I know a horse where the a physiotherapist came out to check it over and noticed it dragging its hinds. She referred my friend straight back to the vet for further investigation. It later transpired that the horse had hock spavins.
 
Yup.

Difference in Patches case is that she's 9 now and has done it since she was bought as a 3 year old. Her old owner had her from them until she was 7 and was also told it would probably be something she'd grow out of when in more work.

She never has, although it's not as bad now, she still does it.

She only has the slightest changes to hocks now. Like the vet said, alot of 9 year old cobs could have the same changes on x-rays. We just went down the route of treating hers because she would've had her hocks excluded anyway on insurance renewal. She most certainly can't have had "slight changes" for six years that I know of, therefore we absolutely believe the toe dragging isn't related to those x-ray findings.
grin.gif
 
My old horse had this problem as did another I used to ride, both had hock problems, mine was older with artritis and the other had spavin from a young age. I can highly reccomend natural balance shoes to help though, made a real difference to my old lad.
 
My previous ISH (the one in my avatar) & my current ISH Adrian both do this. Neither ever had any physical probs or issues. Cat was 11 when I lost him & Adrian is 5. My instructor says it's an 'idle behind' thing that he'll stop as his flatwork improves & he gets more active.

We tried all sorts of shoes/shoeing techniques to stop Cat doing it, but none of them really worked. Maybe it's an idle ISH thing?
 
haha does sound like it...she's a lazy moo schooling at home until she gets going. Hopefully there is nothing in it
smile.gif
I have her now on Flexijoint just to see if that makes any difference...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top