Frustrated...Pony Keeps Tripping....

jaspejoo

jaspejoo

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I'm getting v.annoyed with my ISH CONSTANTLY tripping. I have no idea why or what is going on! He does in mostly in trot in the school and sometimes in canter and walk, then out hacking he does it constantly in walk and sometimes in trot and canter. Its really starting to worry me because he does it on the roads and i'm waiting for the day he trips and goes crashing down. As you can imaine, furrowed fields are a constant trip mission, but he walks so fast and often refuses to slow down so I struggle with managing to last minute steer around hidden dips and things, so atm i just try to let him walk where he thinks it is best as surely he should pay some attention to where he is walking if he manages to stay on all 4 feet in the field?

Does any body have any ideas as to what is causing it, as in if it is me or him? and what I might be able to do to help him?
 
I've been through this too, suggestions to cause were pony is unfit, toes too long, pony is tired, you're not riding properly don't let her slop along, pony is lazy. I spoke to my farrier after we had a fall in the school and he rolled the toes on her shoes, no more tripping. Interestingly, she had her shoes off a while ago and hasn't tripped once
 
As above. Phil trips when his feet need trimming/roll wasn't good enough (barefoot) or when I let him slop along. Collect your horse and make him work, will generally help stop the tripping.

Can also be a sign of navicular AFAIK, but I would ensure his shoes/hooves are in good condition and try really making him work before worrying.
 
My TB, retired before Christmas aged 22, used to do this & people would say the same to me re riding properly etc.

I got him on permanent loan aged 16 & he always had a tendency to trip, but never in canter, mostly in walk or a trot to walk transition. We had to keep his toes short & roll the toes on his shoes, which helped a bit, but didn't cure it.

Hacking became a nightmare and he couldn't even cope with walking on a verge in the end. Going from road to verge resulted in a trip every time. He was just about ok on the tarmac, but even tripped on that a couple of times. At that point, because of his age I retired him as I suspect he had navicular & arthritis.

Currently he will sometimes trip in the field, even without shoes as his action is very low. I'm not suggesting you retire your horse, but just sharing my experience of a similar problem.
 
My horse kept tripping all the time, always on his off fore. Turned out it was his saddle - not sure how it was causing a problem, but when I got a new saddle, problem solved, the tripping stopped.

YMMV
 
I hack my show horses out in these http://www.robinsonsequestrian.com/knee-brushing-boots.html so that if they do trip they won't scrape their knees, particularly youngsters that are fond of dancing around if the mood takes them. Unhelpfully the picture seems to have been removed from the robinsons website but basically they are brushing boots which have high fronts that cover the horses knees but don't interfere with their action - i like them much better than separate knee boots which can slip around/dig in.

Also have a word with your farrier as suggested above and if that doesn't help then back check/saddle fit/riding instructor etc etc.
 
Lots of good advice above to be sure this is not a farrier or pain issue

Also try some pole work in hand---
Walk over poles on the ground then set them up slightly at alternate ends--watch what he is doing with his feet
Sure there are various physio type exercises --but cant find a link just now--basically to teach or reteach a horse where his feet are after injury
 
Lobelia_Overhill said:
My horse kept tripping all the time, always on his off fore. Turned out it was his saddle - not sure how it was causing a problem, but when I got a new saddle, problem solved, the tripping stopped.

YMMV
Click to expand...

I believe that a saddle that pinches the shoulders can be the cause?
 
If this is a new thing which has started with a horse you have had a long time, it could be a sign of feet or joint problems. It could also be that the horse is unfit or becoming a bit too chilled out and needs a bit of a waking up from you.

If he's always been like this and it just shows up more in summer when you hack more, the ground is more rutted and the school surface is dry and deep, his action is probably just very close to the ground and the only things to do are work on getting him off the forehand and keeping on top of his shoeing. Also always watch the ground ahead of you on hacks, positioning him right to avoid or negotiate any lumps, stones, etc, which just becomes habit like looking for pot holes when you drive a car that can't deal with them. ;)
 
interestingly...had a lesson today and he didnt trip once, and to be honest he wasnt working much harder than we do normally...i think he does it mostly in the school when he gets lazy and on the forehand. he is pretty fit so i don't think it is that! i think his action is too low so i'm gonna tell the farrier when he comes out next as suggested and hopefully he can do something...i won't try barefoot because of upright conformation etc he is 100% likely to become very lame and barefoot just wouldn't work for him. he can't even cope when he is stood with no shoes on before he has fresh ones put on! it's all too sore for him! Its just so frustrating and worrying that it might be navicular or arthritis :( ....
 
Lobelia_Overhill said:
My horse kept tripping all the time, always on his off fore. Turned out it was his saddle - not sure how it was causing a problem, but when I got a new saddle, problem solved, the tripping stopped.

YMMV
Click to expand...
.
Had the very same problem. Turned out to be a saddle issue too.
Turned out the saddle had poppled a rivet and it was sticking into her back, so she wasnt able to move her shoulder properly - hense the tripping.
Got the saddle fixed and pony had no more problems.
 
as for saddles and stuff, when the physio checked him, the only place he didn't have tension was his shoulders :/ so that's a bit bizarre with the thought that it may be his saddle...he does it in both his jump and dressage which both fit him also....i think i'll just try making him work a bit more out hacking as suggested, its just hard to make him work from behind as he is pretty speedy out hacking so its hard to push him to my hand as he likes to run off :D i think maybe i just have a special pony!
 
Ok, a couple of years ago I had this with my Haffie...

Did all the usual things,

Saddle/back checked
Toes trimmed back, rolled toes on shoes.
Riding into a contact and off the forehand.

Made no real difference tbh but I also recommend the all in one knee and brushing boots.

About 6 months in, he went hopping lame in trot, sound at walk and only 1/10Th lame at canter - no difference when he was lunged on a hard or soft surface.

So, on we went to a full lameness work up - external nerve blocks made no real difference, x rays showed some changes in the navicular bone but nothing dramatic but the decision was made to field rest him and treat for navicular for 6 weeks - 3 months and go on from there.

After 6 weeks there was no improvement, in fact I thought there was a deterioration (but I accept that may have been my over active imagination!) and the vet and I decided to try ultrasound scanning and inter joint nerve blocks which eventually showed up a hole in his DDFT.

He was treated with remedial showing, Adequan and restricted turnout - box rest wasn't an option because of arthritis in his hock joint due to an accident when he was a 3 year old.

A year on everything was looking good - scans were showing a healed tendon but as soon as he came back into more than walk work he went lame again and the rescan showed that we were back where we started with the tendon. the decision was taken to retire him because a) he was in his twenties by then and b) with the known arthritis and probable navicular it was only going to be a matter of time before they became a problem. Mind you, the vet was quite happy to try again if I had wanted to.

Basically, the point of the novel :o above is if the obvious doesn't solve the problem, don't hang about and get the vet out!
 
waa now i'm worried! lol

he has gone through a week where he has been oK! maybe i was just being paranoid and feeling more trips than were actually happening. If he starts again I will get the vet out!
 
I work with a horse that used to trip constantly. Being a racehorse he never really did much trotting but he had the occasional trip cantering, never galloping, and was forever doing it in walk. We put it down to the fact that he has pretty crap feet and he is quite upright. This went on for about 5 months and he raced and won not a bother. He then raced in a good race and finished 6th. It wasn't till 7 days later that his tendon showed up a problem and upon scanning it revealed that he had a new hole in his leg but he had also had one there for about 6 months prior to that that was very slowly healing. He had raced 3 times, won 3 times, trained for 4 months and been on a 2 month holiday with this hole.

To feel this horses legs there were cold, straight and perfectly normal, he was never lame either. Being one of the better horses in the yard he got checked by myself, the jockey, the head girl and the trainer every single day and not a one of us found anything wrong with his leg for 6 months.

So whilst it may just be a case of rolling his toes I would also consider getting a vet to look at his tendons as it may not show anything on the outside but you don't know what is going on on the inside.
 
Know the feeling JaspeJoo my pony kept tripping and we did actually fall over a couple of times when I was on him, which really wasn't' any fun at all! Therefore, I took a many pronged approach (as well as all the back, saddle, teeth, etc) as I really needed to find a solution.

a) Horse was 4 at the time - now 6 and he has definitely grown out of a lot of it.
b) Worked on our concentration - I noticed he tripped more if distracted.
c) Worked long and hard on my position* and getting him off the forehand.
d) Went barefoot - reckoned the shoes were just another thing to confuse him.
e) When riding out never just let him plod along.

Going barefoot definitely helped and gives a little bit more 'leeway' if something goes wrong and he seems more aware of his feet and where he is putting them.

Good luck.

* Found a biomechanics teacher who really helped!
 
yep. agree with previous posts -make your horse walk out properly & the pole work will help - look up TTEAM groundwork. Same thing as previous poster mentioned about lifting ends of alternate posts, fan shaped poles really make them think about where they are placing their feet - it's quite a challenge,and the labyrinth is good too. Neck & shoulder pain can also be a factor in stumbling. I've got a magic spines & shihatsu woman who taught me the accupressure points on the neck, & how to massage the shoulders. It's well worth the money to get someone out.
 
legaldancer said:
My TB, retired before Christmas aged 22, used to do this & people would say the same to me re riding properly etc.

I got him on permanent loan aged 16 & he always had a tendency to trip, but never in canter, mostly in walk or a trot to walk transition. We had to keep his toes short & roll the toes on his shoes, which helped a bit, but didn't cure it.

Hacking became a nightmare and he couldn't even cope with walking on a verge in the end. Going from road to verge resulted in a trip every time. He was just about ok on the tarmac, but even tripped on that a couple of times. At that point, because of his age I retired him as I suspect he had navicular & arthritis.

Currently he will sometimes trip in the field, even without shoes as his action is very low. I'm not suggesting you retire your horse, but just sharing my experience of a similar problem.
Click to expand...

Yep worth checking as this is what mine started doing, went lame suddenly, he was xrayed and had arthritis in back end and over a period of a few years tripping etc he went down on his front legs with me on board...he panicked and fortunately got himself back up(he completely disappeared all I could see was the grass verge) We were in walk. That was the last time I rode him. Too dangerous etc.
I think people thought I was making it up, I even thought I was imagining it. Over the years he also got very short in his stride, tried to walk on grass verges at every opportunity a lot of the time. As a cob big and armchair and a tad lazy I also thought he was just being a lazy bones ie not picking his feet up.

Really when he got xrayed it confirmed a problem all was not well.

Good luck
 
i use to have the same problem with my old boy, got to the point where he was tripping all the time, after all the usual checks etc. called the vet out, turned out to be arthritis in his fetlock joints, hopefully not the case with your horse, good luck.
 
Spudlet said:
I believe that a saddle that pinches the shoulders can be the cause?
Click to expand...

Not sure it was pinching, I think the panels were quite narrow (can't remember now as I got rid of the saddle over a year ago!) and causing pressure on one part of his back - in this case near his off fore shoulder. I managed to find a saddle with flatter, wider panels, and a longer seat (give me more room for my fat bum!) and things have been okay since :)
 
Its called " daisy cutting" diamond does this she puts her toe down first so it skims the ground sometimes it digs in a bit which leads to a trip you need to either roll its toes or get it gathered up and walk on a bit but prob wont make much difference because in the paddock they will do it all the time.
 
Westrop knee boots are easy to fit, but you need to identify the problem, ask your vet to check him over, if i were you i would get the vet out next time the he is going to be shod, it may be just as important to check him when he is going well as when he is not.
Please don't get annoyed with him, he is not doing it deliberately.
 
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Apart from the usual shoeing remedies have you had her checked over by a chiropractor. One of my TB's used to trip terribly and was found to have a cervical vertebra out of alignment. Once fixed he stopped tripping.

For me it was a long journey to recovery as he would come right and then would start tripping again so was finally manipulated under general anaesthetic which did the trick.
 
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