Horse dragging hind toes

Sounds like this is a common thing and sometimes nothing to worry about.
The fact that some have found problems when investigating the toe dragging doesn't necessarily mean the toe dragging was caused by the problem they found, the horse may have toe dragged anyway, even if there hadn't been a problem found - if you see what I mean :rolleyes:
My horse became ill in 2008 and during the investigations, found he was PPID. We started him on Pergolide thinking that was the cause but he didn't improve once on the medication, so it was something else entirely. :o(
 
Toe-dragging especially going downhill can be a sign of Wobblers. My previous gelding at 6yrs had this and was diagnosed with Wobblers - it is caused by compression of the spinal cord and would not show up in any direct investigation of limbs. Neuro tests need to be done to investigate this possibility.

Hope this isn't the case but probably worth considering and investigating.
 
My ex racer started dragging hinds in trot once I started 'properly' working him :( No amount of lunging with pessoa helped........he recently had ks op where 6 vertebrae were touching as well as arthritis in spine. Am hoping once we start the lunging process everything will be in correct working order! Keeping everything crossed ;)
 
i am waiting for call back of chiropractor as i wasnt there when she did him to get her advise/opinion and i have vet coming on 11th jan to examine him.
 
Hi, can't figure out how to quote to answer your question in response to my post.

A month after the diagnosis of bilateral bone spavin he went very lame in front - back to horsepital and diagnosed with high ringbone in both front legs. In hind sight, he'd always dragged his toes and I naively did nothing as I thought it was just how he was / laziness. I had nearly 2 years after diagnosis of very gentle happy hacking - mainly quiet walks and the odd trot. I made the decision to PTS last nov as the last round of steroids made no difference, he was 4/5 out of 10 lame on each leg and I felt it would be unfair to put him through another winter, especially if there was snow as he'd struggled in the snow the year before.

Sorry mine is not a happy post! Perhaps if I'd not been so naive and had vet sooner things may have been different, not a nice thought to live with so my advice would be get the vet to check everything is ok xx
 
Personally i would get the vet out straight away, as your horse could be in pain ? Arthritis is incredibly painful ( I have it in my thumb), and needs pain killers - maybe the vet would suggest a bute trial :confused:

But please don't leave it.
 
im not leaving it i am getting vet on 11th jan chiropractor said to my friend that dealt with him today its not life threatening but to get vet when i can, he will be seen to as soon as possible but this side of christmas i am not able to do.
 
My old horse dragged her toes, farrier mention one day he thought she had bone spavins in her hocks which was causing it. Had her hocks x-rayed and it showed early signs of bone spavins.
 
Spoke to vet this morning. She said could just be his way of going lot of horses go like it especially ex racers who never have and don't know how to use themselves properly. She said they will see how badly he does it do flexion and go from there if he's lame could do further investigating if not could recommend supplements etc
 
Some (well a lot) of ex-racers have depressed sacrums due to constant gallopping when young. Our ex-racer was toe-dragging especially in the trot, she raced as a 3 yr old. She also was working to much from the front, had some huge muscles but not a very rounded bum. She was found to have kissing spine, depressed sacrum and slight arthritus in her hind hocks. As long as her back is kept loose & she is worked correctly she is fine. It's been a process that's taken about a year & now she really uses her back end. Obviously it could be anything as many different causes can create the sypmtom your horse has. But with our mare she had to be completely loosened up first before doing any work to build correct muscles. (Our usual vet wanted u sto work her hard but new vet found that she literally was unable to do it.)
 
Had vet out. First thing she noticed was how dull his coat was and how poor he was (which I know his condition, toe dragging etc is all involved and something I have been worried about). So we walked and trotted him up and did a flexion- she said clinically he was sound and said he had pretty good flexion for an ex-racer and would be happy with that.

So basically she thinks maybe his lack of muscle behind could be the reason for toe dragging as he has no support. So first and foremost we are doing bloods and testing liver and for tapeworm, basically to see if anything shows up i.e low white blood cells, ME, virus, probs in liver and for tapeworm. Depending on what they come back we will go from there, I will get results back tomorrow and tapeworm early next week.

She said shes not saying it couldn't be something in his hocks, sacroiliac joint etc but bloods will be a starting point to rule anything out that may be preventing him from putting on condition and muscle.

So yeah thats my update for now!
 
Blood test results have come back inconclusive nothing dreadful all normal bar 1 or 2 slight difference when cells split up. Have to wait for tapeworm to come back early next week and make a plan of action from there.
 
FWIW I would ask her to nerve block. Toe dragging as shown in this post can be a symptom of a bazillion different things. We have had two...neither was lame, both appeared sound on flexion (though flexion a can depend on who is doing them...some people are much harder than others) so we did full work ups. One had hind suspensory issues which showed up when ridden nerve blocked as movement was hugely different. The other had injured his stifle. Both were medicated. The suspensories were very successful, horse returned to prior competitive level and stayed sound until retirement due to a fractured sesamoid. The stifle horse was on box rest then in hand walking and this week started ridden work again. He is 100% perfect and will be back in full training by feb to race in the summer.
 
Yes shes not saying its not anything in the limbs however, her first place to start was to see if there was an underlying reason for him being so poor and dull and therefore, potentially due to lack of muscle over his quarters unable to support his backend. If nothing shows then obviously other areas will be explored.
 
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