Horse keep tripping up?!

as sweet as hunni

as sweet as hunni

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So hunni seems to trip up alot when I'm riding her,she is lazy and nosey so is never focusing on what she is doing and she is know to drag her feet a little :) is there any way I could get her to pick her feet uo more? She only had them trimmed on the first of the month!
Also can you give me some advice on how to get her condition up,and is it me or does her back look dipped? I asked my knowligable friend and she it was just loss of top line! I'm so over protective haha
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Please be nice :)
 
I'm in the same situation as you! My mare trips up and I'm still trying to find the answer. She is 20 and also has a dipped back! How old is your mare?
 
For the tripping up, ask your Farrier if rolling her toes would be helpful. It helped my gelding when he tripped up but then he was fairly overweight when I got him. He is trimmer now so that along with the rolled toes means he hardly trips atall now.

For her condition, is her worming up to date? To build her muscle up plenty of hill work in walk and working correctly. Marching on and not dawdling (sp?) slowly. Check her feed that you give with your Feed Merchants, make sure its right for her.
 
Also meant to say make sure your shoeing intervals are close enough together to cope with her hoof growth. They seem to grow quicker this time of year when on grass.
 
Her toes are too long! Talk to your farrier and possibly your vet about them. How long have you had her? If she's not a new acquisition, I would consider changing your farrier.

TBH, she has plenty of condition and doesn't need feeding up. She needs riding correctly to develop more muscle tone. You should ride her 'from behind', using more leg than hand. Hill work will help to fitten her. Has she had a foal? She does seem to have a typical broodmare shape. If she has plenty of slow work but not allowing her to be lazy will help.
 
Rolled toes - my Farrier uses a machine to take the blunt edge off the front of the shoe so its more rounded. Think thats the best way of explaining it that I can think of.

Your photo shows her resting a leg so shes not stood up straight so her back does look a little dipped. Would need to see another pic of her stood straight, shes enjoying the sun bless her..

There are various conditioning feeds on the market, as I said speak to your Feed Merchants for the most appropriate one for Hunni.
 
I think weight wise she's looking good could do with a bit more muscle.. Lots of hill work, raised trotting poles, some lunging with a pessoa (just short periods) etc.. Will help with the muscle.. If you want a big more condition then maybe try a conditioning chaff, Alfa-A oil has worked a treat on my tb :)
 
I have no idea what Haflinger feet are but she has very long toes that look as if they could do with shoeing now not only done 2 weeks ago. A better photo of them would be good but if she is tripping the fact that they are so long is most likely to be the cause.

She is a bit lacking in muscle generally plenty of steady work will help build her up, she does not need any extra feed just more work, otherwise she will just get fatter.
 
Hi Hunny

Rolled toes are like the human equivalent of wearing slippers instead of winkle pickers! Basically they will increase the breakover of the foot, so in layman's terms in means that the foot moves quicker through its movement cycle.

Tripping up is a sign of laziness, its quite obvious from her muscle tone on her hind quarters that she is not ridden through from behind so you need to start encouraging her to work in a better outline, and use herself more. Tripping can also be a symptom of navicular disease. If you don't have a pessoa then use a lunge line from bit to her roller and then behind her bum and out to your hand like this http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...43fT5iDM6fB0gWc9fCaCw&ved=0CFwQ9QEwBA&dur=381 as this will get her using her hind legs. Personally if she were mine I'd get a good physio to check her out first to make sure that she is capable of doing this type of work, sometimes horses lack muscle tone in areas because certain areas of their bodies are in pain, if she lacks muscle tone over her quarters it could be that she has a problem with her hocks for example. This could be causing her to go onto her forehand (lean forward so all of her weight in over her front legs) and thus making her trip more easily.
 
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Tripping is one of the early signs of navicular syndrome and your horse is in the age bracket where this could be the case. However I don't think she looks like she has typical navicular feet (if you saw my mare's feet who has navicular you would see what I mean - she has very small boxy feet as does another horse on my yard who also has navicular). I would suspect, looking at her, that she is a lazy so and so! Make sure you make your horse go fowards - no dawdling! Good luck :)
 
Please do not give her any more feed. You can't see her ribs in your photos and you can see fat pads at the top of her front legs - she needs fittening not fattening.

Correct riding to build her muscles will help her to stop tripping but you really do need to get those toes shorter.

ETA, to ride her from behind you need to use your seat and legs. Do you have lessons? Talk to your instructor about it.
 
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In whose opinion are her feet naturally big? they just look long in the toe and the work of a farrier that does not take enough toe off, her feet generally look in good condition, a good farrier would get her toes back and this would help stop her tripping.
 
Maybe farrier is gradually taking more off get toes? Doing it all at once isn't always gud. Last farrier I had did more harm than good! Luckily I've got an excellent farrier now!
Agree she needs fittening so lots of hill work, maybe lunging & some trotting poles but she must learn to be in front of your leg when ridden.
Good luck
 
What you actually need is an expensive farrier - one who will take the time to take care to trim your horse's feet correctly, rather than one who bangs the shoes on and rushes off to the next job. How long have you had the horse?
 
My TB mare used to do that all the time farrier started rolling her toes and thing really improved

Helps them break away quicker.
 
Cheap and good are not easy to find, expensive and very busy are the ones to look out for although in my area the best farriers have full books of clients and rarely take on anyone new, that is why you treat them well.
 
my old horse used to do that all the time. to me, her feet look in good condition, they are just your classical boxy feet...dont feed her other than grass/hay, if she has the grass belly then that is the beginning of an overweight horse! trust me i would know lol. her back isnt dipping, that is just her shape amd the grass belly just make it look more noticable...as fot the top line you wanted, hill work is great but lunging with side reins is even better. my new tb horse had no top line at all and shes 6! ive been working her on the lunge and now she has so much top line its ridiculous.

side reins also really help them work from behind, really works on their back muscle aswell as the contact in their mouth is constant and they dont have the rider on top to make mistakes (not that im saying your a rubbish rider lol). i would say do alot of side reining on the lunge, have her feet checked by anpother farrier just to be on the safe side and trotting poles on the lunge (with side reins) this will get her nice and fit and will really get her thinking. dont be afraid to make her work even if she does trip. it might be becuase she is lazy. try making the distances between the poles longer and tighter. this will get her brain working and you will see less of the tripping up as she will actually have to think while working lol...

hope this helps...
 
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