Lameness on gravel

[Jade-and-patch]

I have noticed that my horse continues to appear very lame when walking on gravel. Im fairly sure that it is just because he is young and finds the texture of the surface unsual. He looks to be fine when I am lunging in and I can't say I have noticed the appearance of lameness at any other point. It almost looks as if he is in pain when on gravel. Is this usual?

 

[be positive]

If he looks lame and in pain then he probably is, I have never known a young horse to find gravel difficult to walk on unless they are feeling sore on their feet, he may well be showing signs of mild laminitis which only causes him pain on the sharp stones, I would take a good look at his diet/ condition and treat it as if it is laminitis before it becomes worse, you may be lucky that he is just slightly footy and tweaking the diet resolves things.

 

[wkiwi]

He could be thin-soled and feeling the stones in the same way that we would do if barefoot; and/or a bit flatfooted. Ask your farrier if he needs shoeing (if he isn't already) and consider whether he needs a hoof supplement if his hoof quality isn't ideal. Get the vet asap if you suspect laminitis, as preventing rotation of the pedal bone would be crucial.
As bepositive says, if he looks in pain then he probably is.

 

[Kat]

Check for thrush too that can make a horse very sore on gravel.

 

[ycbm]

I have noticed that my horse continues to appear very lame when walking on gravel. Im fairly sure that it is just because he is young and finds the texture of the surface unsual. He looks to be fine when I am lunging in and I can't say I have noticed the appearance of lameness at any other point. It almost looks as if he is in pain when on gravel. Is this usual?

It's not normal, I'm afraid.

How old is he and what work he doing? How much grass is he getting and what else is he fed? Is this sensitivity new or has he always been like it?

Assuming he is not shod, please don't shoe him before finding out why he is like this. If he has thin soles and you shoe him and don't change anything else, you'll just have a horse that struggles with thin soles for the rest of his life.

 

[Jade-and-patch]

No he is not shod. Im getting the barefoot specialist out next week to have a look at him. He has quite a lot of grass to get at, I'd say roughly 1/2 acre to an acre but I'm not good a judging size. The grass is getting very long though as he shares this with a donkey and they are not managing to eat it down. He is not on any other feed currently. The only work he is donkey at the moment is lunging approximately every other day for twenty minutes. I've felt for pulses or heat in his legs and can't feel anything.