My pony keeps tripping up with or without a rider, ideas please?

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Jeaniousj

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I have a 14hh new forest pony. He keeps tripping up when he's ridden or just playing about in the field. Usually I can pull him up from it but last monday it happened too quickly and we both went down. He's fine thank goodness, but I currently have a broken left wrist and a broken right hand and feeling rather battered. I'd really like some thoughts as to why he's tripping and why his front legs appear to move very close to one another? He is barefoot and has his feet trimmed regularly. Would tendon boots help? Or are there exercises (when i get out of plaster) that i can do with him that'll help?
 
And get your farrier involved - you may need to look at rolling his toes in order to support him more or your farrier may have other suggestions :) Hope you feel better soon x
 
Thank you LegOn for your well wishes :o) I have read that rolling his toes might help. I have contacted my trimmer so am awaiting to hear from her.
 
how old is he? how fit? how long has he been BF?

sorry for all the questions :) I recently sent back a loan horse I hadn't had long, who completely fell down on me at walk. He was shod though and only did it when ridden-saddle fit was a possible issue but so was arthritis (horse not showing same degree of movement in RH as LH and some uneven muscle development in places).He was pretty trippy and I was initially told he was idle but I don't believe horses fall like that in walk due to being idle. So I would talk to vet and also mention it to your trimmer.
 
Just a long shot but check his frogs. Mine was tripping all the time and it turned out he had a deep thrush induced crack in his central sulcus (frog).
 
Any other ideas as to why this is happening and solutions will be gratefully received. I have also made contact with my vet asking the question. Don't worry Capriole I have made the decision that he is not to be ridden until this is sorted, would never forgive myself if anything happened to him or a friend that was riding him. Have 6 weeks before I'll be able to ride again so hoping for the answer and solution before then, fingers crossed.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
how old is he? how fit? how long has he been BF?

sorry for all the questions :) I recently sent back a loan horse I hadn't had long, who completely fell down on me at walk. He was shod though and only did it when ridden-saddle fit was a possible issue but so was arthritis (horse not showing same degree of movement in RH as LH and some uneven muscle development in places).He was pretty trippy and I was initially told he was idle but I don't believe horses fall like that in walk due to being idle. So I would talk to vet and also mention it to your trimmer.
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He's 13 and not as fit as I'd like. He's been barefoot since I've had him in 2007.
 
Jeaniousj said:
Please excuse my ignorance but what is 'plaiting' please?
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I've tried to discribe it, this is my best attempt. Its a bit like the horse is trying to walk on a line, one foot goes too far underneath the horse, in front of the other foot so foot one gets in the way of foot two. I dont seem to be able to find a video
 
Jeaniousj said:
Please excuse my ignorance but what is 'plaiting' please?
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When he puts one foot in front of the other and that foot crosses over the foot that is already down. It can be mild and doesn't bother some horses but if it's severe it can cause a lot of stumbling. Basically the horse is tripping over his own legs. It's regarded as a fault. Get someone to lead him away from you and watch his hind legs and then bring him back towards you and check his fronts, you'll spot it easy enough. I'd rule that out first as it's so easy to spot.
 
My horse ffin does this, we have improved his tripping which is cause by arthritus in his front feet, in a number of ways. a) medication 2) schooling to help move his weight off his forehand 3) roll top natural horsemanship shoes, over much shorter toes,

I always wear a body protector...just in case,

My instructor has helped me really work on sitting upright so that when he does trip I ride through it and I have stopped geting so wound up about the small trips.

It is horrid when they go all the way down I know, so i do understand where you are coming from. On a good note you usually go all the way down with them and only end up coming off a little way. A couple of times I have stayed on and he has just got up with me clinging on.

Get his tripping looked into, Ffin is so much better then he was and it could be that he is in pain.

Best wishes to you and pony.
 
First check would be with the farrier and vet to rule out any conformational faults.

My friend's horse started tripping and it was one of the many symptoms of cushings disease that her horse had.
 
Length of foot but if in work should be short anyway, get rolled toes not pasture trim, could be navicular but please speak to vet and farrier, we are just giving you ideas of what to look for and ask about.
 
One of my horses trips a lot out hacking and always has done as she doesn't pay attention. She hardly ever does it in the school. After she tore her check ligament the tripping got worse. I found that when she loses any of her muscle strength she is slower to recover from the tripping.
Last winter she dropped a lot of condition and although she wasn't tripping any more often she was too slow to recover. I have now retired her as it isn't worth the risk to her or me or any cars passing by if she did go down in the road. I had a nice chat with my vet about it today and he agreed that although it feels like a waste it's better to retire her rather than risk a major injury to either of us.

If I were you I would speak to your vet and find out why he is tripping and if there is a way you can safely build him up and see if that helps with his recovery when he does trip.
 
A couple of things.

So e years ago I had a horse that stumbled often, eventually falling on his knees. The chiropractor sorted him out. His 7th cervical vertebrae was out of alignment. They nerves to the front legs travel out from this vertebrae and the damage would make him stumble.

The chiro manipulated my horses neck while he was fully anaesthetised. From that day he never looked back. All stumbling stopped completely.
 
Just re read my post several hours later and noticed I actually didn't finish it properly!

The second thing is to talk to your farrier about your horses feet, ask him to fit rolled toe shoes as they help with the speed of breakover. Also ensure that toes are not left overly LNG as this often shows itself in tripping.
 
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