Stumbling on hacks

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gembob

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hi bet ur getting fed up of me now lol! anyhooo when we hack out he trips up a lot at first then he settles and is fine till were headed for home then its like he loses concentration and just trips up hes fine in the school just when were out had farrier check his legs out he cnt see anything had vet to him she cnt either so now i dnt know what to do! grr
 
I really wouldn't worry about this. My old eventer used to be foot perfect around a xc course, would get me out of trouble all the time, however, take him on a hack and all of a sudden he would be tripping over his own feet. I had to hack him out in knee boots because of the number of times he nearly went down. With him, he used to just relax when hacking out and not pay attention to what he was doing with his feet.

My new girl also does the same thing, though to a lesser extent, but that almost the opposite because she's so busy looking at everything else that she doesn't look what she's doing with her feet and she's also totally fine in the school. So the knee boots will be coming out for her too.

I really wouldn't worry about it. Sounds like he's just being a clumsy boy. Might be worth investing in some knee boots though
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My horse is a tripper. There's nothing wrong with him - he just forgets ocassionaly that he has four feet.

Riding him forward and in to a contact usually prevents it. He also tends to be worse when he needs shoeing, and his toe gets a little long.
 
My mare trips..shes so busy looking around at everything she just literally trips over anything! I just try and keep her walking on and picking her feet up!
 
Mine was the same, quite a scatty tb when ridden and also too busy looking around! Only thing I would add is that it CAN be a sign of early arthritis, but if you've already had the vet out I wouldn't worry.

P.s. did you get the cbx colt? I saw one on Adtrader which sounded very, very similar in West Yorkshire? Only they were asking £500!
 
no i didnt bother yes it was that one but when i rang up he said he had just put that price on to keep idiots from ringing him when i rang to enquire he said that wasnt what he wanted... i felt it wud be far too much aggro so im still looking xx


he wears brushing boots so maybe i will get him some knee boots thanks guys x
 
Just an alert that stumbling can be a sign of bilateral front lameness, ie the horse is lame/in pain equally on both front feet. This can be shockingly advanced before an owner realises what it is because the horse hurts just as much on both feet so doesn't appear lame. Nerve block one foot and bingo you see the reality. A rough test is to ride ned over uneven ground and see if he stumbles more, or is it worse downhill, when more weight is on the front feet. If in any doubt, might be worth getting it investigated further.
 
Hey Gembob - mine trips - for two reasons. 1) She is the world's nosiest mare,....I have actually been riding across a flat field and she tripped and ended up on both knees, grabbed a mouthful of grass, had a little look around, got up and kept going.
2) She had bone spavin - she is much better now but she was trying to keep the weight off of her hocks. Maybe get the vet to do a flexion test, as as has been said above, it can be an early sign of arthritis.
 
Gembob - did your vets do a nerve block on 1 foot and then try lunging on a circle? If they've done all that stuff and ned ok then it probably isn't bilateral lameness. But I would get it checked if you're in any doubt coz, as I said, it can be shockingly advanced before owners realise what is happening. Before the nerve block at a specialist centre, my local vet had done the hoof tester thing and there was barely a flinch. Then he said to try the bute test, which needs to be done with great caution. Ned has couple sachets of bute and you hack him out (carefully) and if he is better then the probability is that he's in pain somewhere. My boy had that done too and no real difference in how he went. My RI advised a proper lameness work up and it was only with the nerve block (followed by x-rays) that we got to the bottom of it all.
 
my horse does this too, he has EPSM. not saying thats what your horse has. My lad still does everything, xc, sj etc without any problems tho
 
My youngster did this for a while, now he is more mature and had developed much more mucsle..oh and learnt to go forward, he is far far better!!

I also found using the magnetic tendon wraps at night amazing, it keeps him really supple, he picks his feet up so much better with these!
 
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