stumbling racehorse

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dj9ao

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Hiya,

I have been offered an 8yr old racehorse free to a good home, he has been out of racing for 2 years- he was a good racehorse and raced a lot for the owner, hasn't had much retraining but can manage basic flat work and even an outline,

his main issue is he stumbles when ridden both in a menage & on a field
the owner has said he might just need some special shoes & a good farrier

I am worried he may have the beginnings of arthritis,
when he stumbles he does manage to right himself & not end up on the floor
I have been told he will be put to sleep if I don't have him because he hasn't got the greatest temperament when handled but this doesn't bother me
I am more concerned with the stumbling
am I making a fuss over nothing
 
Can't offer much help/advice about the stumbling issue.. Sure others can help with this.

If it were me, I'd get a vet to look at him before I considered taking him on.
 
No you are not making a fuss over nothing. Unless the feet are overly long? It could be the first showing of navicular or athritis. Can you speak to his farrier about it?

I will ask my hubby (farrier) about this. I know he has corrected stumbling on horses with too much toe left, but we also had a friend whose horse stumbled (heavy draft type) through arthritis.

Is he currently shod? TB feet can be notoriously flat and sensitive if barefoot.
 
How does it go in the arena/field? And how fit is he?
If he has a poor way of going, like heavy on his forehand and not working correctly he will be more liekly to stumble. Any you say he has been out of racing 2 years? He could be unfit as well which isn't helping. These things will get better with re-schooling.
 
Hello!

My boy (also an ex-racer) used to stumble constantly when I first got him. He'd not done much in a good while and was unfit and more than a little bit easily distracted/lazy! Once I got him fit and working properly, and off the forehand, changed horse. Make sure his feet aren't too long at the toes, Star's were, this didn't help! He's now in natural balance shoes and shod every 4 weeks, 6 at the most. He very rarely stumbles these days and if he does it's because he's not paying attention and literally trips over his own feet :o (he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. But I love him very, very dearly!)
 
Iv got the same a 8 yr old who has raced a lot. Tbh I would be surprised if a 8 yr old racehorse didn't have a problem somewhere but they make fab horses. It could be a whole number off things but I would look at the state off his feet first, long toes, under run heels? And get that corrected if there's a problem.
Follow your head, if you can offer him a home good on you.
 
I would get a vet and a farrier to look at him. Natural balance shoes are a massive help for my ex-racer and his rubbish feet. He does still stumble a bit though because he forgets where his feet are ;)
 
Starry_eyes said:
Once I got him fit and working properly, and off the forehand, changed horse.
Click to expand...

This! we had a horse not good enough to continue racing, had a woman come try it to buy as a hunter but horse would go lame and stumble every time she rode it (about 10 times!!) but was never lame with us. Worked out eventually that she was riding with a very long rein and the horse didnt know how to deal with being so heavy on the forehand and stumbled. Rumours went round the whole county that we were trying to stich her up with a horse with navicular! Horse now sold to a young girl for some fun local eventing and shows and is perfectly fine.
 
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