"Tapping" toes?

[Pudding01]

I have a 12 yo mare who is working extremely well on the flat - better than ever. She is a connemara type and so doesn't have a great big expressive stride. On the road, I can hear an occasional clinking type sound which occurs when her front toes seem to very slightly catch the ground. She only does it in walk and you can't feel anything in her stride. If walking her up and down for inspection, you can't see it either. She is prone to doing it with both front feet. It's driving me mad!! And sick with worry

I have had a number of people look at her - excellent physio with the sharpest eyes has seen her walk and trot up and felt her toes were a little too long but was as sound as could possibly be.

Farrier (excellent reputation) - has rolled toes (has very round feet and he said not the best for rolling toes). Made no difference but he found no signs of uneven wear or anything suspicious going on.

Instructor - BHSI and GP rider - again verdict is very sound but possibly just being a bit casual - as said above she doesn't have a great big airbourne stride and so it only takes a milimeter or two of causalness before it could occur. Instructor has hacked her and said wouldn't have noticed had I not mentioned it. She feels her way of going is so good (improving all the time), that there couldn't be anything troubling her.

All agree that she is landing with a flat foot.

It is only very slight - if is was a very windy day I doubt you would hear it. Maybe she has always done it and it is just something that I, prone to anxiety, have become oversensitive to. It only occurs a handful of times on a hack. I hacked with another livery yesterday and noticed her pony did it too - I was closely scrutinising!


Any thoughts appreciated. I love her dearly and am so worried

 

[ameeyal]

I dont think it sounds like any thing to worry about, you have gone through all the measures to find out what it is, perhaps she just like the sound it makes, my pony squares his back toes off with clicking his toes on the roads { his is through being lazy}

 

[gryff]

I keep coming back to this post hoping that someone will have posted more ideas as my mare is doing this at the moment too. I was thinking it may be down to a growth spurt - she's just 6 - and her being a little unbalanced.

 

[Tnavas]

I wonder if what you are describing is forging, the toe of the hind shoe catching the toe of the front shoe.

It usually happens when the horse loses its balance and falls onto the forehand. When you next hear it give her a half halt and slow her down again.

 

[H's mum]

I wonder if what you are describing is forging, the toe of the hind shoe catching the toe of the front shoe.

It usually happens when the horse loses its balance and falls onto the forehand. When you next hear it give her a half halt and slow her down again.

Totally agree with Evelyn - sounds like he's unbalanced and forging - can be when they suddenly lose balance or when they are rushing and being pushed out of their rhythm... try to slow things down - half halt and concentrate on a good steady rhythm and see how you get along
Kate x

 

[cptrayes]

Try taking a video of your horse walking on a flat hard surface and watch it back in slow motion. It is possible that she actually has a toe first landing and what you can hear is the toe going down and then the heel afterwards. A horse I had last year did this quite obviously but it can be very difficult to spot without slow motion.

If your horse has a toe first landing try to find a remedial shoer or a barefoot trimmer (who could be a farrier) who can get her back to landing heel first preferably or at the very least flat. Toe first landing is believed to cause navicular syndrome type problems in the foot if left to continue. You could have a warning just in time with what you are describing.

Try not to worry about what I have suggested, there is no serious problem yet even if she is toe first landing. You have time to fix it before it causes problems.

with luck, all your pony is doing is forging like the others have said

 

[foraday]

Agree with CPtrayes to rule out navicular.

I would also rule out spavins/or arthritic changes in the hock.

Rolled toes both front and back or set back toes however, for it to work the remedial farrier needs to see the actual forging to work out how far to roll the toes.