Waggly front foot

[little_critter]

My horse was very mildly lame 3 weeks ago, I rested him for a week, monitored via gentle lunging for a week (could only see the subtle lameness on a circle) and when I could no longer see any lameness I restarted riding last weekend and am taking things gently this week.
It could just be that I'm looking for issues but I noticed the other morning, while taking him for a walk in hand, that when walking down hill his left fore "waggles" more than the right fore as it comes down to meet the ground.
He is no longer lame and seems happy and comfortable in himself.
Is a waggly foot (waggling at the fetlock) a 'thing'? It's the opposite leg to the one I thought was lame the other week.
Or is it just normal variation and I'm only noticing it now because I'm looking?

 

[sbloom]

It is, if it's what I think you're seeing the landing isn't flat, and torque is being placed on the foot and then up through the leg. I think Mark Johnson Farrier - Another Way? has ultra slow mo videos of this sort of thing on FB.

 

[Gloi]

My old pony didn't move straight and his front feet landed like that. Never gave him a problem in his 30 years but he wore his shoes very unevenly.

 

[little_critter]

The waggle is front to back, not side to side.

 

[Gloi]

The waggle is front to back, not side to side.

You mean the toe is landing first before the heel or the other way round? If it is toe first that is a sign of something not right, probably pain in the back half of the foot maybe thrush or a weak digital cushion.

 

[milliepops]

is the waggle in the air rather than on landing? i have one that has always had one toe that is more flicky than the other. landing is flat and as straight as can be (she is naturally a little toe-in, which becomes straight with fitness), shoes wear evenly. it appears to just be the way she is. been for several gait assessments/lameness work ups (mostly through my paranoia) and nothing has ever been commented on even by the practice's lameness guru.

Just mentioning in case it's a purely movement thing and not to do with making contact with the ground.

 

[little_critter]

I think he's landing fairly flat. It's not the landing that's the issue, its the moment in the air as the foot is reaching forward and about to land (so the last 2-3 inches while it's in the air at full reach). The left fore pendulums back and forth (in the direction of travel) while the right fore is steady as it's airborne.
It's not wildly flailing!, but you can see the movement.

 

[little_critter]

is the waggle in the air rather than on landing? i have one that has always had one toe that is more flicky than the other. landing is flat and as straight as can be (she is naturally a little toe-in, which becomes straight with fitness), shoes wear evenly. it appears to just be the way she is. been for several gait assessments/lameness work ups (mostly through my paranoia) and nothing has ever been commented on even by the practice's lameness guru.

Just mentioning in case it's a purely movement thing and not to do with making contact with the ground.

Sounds exactly like my boy! Farrier commented the other week that he wears his shoes evenly, he is also a little toe in. I couldn't say 100% that he lands flat as it's not something I've looked at. The waggling is only noticeable while walking down hill.

 

[milliepops]

yeah I notice it more downhill because there's more sort of "searching" air time but I also see it when she's a bit lit up. it's probably only something I notice because of her silky feather, one foot looks more flamboyant!

I spend a fair bit of time watching hoof landings having had 2 wobblers one of the symptoms is a sort of vague over-exaggerated stepping walking downhill so I end up looking at it now out of habit.

Maybe you're just noticing it now because of a bit of heightened awareness after a lame spell. it might be worth just asking vet next time you see them but I don't think I'd be panicking at this stage from what you've said.

 

[Xmasha]

Our ID gelding did this last summer, sort of a camp wave just before putting his hoof down. Never done it before. He was a little bit off on it too. So we whizzed him over to the vets and they came up with he had strained his suspensory. Nothing came up on xrays etc so they just said it was very mild. So he had a few days of box rest and then hacking out in walk for a few weeks. Hes grand now. We all think he had bruised his sole on hard ground. Whatever it was its gone now

 

[sbloom]

I would film it on ultra slow mow, from as low as possible, it's so hard to see what's going on by eye.

 

[little_critter]

Ah - my dino-phone doesn't do slo-mo