Something wrong?

I got my mare Flower, a six year old paint, in September last year. She has pretty good ground manners, but has always been a bit of a brat with her back feet. Then at the end of October/Beginning of November she got an abscess in both of her back feet. First one in her back right and then in her back left. She recovered from both of them and hasn't been off since. But almost every time I pick her back left hoof, she acts like she is off balanced and puts all her weight in the hoof, forcing me to drop it, and then stumbles to the side. Some days she won't do it at all and then other days I'm lucky if I can pick it out at all.

The vet has looked at her feet since the abscesses and has not noticed anything and so has our farrier. Do you think there could be something wrong with her? I don't know if she is actually sore in the hoof and that's why she's doing it, or if she's doing it to be a brat

It could be sore muscles. It could be that since she was in such pain at one time, she expects it to hurt now.

You might try an equine chiropractor. Sometimes if a horse doesn't want to pick up their feet it could have to do with soreness, or it could be fear (of previous pain or being mishandled when someone first worked with the horse on picking up feet) or it could be attitude.

Eliminate the soreness factor by consulting a chiropractor then move on from there. If it's attitude it may take some time.

I was thinking about having a chiropractor out, I'll ask around and try to find a good one. Thanks for the suggestions!

I agree with the chiro comment - when standing off balance due to injury such as the abscesses, she can actually throw herself out of whack chiropractically that could be causing the residual issues.

Thanks, I'm going to try and get one out before I move her at the end of the month.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Until then, look online for massage methods. Those can help. I think there's a TTouch method. I know my boy loves a good butt massage and I think it does them a lot of good, just like people.

The next time you have your vet out for anything, tell him the problem you are having. You might be seeing pain or even mild neurological deficits. Your vet can perform some physical tests to help determine if there is a medical condition causing this behavior.

I hope you get the problem sorted