The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Improving Horse's Balance

2K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Losthope236 
#1 ·
Where I board/apprentice there is a horse that has some issues balancing himself. He is an 8 yr old mustang. He has been known to trip himself up when going faster than a walk. He has even tripped himself and fallen to a knee and somersaulted over himself, both at liberty in the round pen and undersaddle. I was unfortunate to be riding him when he did it undersaddle. We were going along at a nice lope, then the next thing I knew he tripped and we were going down. There was absolutly nothing for him to have tripped over just soft arena dirt. The farrier will be out next week to have a look at his feet to see if some of his issue is there. Other than working him over poles/calvetti what else can we do to help him realize where his feet are and get him to balance himself at a trot and lope. When at a trot he we sometime trip and fall to a knee but is able to catch himself. I don't know if it would matter but he is barefoot and has never been shod.
 
#4 ·
As far as I know a vet hasn't been out to see him for this issue, I will mention it to the owner when I see her again. I should mention the times he does trip are few, but he is known to do it and always when he is going faster than a walk. He basically just trips over himself out of the blue.
 
#7 ·
His feet are not that long, he will be getting a trim next week. I will mention letting a chiropractor see him we have talked about that before. Especailly since his latest fall. Just curious, if it was something like wobblers or something neurological, what other signs/ symptoms if any would there be?
 
#8 ·
I agree, tripping is not a balance issue, it's a physical issue. There is something physically causing him to trip be it neurological, long or improperly trimmed hooves, back issues. It's not normal. He needs to be checked out.

It could be as simple as wrong hoof angles. My Morgan that I had back in the 90's came to me with bad hoof angles, the poor guy was constantly tripping over his own feet and would do a face dive any time he tried to canter. After months of slowly correcting his hooves he completely stopped. Since the farrier is coming out soon, I would start there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top