I wouldn’t call that overreaching. I call overreaching when a horse nicks his front legs with his hinds.

Maybe that is his natural breakover and the farrier needs to trim him with a shorter toe.

 

Or just roll his toe back.

 

ALL Tennessee Walkers have a big reach, so big sometimes their back hooves land inside the front hoof marks in the dirt and may even overstep the front hoof to some degree. It’s in their DNA.

Your horse‘s problem is he needs his Hooves trimmed. - a lot of it Needs to come off. Whomever thinks all that hoof is a good idea because he is a Walking Horse is full of that stuff in the cow barn.

Their hooves get trimmed just the same as any other horse on this planet — according to their own needs and what they are askiing for.

The chain idea is also a big bunch of cow manure. For the record not all of us old people (I’m 74) have our heads up our behinds when it comes to this stuff and there are some “old school” ways that are better than some of this new modern day stuff - chains is NOT one of them, however.

Get those hooves trimmed by someone who knows what they are doing. Be careful of taking too much heel height in one trim, so the horse doesn’t get sore from stretched tendons after the trim.

 

that toe is either dragging on the ground, or already rolled back a lot. But, the hoof looks long. I think you listen to @walkinthewalk . she knows her stuff

 

How long has it been since the last farrier visit? It looks like he needs a reset.

 

My TWH gelding has a huge overstride. Just in a forward, working walk, his back feet clear his front hoof prints completely. He sometimes clips himself, but never enough to cause damage to his feet. I would say your horse needs trimmed if he's clipping himself that much.

Please don't chain him, and don't listen to anything else those people tell you, either. He's a horse. He doesn't need to be abused to do what he's bred to do naturally. Heavy shoes or chains or soring aren't going to do anything good for him, and he will eventually shut down or blow up with that kind of treatment. My own guy was in a bad place less than a year ago, with ulcers and being saddle sore and maybe mistreated by the boarding barn workers. He put up with it for quite a while, trying to tell me he wasn't right, and I trusted the people telling me to just "make him listen, he's being bad, there's nothing wrong with him." I did move him, but not until he was so stressed you could barely handle him. He wouldn't walk out of sight of the other horses without rearing and striking and trying to kill himself. In my experience, he put up with a lot but eventually he did shut down and then went crazy. Thankfully, he's back to his sweet, willing self and our relationship is even better than before. But if I hadn't stopped listening to those people and found someone to help who would listen to him instead, I'm afraid we would both be hurt or dead at this point.

 

He can't clip his front feet if they're not there. Increase his breakover and reach in front and trim those back feet like a normal horse. He has way too much foot behind.

 

Good advice in the above posts. Ill add by saying that there are a lot of ways to correct his toe dragging but chains ARE NOT one of them. First and foremost get him properly trimmed and shod (if needed). If it continues to be an issue then the rear shoes can be made with a large oversized toe clip to shield the hoof wall and/or the outer edge of the rear shoes can be beveled so that the rear hooves track to the outside and avoid striking the fronts.

 

First and foremost, I think you need a different farrier. My goodness, look at the nails! Not even clinched over or rasped off. And the shoe appears to be put on CROOKED based on your photos. I can see the edge of the shoe sticking out on one side and not on the other. Yikes.
And yes, he looks long on top of it.

If a horse is having a problem, you first need to look if your farrier is doing right by them.

Secondly, if a horse is dragging their toe that bad, you also need to look if there is a LAMENESS problem. Perhaps he's dragging his feet because something hurts.

 

Agree with @beau159. When my horse had serious toe dragging it was because his stifles had issues. But also his toes had been left long until the heels folded under and gave him a negative palmar angle. Correct trimming helped his stifles as well as his hooves. A long breakover will make any body issues much worse.

 

That is a Godawful trim, get a better farrier! This one is doing you dirty. This issue probably wouldn't exist if you had one with any integrity. That shoeing job is terrible.

 

Yeah I got a new one with references. He’s coming out Thursday ♥

 

My friend has a Tennessee Walker. Her hind feet click against her front hooves as she walks. Just her breeding and genetics.

 

A huge over stride is in their DNA, but it is poor trimming if the horse continually hits its front hooves with its back hooves. I always know when it’s time for a trim on one of my TWH’s because his hind hooves stsrt frequently tapping his front hooves..

Some Walking Horses will also stumble quite a bit feom poor trimming or just stupid trimming because someone thinks they need long toes.

 

He is overreaching because he has trailers at the back of his heels left on a shoe that is set way too far back. Your farrier, hacked off the toe to fit the shoe. I would be embarrassed if I fit a shoe like that and actually nailed it on. Your horse doesn't have an overreach problem, he has a farrier problem.

 

The farrier is coming out at 9 today, so it will be corrected♥