At 21:30:10 on 25.06.09, kimbo wrote:
Hi my friend has asked me to post a question about her Hafflinger who is 11 now and has always had a problem with tripping which sometimes can be to the point that the rider can become un-seated. His front feet appear bigger than his back ones in as much as they are a lot wider, they tend to splay out. He is carrying too much weight at the moment but my friend says that he has always had this problem. He has even fallen when being shown in-hand. He is not lame at all??? Help please!!!

At 20:01:04 on 28.06.09, Rich the Farrier wrote:
There are several reasons that a horse may trip and without seeing the horse it would be difficult to identify the one that is affecting your friends horse. If a horse has long feet then this will definitely cause him to trip. This is the most common cause. The solution in this case is to fit a different shoe and make sure that the toes are cut back as far as possible. A well placed shoe with a rolled toe may well help. If the horse is over weight then this may also cause him to trip especially if he is young or slightly 'downhill'. You say that he is 11 so there could also be more underlying issues that are causing it. A low grade lameness may well cause this to happen as the horse will be reluctant to move in to the painful part of the gait and therefore start to trip. One other reason is that he may just be lazy and not picking them up high enough. I hope you find this useful and let me know how your friend gets on.

At 06:00:53 on 30.06.09, horse dentist wrote:
hi, i just wanted to add here that Rich is right in saying that it could be an underlying problem. my aunt has a cold blood/draught horse that had the same problem with tripping. we searched high and low and it ended up being a nutrient insufficiancy! the cause was two-fold, one was his teeth and the other was that as foal he was riddled with worms (rescue horse) and that damaged his intestines. so he basically didn't get the nutrients that he needed and was simply too weak!! after all this was found out and sorted he stopped tripping and actually started behaving diffently alltogether. we had put alot of his "coolness" down to the breed and it turned out that he was just weak and once he was healthy had the power to start playing and so on. best wishes

At 11:14:59 on 04.07.09, Flicka wrote:
I agree there could be lots of reasons for a horse tripping. Of course looking at the feet is the first port of call. And you may thinks it's strange that it's suggested it could be the teeth. But the teeth affect the poll and this affects how the horse uses it's neck and back, all of which has a large part to play in moving the forelegs. Also, a tight saddle or one that's placed too far forward on the horses wither will restrict movement of the shoulder and cause a horse to be short in front and to trip. If the muscles have tightened up then he will still be restricted in his movement even when not ridden. Maybe he's not using part of his leg properly because of soreness. Discomfort in any part of the body, even as horse dentist said in the stomach will cause a horse to move differently. Look at mares when they are in season-a lot of them will won't move forward from behind which puts them on the forehand. Tell your friend to keep an open mind and tick off as many things as possible and let us know how you get on because what your discover will help the rest of us. Good Luck.

At 14:31:18 on 04.07.09, HorseVet wrote:
Hi The feet may or may not be a problem. Horses trip over them because they're at the bottom end of the leg! If the horse is weak, not carrying itself properly from behind so always on the forehand, sore in higher joints or muscles of the forelimb preventing them flexing properly when the leg is being brought through then a horse will trip. Plenty to check out before being able to be certain of the cause. I'd start with the basics - a good chiropractor and farrier would be my first ports of call and ten go from there. Best wishes HorseVet
http://www.naturalhealingsolutions.co.uk

At 00:12:03 on 06.07.09, kimbo wrote:
Thank you all for your helpful comments. I will relay them all to my friend. x

At 20:27:20 on 10.07.09, Maggs wrote:
I have to agree with all the comments that suggest one reason could be the horse not working through from behind. Magnus could trip for England when I first got him at the age of ten (him not me, lol). We identified that he was very lazy behind and so worked on his schooling to improve this and gradually he became more acitive behind which helped to lift the forehand and the tripping stopped.

At 16:01:21 on 12.07.09, kimbo wrote:
Thanks Maggs, have been away on holiday. I betit could be something as simple as that. Somneone has been working him and has started from stratch so to speak, getting him to track up and use his back end, he is very much on the forehand. Simple transitions and making him 'work' from behind hopefully will do the trick. His 'mum' who is a really nervous rider has seen improvements, albeit slight, already. x

At 22:36:11 on 26.11.09, Em28 wrote:
This post is very interesting, the cob that I ride has recently started tripping in his off fore. I think I may get his saddle checked as I don't think it has been checked for a number of years, perhaps many (his owners have had him for just over 10 years). He seems to find soft/wet ground much more difficult, as in the summer months he hardly tripped at all, nor will he ever trip when walking on tarmac roads.