# Help I have a clumsy Horse!!!



## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

Welcome to the Forum!! 

What kind of shape are his feet in? Is he due for a trim? Has he been trimmed correctly? Are there any conformational irregularities with his feet (club foot, etc.) or old injuries? He's a TB - was he ever raced, i.e. any old racing/training stresses/injuries?

What exactly are you asking him to do when he trips? Just ambling along, actively walking, trotting, cantering... ? 

If his feet are ok, then my guess is that he is simply offbalanced, something that good training will help as he learns where to put his feet and how to move. In the meantime, recognize when you might be asking for something that could compromise his balance too much too soon. For example, if he's having trouble at the trot, don't expect it to get better with speed.


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## Christiannhorserider (Mar 2, 2011)

He had an injury to one of his legs but it hasn't bothered him. He is due for a trimming and has been trimmed regularly. He has no other problems with his feet at this time. 

He is doing it when he is trotting. At a walk he is great. He is stubborn when I lunge him and can rarely get him to a loap. When you ride him, he can be very lazy but with a tap from the leather string on my saddle he perks right up. I've noticed more and more that he is not picking up his feet when he stumbles. I recently watched a training video that suggested laying poles out and having them walk over them to learn to pick their feet up.

I think I'm going to try this but wanted other suggestions as to things that may be goind on for him to be slipping and stumbling so much. 

** A thought that my husband mentioned the other day: When i 1st started lunging him. I took out my stick and when he saw it. He immediately started panicing, backing up, prancing..... etc. I started rubbing him down with it and he is now comforatable and doesn't do that anymore. My husband seems to think that he is scared of the stick. He typically seems to stumble and slip more when he is asked to do something with it. 

But even at other times he is still slipping and stumbling.


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## apachiedragon (Apr 19, 2008)

I agree it could be that he needs a trim. Is the area you work him on uneven or rough? If he is lazy with his feet and drags his toes when he moves, that could easily cause a trip. 

When you are working him, make note of whether or not it is the same foot he trips with all the time or if it switches around. If it's always the same foot, he may have something hurting, or something going on in his shoulder or back limiting his range of motion. If that's the case, you may consider having a vet or chiro look at him.

If he's simply lazy or out of shape, I'd start out getting his fitness level up, and then add in things like trot poles to help him learn to place his feet better.


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## Scoutrider (Jun 4, 2009)

Christiannhorserider said:


> He had an injury to one of his legs but it hasn't bothered him. He is due for a trimming and has been trimmed regularly. He has no other problems with his feet at this time.
> 
> He is doing it when he is trotting. At a walk he is great. He is stubborn when I lunge him and can rarely get him to a loap. When you ride him, he can be very lazy but with a tap from the leather string on my saddle he perks right up. *I've noticed more and more that he is not picking up his feet when he stumbles*. I recently watched a training video that suggested laying poles out and having them walk over them to learn to pick their feet up.
> 
> ...


Without seeing him in action, it does sound like he just needs to learn to pick up his feet and move with a little more energy. Ground poles can help, but I do recommend outfitting him with some kind of leg protection first. The last thing you want is him banging into poles with his legs at this point. I've also seen poles set up on a curve, with the ends at the "hub" propped up and the other end resting on the ground. Might be an option after he's mastered simple ground poles. 

The stick might have something to do with it. My gelding fell all the way down once, tripped over his own feet mid-spook (I was leading him, not riding). If they're scared, they tend to move first and ask questions later - this applies to foot placement, too. :wink: Take care with desensitizing, though. There's a fine line between defusing a fear of the tool and making it meaningless. It's harder in the long run to deal with a horse who has been desensitized to the point that you can't get him to move off at all.

ETA: Apachie (she posted at the same time as me  ) has an excellent point on the tripping being a subtle sign of lameness, coming from somewhere other than the foot. Definitely something else to look into.


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## Whitney13 (Mar 6, 2011)

My gelding has this problem too. I started putting overreach boots on before I work with him to make sure there wasn't an accident as he has fallen all the way before. I also moved my round pen to an area where the dirt is deeper so he has to work harder to move his feet. As my horse got in better shape so did his foot placement. 

I forgot to tell you that groundwork such as trotting in hand, backing up, walking through ditches and over trees helped a ton with my horse's clumsiness.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

First, make sure to put leg boots on all four legs and bell boots on the fronts. Take him out trail riding and let him pick his way through uneven terrain, logs, rocks, etc. Don't micro-manage him. If you can, ride him on a loose rein and let him find his way through the obstacles. He needs to know he's responsible for his own feet. It's possible that he's lacking muscle in his hind end from his time off and just needs to build himself back up.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I rode a horse that was like that. He went down under me three times at the walk. Once because he stepped on his own front bell boot and then couldn't lift that foot up, so went to his knees and laid me down real pretty in the sand by his head. 
So, I don't put bell boots on now.
I agree that tripping can mean problems elsewhere; such as arthritic hocks, which turned out to be this gelding's problems. If the hip or hock is't working well, then they won't/cant' pick up feet, so stumbling happens more.

When we ride on the trails, I ask him to pick up his feet and really walk out briskly and I ask him to lift up and carry his own head, not let it hang down. I don't do this endlessly, but occasionally do this. Keeps him awake and when he is more on the bit, he doesn't trip as much.

When we go through rough terrain, I let him have his head as long as he does NOT just let himself go slogging down a hill. In fact, I worked a lot with this horse having him come to a stop midhill and even back up several steps. Backing a horse up a hill a few steps is probably the number one excersize for building under muscles and improving balance at the walk.


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## Cobalt (Jun 6, 2010)

Even if you are having him trimmed regularly, he may be completely out of balance. My gelding was very sensitive to long toes. I had him trimmed and shod every 5-6 weeks and he was a total klutz. I finally had him evaluated by a farrier and a veterinarian. Xrays showed his palmar angle was low and his toes were way too long. The farrier trimmed his toes back and really sat him more upright. Then improved his breakover by squaring the toes. This made a WORLD of difference in my horse's performance. 

Bottom line: even regular maintenance doesn't mean the horse's feet won't get out of balance. A good farrier should be able to help you with this. If not, time to see a vet who specializes in horses. Preferrably one noted for lameness/soundness issues.


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## stormy370 (Mar 14, 2011)

I have a TWH that stumbles frequently on the trail, not on any particular hoof. He stumbles the same amount of time on fronts and rears. He has been trimmed regularly and I have him trimmed short with rolled toes. I think it is probably from laziness and not paying attention because he doesn't stumble when he is excited, feeling frisky, or on rough terrain. Does anyone know if putting slightly weighed bell boots on him could make him pick up his feet better?


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## cebee (Apr 4, 2010)

My boy stumbled alot when I first got him- usually at a walk. Have been working with the farrier and he has been bringing my guys heels up which has helped a lot. The farrier thinks some of his stumbling was pain from stones, etc since he was so far back on his heels he was getting stone bruises. I also started him on Cortaflex, since he seemed stiff. But sometimes I think he just does not pay attention to where he is going!


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## Mack Mackenzie (May 17, 2011)

My mustang Jack has been thru "the clumsies" a couple times.

The first time, he was having a problem with being very forward. We spent a lot of time working on getting his hind feet to cross up under him and getting his weight back over his hind. As one of the other commentators mentioned, a lot of it was building up strength in his hind.

The second time was definitely a question of distractedness. He was spending most of his time paying attention to anything except his job and I wasn't giving him enough support. By working on getting him with me, building his confidence and keeping his attention busy and focussed, we eventually worked our way to where he's pretty good now.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

This is a pretty common problem among horses who spent their entire lives on flat, grassy areas like many horses do. If they spend all their lives in a flat paddock or in a stall and are never ridden out of an arena or a track, they begin to think that the entire world is flat and smooth. Then when they end up in an area with rocks or holes or even mild hills, they don't know how to adjust and that results in stumbling.

Ground poles will help, but IMHO, there is nothing better for these types of horses than to ride them at a walk through slightly rough country. Nothing dangerous, but plenty of cattle trails and a few washout places. Hills, trees, deadfalls, etc. Working them in an area where they really have to think about where they are putting their feet and how they are using them will help a bunch.


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## mustangrider (May 19, 2011)

All of these posts are really good, but I want to emphasize having a vet check him as well. My TB gelding had the same issues, and we had his feet checked and just thought he was lazy. No matter what kind of training...conditioning...he was still clumsy. And he got worse. We had the vet check for wobbles. It turns out that he had some sort of damage to his spinal cord that was causing the problems, he couldn't really tell where his hind feet were.


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## ledge (May 23, 2011)

Star the arab is a clutz, he will be walking and trip out of nowhere then do the look to make sure no one saw it.... but when he works he's graceful... today he tripped because he was paying more attention to coming to me rather than watching his feet.

Now Sadie is a different story, she's been worked hard in a previous life (amish started) and has a bum knee that will trip from time to time. We keep her healthy with Adequan shots regularly.

another thing i've seen is they will trip on purpose if they don't want to work.

I'd check the joints make sure there are no problems there, check with your vet but a round of MSM powder in the feeding may show improvement but like us the horse's knees have the same problems, a good glucosamine and chondroitin (not sure i spelled that right) regimen can help with that also.


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