Stumbling In Horses

  

Most equestrians have had a horse stumble. What can be the causes of stumbling? The causes are varied and many. One thing is for certain. A horse that stumbles is a danger to the rider as well as to himself.

• Long toes
• Hoof imbalances
• Laziness
• Not balanced
• Green Horse
• Not fit/Poor muscle tone
• Conformation defects
• Ataxia (Incoordination)
• Joint Problems
• Pain in varied places
• Chronic foot pain (palmar foot)
• Parasites (Neck Threadworms, Onchocera, Microfilariae that have migrated to the leg tendons)
• Fatigue
• Central nervous system problems
• Narcolepsy (rare)
• Do not pick up their feet (Sometimes your will hear the saying "daisy clippers."
• Distracted
• Heavily on the forehand
• Hock problems
• Stifle problems
• Shoulder pain
• Arthritis (knee, hock, fetlock, pastern, or coffin joint, etc.)
• Unbalanced rider
• Boredom
• Learned behavior. The horse stumbles, the rider gets off, the horse is returned to paddock or stall.

As you can see from the list above, there are many reasons that can cause a horse to stumble. Through a process of elimination, working with your vet and your farrier, using common sense, any history you may have of the horse and its sire and dam, and any history you may have of the stumbling horse a fix can often be found. Many of these stumbling problems come from physical problems in the horse or corrections that your farrier can do with "farrier magic" in shoeing. I must say that my farrier, Don Roof, has performed miracles for a number of our horses over the years. He has often said: "It is all in the angles." God bless him! We have been together more than 25 years.