[Blondehorse]

What can cause a horse to drag its hind feet when walking and sometimes when trotting slowly?

[western-rider]

My gelding has been doing the same thing!

[sorrell]

Sometimes they are just very relaxed horses. My arabian does this, you can even see lines in the dirt where he's been! Once you are on him and have him moving though, he doesn't do it.
If a horse shows uncoordinated movement with dragging legs then you might think EPM or neurological damage, but just dragging hooves is in a sense, conservation of energy, just like some people shuffle their feet when they walk instead of lift them up. Adding some ground poles and upping the temp of the walk and trot.... getting them to be animated, often times will cure this. It might be as simple as a voice command- common, get up.. pick it up, to sort of wake them out of their day dreaming.
If they are stumbling or tripping it can be a problem, if not, most likely laziness.

[western-rider]

My gelding will do it if you have him on the lead rope and also when riding. But when he is walking by himself he doesn't do it...so I take it this is just laziness? And what kind of uncoordinated movement?

[Blondehorse]

Originally Posted by sorrell

Sometimes they are just very relaxed horses. My arabian does this, you can even see lines in the dirt where he's been! Once you are on him and have him moving though, he doesn't do it.
If a horse shows uncoordinated movement with dragging legs then you might think EPM or neurological damage, but just dragging hooves is in a sense, conservation of energy, just like some people shuffle their feet when they walk instead of lift them up. Adding some ground poles and upping the temp of the walk and trot.... getting them to be animated, often times will cure this. It might be as simple as a voice command- common, get up.. pick it up, to sort of wake them out of their day dreaming.
If they are stumbling or tripping it can be a problem, if not, most likely laziness.

Must be an Arab thing, then, because my horse, who is an Arab, does this! I figure it's probably just laziness, because she is exceedingly lazy, but I also want to be sure that it's not something I'm causing by the way I'm trimming her feet, or the onset of arthritis, or whatever.
My guess is she's just very, very good at conserving energy.

[JBandRio]

Laziness, hock soreness, stifle soreness, back soreness, neurological issue, and more.

[Gottagallop]

arthritis. What about a canter does you horse trip up at a canter?

[endurgirl]

I know horses at the shows, who are being jogged around and around the warm up pen will drag the hinds alot. Probably lazy.

[Blondehorse]

Originally Posted by Gottagallop

arthritis. What about a canter does you horse trip up at a canter?

Nope!

Originally Posted by endurgirl

I know horses at the shows, who are being jogged around and around the warm up pen will drag the hinds alot. Probably lazy.

She does do it worse when she's bored with whatever she's doing. If she's actually 'going somewhere', rather than round and round, she doesn't do it. I'm pretty sure you're right, she's just lazy!

[charliesmom214]

My 13 y/o Quarter Horse gelding does the same thing. He will often drag his hind toes so bad that his hooves will square off from being drug. He was diagnosed with having upward patellar fixation. It is nothing serious, usually it can be reversed with exercise in mild cases. One thing I notice about my boy is that when he has not exercised as much as usual, like in winter, you can hear his stifle make a "pop" sound as that joint comes into place. If you think you're horse has this, there is a lot of information on the internet about it. Here is a helpful site I found.
http://www.atlantaequine.com/pages/c...tellerFix.html
I don't know if this is what you're horse does, but at least you can rule it out. Like I said, it is usually not serious but is important to be aware of it so that you can stay on top of it.
Good luck!