[ahorseofcourse]

What is this??? Is it from her resting her hoof? ( you know like when the relax they rest the one leg )








Those were her back left^






Back right^



Is it from this?^

[madvoice]

Does she drag her toes a lot when she walks?

[ahorseofcourse]

Originally Posted by madvoice

Does she drag her toes a lot when she walks?

Yep ( to short )

[madvoice]

That would explain the toe wear. What is causing her to drag though is out of my depth. Could be some muscle issue somewhere (probably back)

[ahorseofcourse]

Originally Posted by madvoice

That would explain the toe wear. What is causing her to drag though is out of my depth. Could be some muscle issue somewhere (probably back)

I actually had the chiro out recently and he adjusted her back. She has alway's dragged her feet though Could dragging her feet just be a quirk she has?

[madvoice]

Could be. I had a TB gelding that would boundary walk (kind of like pacing a stall but he'd walk around the boundary of the property) and he'd wear his shoes down so fast. He'd also drag his hind legs at the walk and wear out his toes. One way is to put on heavier shoes however eventually it stoped working on my gelding. Something I just came to live with.

[ahorseofcourse]

Originally Posted by madvoice

Could be. I had a TB gelding that would boundary walk (kind of like pacing a stall but he'd walk around the boundary of the property) and he'd wear his shoes down so fast. He'd also drag his hind legs at the walk and wear out his toes. One way is to put on heavier shoes however eventually it stoped working on my gelding. Something I just came to live with.

Hopefully a quirk is just the cause. But I don't want her to wear away her toe until all she has is a little nub to walk on

[loosie]

I wouldn't think it's just a 'quirk'. I would assume it's definitely a problem, unless it was proven otherwise. You might find that the chiro visit has helped. I would also be getting some muscle work done on her too. Perhaps the original problem was caused by bones/joints being out of whack, which the chiro can fix, but the muscles & tendons would have also changed to compensate, especially if it's a long term prob, so they will just pull the joints back out if they're not worked on too.

I'd be interested to see the bottom of her feet, if you'd care to send pics of them. Curious to know what's going on there. Hoof imbalance is also a possible cause, and it could be that she's just wearing away some of the excess.

I don't think shoes, heavy or otherwise are a solution, and could potentially do more harm. I personally wouldn't be happy to ride this horse until you've gotten to the bottom of it.

[madvoice]

Originally Posted by loosie

I wouldn't think it's just a 'quirk'. I would assume it's definitely a problem, unless it was proven otherwise. You might find that the chiro visit has helped. I would also be getting some muscle work done on her too. Perhaps the original problem was caused by bones/joints being out of whack, which the chiro can fix, but the muscles & tendons would have also changed to compensate, especially if it's a long term prob, so they will just pull the joints back out if they're not worked on too.

I'd be interested to see the bottom of her feet, if you'd care to send pics of them. Curious to know what's going on there. Hoof imbalance is also a possible cause, and it could be that she's just wearing away some of the excess.

I don't think shoes, heavy or otherwise are a solution, and could potentially do more harm. I personally wouldn't be happy to ride this horse until you've gotten to the bottom of it.

You'll notice I didn't recommend shoes for this horse. I just stated what was tried with mine. The horse I had didn't suffer from any pain issues (was vet/chiro checked) and it was just how he was. I'm also not saying that there isn't an underlying problem that could be musculo-skeletal. I just don't have the expertise to diagnose. I do think that if a chiro is handy that it couldn't hurt for the horse to be reassessed. Same goes for the farrier.

[Ryle]

Dragging toes this much should lead to looking for a reason---pain in the back, hips, legs, etc. Is it only on one hind foot or both? If it's one then it's even more indication that there is a problem in that leg. A good lameness exam would be the place to start.