I recently bought a standardbred (pacer) 6yr old mare, we have started riding her a bit of schooling and hacking, i dont know if its just her balance but she dose trip and stumble quite a lot, she has a very short choppy stride, but put this down to her just used to driving not carrying a rider, she tripped over yesterday and went right down on her knees i nearly went over her head, has anyone eles experienced this before ? im just worried its something more serious!!! Any ideas shes such a sweet mare..
My pony who I have had for 1.5 years does this all the time and I have never got to the bottom of it. Have had vet out and he watched him being lunged, led, trotted up and ridden and he did not once tripped/stumble - therefore vet found nothing wrong.
My pony only does it in walk only - not in trot or canter - what about your mare?
My pony has gone down on his knees about 6 times since had him and rest of time out on every ride I feel his knee/shoulder go. I now have professional choice stay up knee boots for ultimate protection of his knees. I found he tends to stumble and trip when he is being nosey whilst ridden - looking around and not concentrating - like a clumsy child. My pony tends to go on his forehand a lot and he does need to be ridden in contact and driven from behind (if I can do it - which I cant). Might go back for lessons to practice this.
I also had lessons about year ago with him and this allowed the instructor to see what he does when he stumbles/trip/shoulder - knee go. I have tried several types of shoeing for him to no avail.
Had back person out who found that his pelvis out by 2 inches, all the usual stuff done teeth and saddle checked every 6 months and still to no avail.
My pony is 9 years old and thus doing this since age 7 when got him. When I rode him to try out - no problem and he had a 5 stage vetting done.
What more else I could do and I will be very intrigued to hear what other people have to say of their experiences or what else one can do. Sarah I be very intersted to hear what you have done so far in case there is something that I have not covered and be very interested if you are able to find a diagnosis or what the cause of the problem is because I tear my hair out about it all - is so worrying.
When Pinkie was still shod, she did used to trip at times. Mentioned it to my farrier and I'm none to sure what he did (was a few years ago now), but it stopped purely by the way he did the usual trimming/shoeing For the last year Pinkie has been unshod and doesn't trip at all usually As said before, it now only happens when schooling and not paying attention, of which I have just experienced a session just because the postman called! Plenty of leg is definately the cure
My pony is lazy to say the least and will stumble as he doesn't pick his feet up. He is also quite heavy on the forehand which doesn't help.
He has rolled toes at the front so there is less breakover which does help a bit.
He does need a lot of riding from the leg to keep him up to the bridle which will combat this.
I would try riding forward strongly, speaking to your farrier and have a few lessons first of all. If the problem persists I would contact your vet for advice.
Unless this animal is looked at professionally when moving you could get the wrong advice. There are hundreds of reasons why an animal is not moving correctly, so you have to weigh up whether it is muscle, equipment or otherwise. Start with your vet, then go from there and weigh up how much money you have for investifications on whether it is muscular or otherwise.
Hi once the vet has had a look and if nothing found to be wrong i have herd working them in a sand school or beach rides helps them to pick there feet up i havent tried this but it might work.
OH's cob used to stumble/trip quite a bit when we first got him. He did have shoes wiht toe clips but now has side clips instead and this helps. Riding him uptogether also helps.
My recently broken Highland also stumbles but I think most of this is down to her being newly broken and loosing her balance. Riding her uptogether more is also helping and the more schooling she does the better she is getting. Intrestingly they both only really stumble/trip out hacking and not in the school.
the first person ou should talk to is your vet rather than get advice on here you could be told something that could damage your horse always have vet as first port of call. i hope you can get to the bottom of it and its nothing too serious. good luck
getting the vets advice is a good idea although in my experience with 90% of the ponies its been not riding up together and forward or their toes being left too long
For the last year Pinkie has been unshod and doesn't trip at all usually 
