I have a great/younger mare that I broke and use on trails in the mountains. Unfortunately, she is not “sure footed” and trips all the time. I believe some of it, if not most, is due to her looking around and not paying attention to what is in front. I have been riding her for 2+ years now, and her eyes are still looking at what is behind her. I was hoping she would “season” a little and start paying more attention. I cannot continue to ride her if it doesn’t improve because it is dangerous. I thought about blinders to limit her ability to continually look behind. Having never used them, I can make an argument for both sides. It could make things worse. I am looking for advice from people who have experience with them (not what you THINK will happen).
I would look at her hoof trim first. Toe too long?
Yes look at feet. Horses can’t see right where their feet are under them. I think they move more by feel on a steep trail.
I would also suggest doing some ground work with obstacles, poles, circus box, etc. I was amazed how well my mare handled our first ride with little drop offs or steps, then remembered how much on/off circus box we’d done!
Then riding over poles in the ring. See how she handles herself there.
My horse was tripping the same, and it appeared to be careless. I worked with farrier for 6 shoeings but he couldn’t address. Farrier was from high end barn and did many dressage horses, and frankly, shoeing looked okay to me. Vet xrayed and also didn’t think shoeing was bad.
But just in case, another set of eyes, I switched to another farrier – happened to be natural balance – and although she couldn’t correct everything in one shoeing, tripping has improved 95-98%! I was totally amazed that prior farrier, whom I used on prior horses, couldn’t get the same fix.
And it was the folks here, responding to your thread, that also responded to my thread and agreed toes looked too long that gave me the inkling that my horse should be shod differently.
I encourage you to post your best hoof photos, front and side, and see what the feedback is. I would be hesitant to use blinders on trail, I want to use his eyes as well as mine to keep us out of trouble.
Good luck!
I also would look into feet and also saddle fit/ back issues. I would never in a million years put blinders on a trail horse
You might also try putting a halter fleece on the cheek pieces, that will provide some limitation of distractions, but not nearly as much as blinders (you will see that with some jumpers to help with distractions). But overall I’m skeptical that distractions are solely the cause of tripping. Now heavy on the forehand, not carrying themselves, longish toe or (hopefully not) foot pain along with being distracted as the tipping point… I’ve been there.
The first thing I would do is contact your farrier and vet and maybe even your chiropractor, to make sure that the tripping is not health related. If there is nothing wrong with her hooves, back, etc, I agree that you should try to improve your mare’s skill and balance before you mess with limiting her vision. If she’s not paying attention to where she puts her feet, the solution is to teach her to watch where she steps and how. Since you don’t feel safe riding her on hard trails, practice in an arena with obstacles or on easy trails where she can learn without risk.
OK. I appreciate all the comments, but I guess I wasn’t as clear as I could have been. It’isn’t necessarily that she “trips”. More so, she doesn’t pay attention to where she is placing her feet. If there is one rock in the middle of the trail, chances are she will step on it rather than step over it. I have literally seen her hit the same loose rock 3 times. I have even had her walk off the trail and almost fall down the slope of the hill. It is almost like she has no sense of self preservation. In contrast, we have a gelding and a mule who are very good at where they place their feet. On a rocky trail, you hear nothing from the mule walking. The mare is click, click, click from where she is stepping on what seems like every rock.
well… I tend to break down trail horses into 4 types (2 characteristics): Does/Does not pay attention to where the feet are going and is/is not catty about recovering the balance.
My old TB just did not pay attention, so that was my job. But by god he could - somehow - always get 4 feet squarely back under him at any speed, whether it was due to not paying attention or completely out of both of our control.
If the choice has to be between the two, I prefer catty over paying attention. But of course you want both, there’s just no guarantee that you will get both. But if you have neither, you probably want to carefully consider your trail riding options!
Are you 100% sure that there isn’t anything wrong with her eyesight? I’m not too familiar with riding on difficult rocky trails, but I have a hard time believing that a horse in perfect health would be so careless as to where they place their feet that they almost fall off the trail. If she is in perfect health, then I still recommend low-risk training to teach her how to pay attention to where she walks.
My riding teacher’s problem gelding would spook from things he saw to his rear from the “corner” of his eyes. This could include ANYTHING happening to his rear.
Finally, because nothing we did ever seemed to fix his problem, I got him a pair of the Dy’on Blinkers from Dover saddlery. He STOPPED freaking out about stuff to his rear. He still gets antsy from “monsters” (some microscopic), but when he passes them he no longer sees them, and he stops freaking out.
He was not really paying too much attention to what was in front of him either. I got him the Fenwick Face Mask with Ears. My riding teacher, and the lady she rides with on the trails both notice a big difference in the horse, with the Fenwick Face Mask with Ears, he is calmer, and he focuses a lot better, and he pays attention to the trail rather than the trillion monsters lurking everywhere around him. Without the face mask monsters, horrible horse eating monsters, infest his surroundings and he never relaxes.
With the Dy’on blinkers and the Fenwick Face Mask with Ears he almost acts like a “normal” horse on the trails.
I would most definitely check with your farrier to make sure that his toes are not too long. If he wears shoes you might have to get them redone sooner than your normal, because with shoes the toes just keep on growing while the heels get worn down. If he is barefoot I’ve had success with rasping the toes down at least once a week between farrier visits.
Good luck with solving this!
Scribbler has the right idea. Get your mare into a ring with a bunch of jump poles scattered around in close proximity to each other, and then make her walk through them on a loose rein. Don’t guide her, just let her choose her own path. Tell her to “watch the rocks”. That can be your go-to phrase to get her to pay attention to what is under her feet. Go back and forth over those scattered poles, always telling her to watch the rocks, until she is confidently stepping around and through them to find solid ground. Praise her every time she does it right. Pay close attention to her attitude as you work her. You want her focusing on those poles, to the exclusion of everything else. Have some treats with you. And reward her at the end of the session.
Take her out on the trail right after a session with the poles in the ring, and see what her attitude is in the new surroundings. See if your new go-to phrase encourages her to drop her head and look at the trail, just as it did in the ring.
This is going to take time because it doesn’t come to her intuitively that the ground is not always ring surface flat. And please know that you are not alone - my newest endurance horse does exactly the same thing. It’s as if her mind is saying that the trails are pancake flat and the world contains no such thing as a rock!:eek:
not a safe idea …for trails •
Some horses are not cut out to be trail horses. It is rare but I have met a few horses that really have no self-preservation. I rode one that was 17.2 Hands. He took himself off his own feet a couple of time lunging. Once he was so distracted when I was cantering him in the ring he fell to his knees. The BO’s husband had moved a sprinkler where there was never one before. OMG SOMETHING CHANGED IN HIS WORLD. That was the last time I rode him.
i have nothing to add in temrs of advice but just wanted to say that my mare is the same,she will trip , step on a rock,almost slide into a ditch and on occasions,has even walked head on right into a tree .she’s 32 years old now and i am still lightly riding her.been healthy all her life ,has done dressage and some jumping and lots of trail riding.she is a very sweet mare and the lead mare in the herd,can be very alert but on the the trails,she is just “in her own mind” .
My horse never pays attention if he is the 2nd horse in line. He trips on everything because he is worried about the first horse being the leader, and is just waiting for a chance to attempt to overtake.
I either have to be lead or I tell him “careful” and pick up on the reins a little to get his attention. He has taken off on me once before in the mud and he didn’t even slip (I was shocked and also horrified) so I know he has excellent balance, he just chooses not to care when he’s got another mission in mind.
I wouldn’t recommend full blinders on her for trail in the event that she ever got away and could potentially run straight into something and kill herself. The little jumper blinders would be OK or even fuzzies like someone above mentioned.
I’d check saddle fit though, a lot of horses will shuffle and/or trip when their saddle is pinching. As everyone else has mentioned, check the toes too!
