Starting to horse shop and looking at sales videos. So many horses drag their hind toes. Is this a strength or forward issue? Is the arena sand too deep? Or is it some kind of lameness issue? Some of them are 4 or 5 year olds but some are 2nd or 3rd level.
If they are dragging their hind toes, they are either not engaged, or they are physically incapable of engaging.
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My old gelding used to drag his hind toe (just his right hind) when ridden at the trot (wouldn’t do it if he was showing off in the paddock) and not at any other gait. We had a well-known lameness vet look at him after he x-rayed cleanly with my regular vet. He ultra sounded and blocked him and couldn’t find a thing. I ended up selling him as a hunter prospect (he hated dressage anyway) and in the video his new owner sent me a few months ago, he didn’t drag it at all! I guess the jumping strengthened it enough that he was able to pick it up… Just my single experience!
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For me it was one of the first clues that my mare was developing a back/SI issue. As we’ve injected her and working on her strength again I can tell when we’ve gone too far if she starts dragging that toe again.
For other horses, my guess is it’s a strength issue.
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As the horse becomes more engaged and active the amount of suspension in each step increases. Look at the tail and see how much it swings and that will tell you a lot about suppleness and strength.
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This is pretty much it. Lots of undiagnosed unsoundness out there. Lots of riders that don’t know how to properly engage a horse, lots of riders who do know how, but are tight riders that shut down the back…
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I also had a horse who was dragging his toe with an SI issue.
I agree that it is most often lack of engagement, but that SI issues or other physical reasons can be present as well.
It could be engagement or soundness as already mentioned. I exercise a friend’s horse that has high ringbone on both hinds legs. When I first started riding him, he used to make a rut around the arena with dragging those hind toes… now with regular exercise, he still drags a little but no ruts!
His range of motion has improved so much with regular low intensity exercise! He will forever be a light riding horse with the ringbone though.
My friend has a sound Arab that drags his hind legs when he is lazy. Although he is very agile, he doesn’t seem to need to engage his hind legs in quite the way you’d expect. He is more agile than my larger, heavier, Paint mare. But he is also able to sproing around like a deer, whereas the Paint mare needs to have her hocks and hips under her to get anything done. The Arab way of going in general seems to make it a bit more difficult to really engage or collect, or more of a challenge to train it, compared for instance to an athletic quarter horse or an Andalusian.
On the other hand, I see lots of warmbloods and tbs who drag their hind legs not because they have conformation that causes them to trail their hind end, but because they are (a) being ridden on the forehand and/or (b) have soundness issues in the hind end. I also had a friend who said this was the first sign of her mare developing what turned out to be a career-ending suspensory tear.
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As a young horse my mare did drag her toes somewhat. It all changed as she strengthened. I think the jumping helped, but also extensive dressage training.
I’ve seen even GP horses drag too. Front end looks just fine…
I think for some young horses of ummmmm warmblood (aka not too motivated) blood it can certainly be simply laziness. Particularly when walking to and from paddocks etc… If you pick up the pace a bit and get them a little more motivated that rear toe dragging completely goes away. It should never be accepted under saddle though. I nice smart walk right away has always solved the problem for me. And as mentioned above once the horse gets more fit and “active” through the paces it should go away on its own. If it does not then perhaps there might be a medical reason I agree.
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Dragging hind toes can also mean weak or sore stifles.
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Or bone spurs in the hocks
I bought mine with a known back weakness (injury). He dragged his toes A LOT. As he gained strength and soundess, the toe-dragging went away. But he’ll still toe-drag if you don’t ride him forward enough!
He’s a bit lazy if not sufficiently motivated.
I wonder if the “incapable” of engaging can be a lack of flexibility as much as strength. Meaning, not as flexible in the joints, whether hock, hip, or whatever.
