Ask Our Expert - Russell Dilday Q3
1,508 views · Published 16 August 2012 · 2:11 · Indexed 30 September 2026
Channel: Western Horseman · 2012 · Education
Q: My horse is collected when loping, but tripping a lot. Is he being lazy or should I look deeper? He is sound in other areas. A: That is a really hard question to answer without seeing the horse because I can't see what the horse and rider are doing. That rider is telling me 'I'm collecting my horse' so they are probably collecting it a lot, and they are probably not a super advanced rider, maybe beginner or intermediate. A lot of people that ride at that level are worried about collection. Rather than having the hindquarters come to the head, they get the head down where the back is flat and the hindquarters are out behind them a little bit. What they do is transpose most of the weight to the front feet. So the head is down on the ground and most of the weight is hitting on the front shoulders and feet, and that will often cause a lot of tripping, versus sitting up and having that horse come up from behind. To me, true collection is having the horse drive up from behind. Another possibility is maybe the toes on that horse are too long and they are getting the heels down and letting the toes run out a little too far when they shoe them. They need to get those toes back. That will help some, but when a horse is stumbling that much the horse is either in a position that makes him stumble or is naturally clumsy. They probably wouldn't be asking that question if the horse was always that way so I feel like from that question there is a strong possibility they are putting that horse into a position to trip.
