Just like humans, horses can misjudge a step, overlook an obstacle, or simply have a clumsy moment out of distraction or fatigue. | Photo: iStock

Is your horse’s clumsiness a simple matter of long toes and uneven ground, or is a career-limiting condition to blame?

It happens every now and then: A careless misstep or an unexpected surface change causes your horse to crumble a little under you, before he catches himself and keeps going. If you both recover just fine from the blunder, you might laugh and call him clumsy.

That’s when stumbling is okay. “It’s like a human missing a step over a sidewalk crack—it’s not really a big deal in cases like that,” says Amy Johnson, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM (Large Animal and Neurology), assistant professor of large animal medicine and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square.

But when it happens again and again, or when it leads to serious falls, stumbling becomes not okay. Often the sign of an underlying orthopedic or neurologic problem, repetitive or severe stumbling can be dangerous for both horse and rider