sudden toe-first gait

[lubblyjubblies]

Just wondered if anyone has had experience of this? Devil pony has seemed slightly off on near hind for a couple of days. Nowhere near enough to be lame but a little pottery looking. He is barefoot but prone to abscesses, no history of lami, but does have a slightly sticky stifle on that leg.
Yesterday suspicion of lame, today def lame but still game IYSWIM. galloped off when turned out this morning, walking about at same speed of own accord etc.
Noticed his first few strides of walk he was def landing noticably toe first and quite gingerly landing heel, this lessened each stride until normal landing but is lame in trot.
No heat, swelling, obvious injuries.
Gut instinct tells me another abscess around heel bulb.
His stifle seems sticky again too after a couple of months of no problems, after new joint supplement.
Seems logical to me that if he has been stiller than normal, combined with this funny toe first stride that could have niggled the stifle. Definately no tenderness in the stifle area and I felt it as he was walking round its not locking up just a tiny click feeling.
Definately nowhere near a vet job yet and as per sods law farrier was here wednesday. Pony didnt have a trim though as very little growth since last trim, farriers decision not mine.

Pony lives out, but is shut in a smaller paddock overnight to save grazing. Not tiny, maybe 1 acre, half concrete, half deep mud so not going to try poulticing yet as pony loves deep mud, would just be a total waste of time and money.

Just wondered if anyone has any ideas, maybe something I am missing?

My money's on a brewing abscess in the heel area/back of foot too. It sounds like you will need your farrier to come and have a look though.

The clicking of a stifle can be a loss of muscle letting the joint click rather than it being held by the muscle, IYSWIM. Not always though but I had a horse who started to have a clicky stifle after a period of box rest and it turns out that's what it was and once he was back in work and his muscles were back to normal, it went away.

Thank you Nekabu. He was still much the same yesterday evening, but obviously they tend to get worse before they get better dont they.
With him the stifle thing is from poor conformation, very upright at back(I didnt breed him). Normally it doesn't show but if for any reason he isn't sound it shows itself, especially if rested for long periods. Boxrest is literally my worse nightmare for him. Like yours, he needs work to keep it in check

If he has an abscess then it probably won't get better without it being drained. Can you not get your farrier out? The danger with neglecting an abscess is that the pus can erupt at the coronary band (which can cause quite a lot of mess) or it can spread to the pedal bone and that is bad news.

You can get poultice boots that enable them to be turned out whilst being treated, so an abscess won't automatically mean box rest.