Sometimes you will find Icelandic Horses that have problems with tripping. The cause could be one of several reasons:

• Long toes
  
  
• EPM
  
  
• Navicular
  
  
• Tenderfooted
  
  
• Trimmed too close in the frog or sole
  
  
• Head held up too high
  
  
• Cervical Vertebral Myelopathy (Wobbles)
  
  
• Weak stifles and / or hindquarters
  
  
• Fatigue
  
  
• Laziness
  
  
• Unbalanced rider
  
  
• Head held up too high
  
  
• Horse used to having his front end held up by the rider

Probably the most often cause of trippling or stumbling with the Icelandic Horse is due to the last reason above, the horse is used to being held up by the rider. This could mean that they have not been trained on a casual rein (in other words, "on the buckle"), and may need some re-training to learn to be responsible for carrying themselves (self-carriage).