Every time I walk along 59th Street in Manhattan I notice several of the Central Park horses are standing with three hooves flat on the ground and the front edge of the fourth hoof barely touching the ground.
Is this normal or are these horses nursing injuries?
Perfectly normal. That’s how horses rest.
Yep, normal. It’s like people shifting their weight from foot to foot while standing.
Just resting. It’s like sitting with your legs crossed. The horse will switch legs from time to time.
FYI, horses hack a tendon which “locks” the knee in place. Thus they can sleep standing up – horses usually only lie down for short periods; it isn’t very comfortable with their body weight pushing against their lungs.
Actually I just learned something. Lifting the heel has a function other than rest: it rotates the hip and actually activates the “stay” ligaments of the forelegs, which is the mechanism that enables the horse to relax fully or sleep standing.