Why Is My Horse Pawing the Ground? Causes and When to Worry

By Dr. Zubair Khalid, DVM, MS, PhD · 2026-10-03

Pawing the ground is a normal horse behavior in many situations, but it can also be the first visible sign of abdominal pain, stress, or a training problem. If your horse is pawing and also looks uncomfortable, off feed, or restless, treat it as a possible emergency until proven otherwise. This article is educational and is not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis or treatment.

Quick Answer

• Occasional pawing before feeding, during grooming, or when a horse wants to move is often normal and settles quickly once the trigger passes.
• Pawing that comes with rolling, looking at the flank, sweating, or refusing feed points toward colic and needs a veterinarian now [1].
• Pawing is a recognized sign of aggression and social tension in horses, so watch the ears, tail, and posture for clues [2][3].
• A horse that paws at the ground, digs, or kicks repeatedly may have back pain, lameness, or a poorly fitting saddle, especially if it happens under saddle [4][5].
• Call your veterinarian the same day for new, repeated pawing. Call immediately if the horse is rolling violently, cannot stand, or has a bloated abdomen.

What Pawing Looks Like and What Is Normal

Pawing is when a horse lifts a front leg and strikes or scrapes the ground. Some horses do it with one leg, some alternate. You may see it as a slow, rhythmic scrape or a sharp, repeated strike. Owners often describe it as digging at the ground or kicking at the ground.

Normal pawing has a clear trigger and a clear end. A hungry horse paws at the stall door before feeding and stops when the hay arrives. A horse paws once or twice in the cross-ties, then stands quietly. A young horse paws while learning to stand for the farrier, then relaxes. In these cases the behavior is communication, not disease.

Pawing also shows up in horse-to-horse communication. It is listed among the signs of aggression, along with pinned ears, a rapid tail swish, snaking the head, and threats to kick [2]. A horse may paw at another horse to move it away from feed or space. If you see pawing paired with a lashing tail and ears pinned flat back, that is offensive aggression, while a tucked tail and ears turned to the side suggest fear [3].

The key question is not whether your horse paws. It is whether the pawing is new, whether it repeats without a trigger, and whether other signs of pain or distress come with it.

Why Is My Horse Pawing at the Ground? The Main Causes

Pawing has many possible causes, and they range from harmless to life threatening. The table below groups them by what you are likely to see and how fast you need to act.

Colic and Other Abdominal Pain

Colic means abdominal pain, and pawing is one of its classic signs. In a reported case of spasmodic colic in a 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, the visible signs included restlessness with rolling side to side, pawing by the front leg on both sand and hard surfaces, looking at the flank, abdominal distension, and loss of appetite [1]. That combination is the pattern to memorize. Pawing alone is vague. Pawing plus rolling plus flank watching is colic until your veterinarian says otherwise.

Sand colic is a specific concern for horses kept on sandy ground. In a study of horses in a desert population, the median depth of sand on radiographs was much greater in horses diagnosed with sand colic (112.16 mm) compared with horses with non-sand colic (12.0 mm) and controls (10.5 mm) [6]. For every millimeter of sand present, horses had a 2% increase in the odds of being diagnosed with sand colic [6]. Younger horses were more likely to be diagnosed with sand colic, while surgical intervention was more likely in older horses [6]. If your horse lives on sand and paws, digs, or eats dirt, mention it to your veterinarian.

Pain, Lameness, and Back Problems

Pawing can be a pain behavior. Horses with back pain or lameness may paw, stomp, or dig when saddled or ridden. Back pain in horses is reported across a wide range, from 1% to 94%, which shows how much the numbers depend on who is examining the horse and how [5]. Veterinarians who examined individual vertebral motion segments or palpated for myofascial trigger points found more back pain and dysfunction than those who did not [5]. In other words, back pain is easy to miss on a quick look.

Ridden exercise matters too. In a pre-purchase study of 25 sports horses, eight were judged a reasonable risk for purchase, none showed lameness during ridden exercise, and all had low pain scores [4]. That study used the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram, a scoring system that flags pain-related behaviors during ridden work [4]. Pawing, tail swishing, and resisting the rider can all be part of that picture. If your horse only paws when you ride, think pain before you think attitude.

Stress, Boredom, and Stall Vices

Horses are built to move and graze for most of the day. Confinement, feeding schedules, and lack of turnout create frustration. A horse that paws the stall wall an hour before feeding, or digs at the ground when separated from a herdmate, is often expressing stress instead of disease.

Stall vices cluster together. Cribbing is one example. When cribbing, a horse grasps a horizontal object such as a water bucket or Dutch door with its incisors, flexes its neck, and sucks air into the pharynx [3]. Some of that air enters the esophagus and is pushed through the digestive tract, and the abdomen can swell with air-filled loops of intestine, which can lead to colic, in particular epiploic foramen entrapment [3]. Pawing, weaving, and cribbing often share the same root causes: too much stall time, too little forage, and too much energy with nowhere to go.

Aggression and Social Behavior

Pawing is part of the equine threat display. Signs of aggression include ears flattened backward, retracted lips, rapid tail movements, snaking, pawing, head bowing, squealing, and threats to kick [2]. A submissive horse responds by avoiding, lowering the neck and head, clamping the tail, and turning away [2].

This matters for your safety. If your horse paws at you, especially with ears back and a swishing tail, do not stand in range. Less severe aggression can be managed with behavioral training, such as teaching the horse to back away from a person for a food reward offered in a bucket, not from a hand, while the handler carries a crop for protection in case the horse does attack [3].

Red Flags That Make Pawing an Emergency

Call your veterinarian immediately if your horse shows any of these:

• Rolling violently or rolling repeatedly and trying to lie down
• Pawing with a bloated or distended abdomen
• Looking at the flank, kicking at the belly, or biting at the side
• Not eating or not drinking
• No manure for several hours, or a sudden change in manure
• Sweating, trembling, or pacing without a clear trigger
• Unable to stand, or standing in a stretched, strained posture
• Pawing that continues for more than 15 to 20 minutes with no obvious cause

Pawing plus any two of the other signs above is a strong signal for colic [1]. Do not wait to see if it passes on its own. Early treatment is easier on the horse and less expensive for you.

Safe Things You Can Do at Home While You Wait

While you wait for the veterinarian, keep your horse safe and gather useful information.

• Remove feed, but leave fresh water available unless your veterinarian tells you otherwise.
• Take your horse out of the stall if it is safer to hand walk. Do not let it roll if you can prevent it.
• Check vital signs if you can do so safely: heart rate, breathing rate, gum color, and temperature.
• Count how many times the horse paws per minute and note which leg.
• Note the last time the horse ate, drank, and passed manure.
• Take a short video of the behavior. This helps your veterinarian judge severity.
• Do not give any medication unless your veterinarian prescribes it. Pain relievers can mask signs and delay diagnosis.

If your horse is aggressive toward you while pawing, keep a barrier between you and the horse. Do not try to correct the behavior with punishment during a painful episode.

What Your Veterinarian Will Check and Test

Your veterinarian will start with a physical exam. That includes heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, gum color, gut sounds, and a pain assessment. They will watch your horse move and may press along the back and muscles to look for soreness, since back pain and dysfunction are common and often missed on a quick exam [5].

For a suspected colic, the next step is often a rectal examination. This is a common triage tool, but its accuracy has limits. In a study of 201 colic cases from four referral hospitals, the agreement between the primary rectal diagnosis and the primary surgical diagnosis was 57.2% [7]. When both primary and additional rectal findings were considered, agreement rose to 71.6% [7]. This is why your veterinarian may combine the rectal exam with other tests instead of relying on it alone.

Other tests may include:

• Bloodwork to check hydration, electrolytes, and organ function
• Abdominal radiographs, especially if sand is a concern [6]
• Ultrasound of the abdomen
• Nasogastric intubation to check for reflux
• A sand test on manure if your horse lives on sandy ground

Treatment depends on the cause. In the reported colic case, treatment included intravenous fluids for rehydration, a drug to relieve intestinal spasm, a pain reliever, medication to reduce gastric lesions, and an antibiotic given based on concern about bacterial overgrowth, with symptoms resolving within 12 hours of starting treatment [1]. Your veterinarian will choose a plan based on your horse's specific findings, weight, and health. Doses are calculated for your individual horse.

If the problem looks like a training or behavior issue, your veterinarian may suggest a lameness exam, saddle fit evaluation, or a ridden assessment. If your horse paws only under saddle, a ridden exam with a pain scoring system can help separate pain from behavior [4].

Prevention and Monitoring

You cannot prevent every cause of pawing, but you can lower the odds and catch problems early.

• Feed a forage-first diet with plenty of hay or pasture time.
• Maximize turnout. Movement supports gut health and reduces stall vices.
• Keep a consistent schedule for feeding, turnout, and exercise.
• If your horse lives on sand, use mats or feeders off the ground and talk to your veterinarian about sand surveillance [6].
• Check saddle fit regularly and watch for back soreness [5].
• Track manure output, appetite, and water intake daily. Small changes matter.
• Note when pawing happens. Time of day, location, and trigger all help your veterinarian.
• Address cribbing and other vices early, since they can lead to colic [3].

If your horse paws at the same time every day, that is usually habit or anticipation. If the pattern changes, or if pawing starts happening at random, treat it as a new symptom.

Limitations and When to Contact a Veterinarian

This article cannot tell you what is wrong with your individual horse. Pawing has many causes, and only a veterinarian who examines your horse can sort them out. Individual cases need a veterinarian.

Call now, as an emergency, for rolling, violent pawing, a bloated abdomen, sweating, or a horse that cannot stand. Call the same day for new or repeated pawing, pawing with loss of appetite, or pawing with any change in manure. Schedule a routine visit for pawing that only happens under saddle, pawing tied to feeding or turnout, or pawing that comes with back soreness or a poor attitude toward work.

If you are unsure, call and describe what you see. Most veterinarians would rather answer a question than treat a horse that waited too long.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my horse paw the ground when it is not colic?

Horses paw for many reasons besides pain, including hunger, frustration, boredom, social tension, and habit. Pawing is also a normal part of horse-to-horse aggression displays [2]. If the behavior has a clear trigger and stops when the trigger passes, it is usually not a medical problem.

Why is my horse rolling on the ground?

Rolling is normal when a horse is dusty, itchy, or drying off after a bath. Rolling becomes a concern when it is repeated, violent, or paired with pawing, flank watching, sweating, or loss of appetite, which points to colic [1]. A horse that rolls and then gets up and eats normally is usually fine.

Why does my horse dig at the ground?

Digging is often the same behavior as pawing, just described differently. It can be a sign of frustration, a stall vice, or pain. If your horse digs at the ground and lives on sandy soil, ask your veterinarian about sand accumulation, since sand depth is linked to sand colic [6].

Why is my horse kicking at the ground?

Kicking at the ground can mean irritation, pain, or aggression. A horse that kicks at its belly may have colic, while a horse that kicks at the stall wall may be frustrated or bored. Watch the ears and tail for clues, since pinned ears and a lashing tail suggest aggression [2][3].

My horse keeps pawing the ground. Should I call the vet?

Call your veterinarian if the pawing is new, repeated, or comes with any other sign of pain or distress. Call immediately if your horse is rolling, sweating, bloated, or not eating [1]. If the pawing only happens at feeding time and your horse is otherwise bright and eating well, mention it at your next routine visit.

Related Articles

• Why Is My Dog Limping On The Front Leg
• Why Is My Dog Limping On Both Front Legs
• Why's My Dog Limping On His Front Leg
• Why Is My Dog Scooting?
• Why Is My Dog Limping On Front Leg
• Is My Dog's Panting a Sign of Pain or Just Anxiety?

References

1. Chronic spasmodic colic management in a thoroughbred horse: A case report from Bangladesh. Open veterinary journal, 2025.
2. Behavior Problems in Horses - Horse Owners. Merck Veterinary Manual.
3. Behavior Problems of Horses - Behavior. Merck Veterinary Manual.
4. An Investigation of the Role of Ridden Exercise, Including Application of the Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram, in Pre-Purchase Examinations of Sports Horses. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2026.
5. Factors affecting veterinary perception of the prevalence of back pain and dysfunction in dogs and horses. Frontiers in veterinary science, 2026.
6. Depth and distribution of colonic sand accumulation in a desert population of horses and its association with diagnosis of sand colic. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 2026.
7. Comparison of Rectal and Intraoperative Findings in Horses with Colic. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2026.

Further Reading

• Merck Veterinary Manual: Horse Owners