Anyone experienced mild upward fixation of patella?

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LauraWinter

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Sorry this is a bit long.....As title really, some ongoing oddities with my boy and we are thinking along these lines at the moment. Physio observed mild swelling of stifle, although I could not see it and a week later the vet could not either, 3/10 lameness which resolved after a ten day course of bute and may or may not have been related and ongoing obervations include reluctance to canter on right leg (although perfectly happy to go round on left lead on either rein!), sore sacro iliac across his back which has been treated by physio, right stifle looking very 'loose', although both are quite 'fluidy', and a weird sort of giving way/stumbling sometimes on the lunge on that leg. particularly on the downward transitions. He is a big boy, quite gangly and underdeveloped for a 6yo due to not having done any school work and had nearly three months off over the summer when we had strangles. Does all this sound familiar to anybody?

Glass of wine and choccies to anyone who got this far!
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A youngster i owned had upward fixation of the patella joint, his started after a illness where he lost lots of weight and muscle.
His leg would lock and be dragged behind him we would then have to push him backwards to unlock it, vet advised leading him out and to do hill walks to strenghen the legs.
The vet said he would grow out of it as most did he said, unfortunately for me 18 months down the line it was still happening. We ended up having a small op whilst the horse was standing which did completely cure the problem, but stopped him from locking his back leg to rest.
The op was a last option for me but we had tried everything else the vet had suggested. Sorry my story is not helpful in your case apart from the hill work even in hand that does help to strenghen the stifle joint.
 
In a young horse, lacking muscle, fixation of the patella is relatively common and is usually resolved with more work, especially hill work.

Having said that, in some cases, esp older horses in work, the fixation of the patella may be a sign of other problems in the stiffle. My boy had billateral OCD in the stiffle which first presented with a fixated patella.

It sounds like your boy is probably young and un-developped so if I had to guess I would suggest the first kind of transient problem, but if you are worried can't the vet nerve block the stiffle and do a lameness exam? This might help clarify what is going on.
 
Yes, this is the next step, he is coming back out next Monday as the only day I could get some time off this week is Thursday and that's the only day he cant do so I am driving myself mad looking on the internet and obsessing about what might or might not be wrong, hence posting on here....

I have gathered that these are all the right symptoms of UFP but that these symptoms can also reflect many other things and also as you say that there may be something more serious going on underneath. I hate waiting
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Try not to stress!!! Chances are that it will be UFP that is easily overcome with more work! It is far more common than anything else!

There are also other, fairly benign, causes like a tweeking a muscle, which disappear with a couple of weeks of paddock rest.

Fingers crossed for you! (do post an update!)
 
This is a very common problem with undermuscled young horses, so try not to panic. I have had two with this problem and both came right, they were both under 4 and it was before they were worked. One of them was Sirena and since she started working the problem has never returned.

I know your boy is 6, but he is big and gangly and as you say he is lacking muscle, you may find that once he has muscled up the problem will also disappear, nine times out of ten this is what happens.

Keeping everything crossed for you and do let us know what happens.
 
I don't have experience with it in horses, but my cat sometimes gets it, after a trauma to his knee, last year. Every so often, it does flare up (I guess he tweaks it) and he gets Metacam with 'house-rest', but other than that, it doesn't bother him, I don't think. If yours is due to trauma, then I would expect future flare ups, but so far I haven't had to resort to the op, thankfully!

It does sound like a trauma induced UFP, though in your case (rather than congenital), which hopefully will resolve itself with rest.
 
Thanks everyone for your support I will let you know how it goes. I have been reading the posts on here about OCD and horses that have never come right so I am winding myself up I think. I am going to go and watch a film or something instead and try to avoid thinking about it at all until Monday
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