Do stifle problems ever go away?

Montyforever

Montyforever

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Mysti had a slipping stifle last year after laminitis, vet reccomended light lunging and oil in her feed to get her sound again and to build up the fat around the joint. Took a while as she was sore but eventually she came sound again. I've still been lunging until recently as we have no school and I didn't want her to slip on the ice and now the snow. But she seems to be getting grumpier, harder to catch, looks a bit sore and taking shorter strides with that leg again :( which is how it started before. I know she may have just slipped and hurt it but I'm worried now as its been going on for over a week now that it's the old problems reoccurring but I won't know for certain until I get a chance to lunge her and see with my own eyes it's slipping again.
So do joint/stifle problems ever go away completely?
 
Sorry to hear that, I know exactly how you feel I have a 9yr old NF with a stiffle problem & sadly he will never be 100%, but he does also have arthritus in the leg. He is now only suitable for light hacking & will be on bute for rest of his life, he doesn't need it all the time just when he looks a little stiff. Yet when you see him charging round the field bucking you would not think anything was wrong, but you certainly notice it the next day. I no a few horses with stiffle problems & the problem has never gone away completely. Keep us updated with your horse.
 
Thanks natz88, not what I wanted to hear but glad your boy is still coping okay!
It's frustrating because the laminitis was totally out of the blue and she wasn't even overweight at the point so the diet and box rest just caused all of this in the only leg that didn't have lami :( she's only 7 as well!
 
Izzy also has a stifle problem. The osteo thinks it was from an old injury from before I got him. It showed up after I had brought him back into work and had been going well for a time. But then he started hopping in trot on a circle. Vet couldn't really tell what it was and suggested rest and then talked about bone scans and MRIs! Vet was fine to have osteo have a look.

Osteo said it was old stifle injury and basically he had been compensating for a long time, now he was getting into proper work he found it hard to compensate. Had osteo for about 8 weeks with walking out work and he came right. Also added Riaflex.

Been fantastic for over a year, in full work, properly worked 6 days a week. I went away over Christmas and he was worked 3-4 days a week, ticking over. Came back after 2.5 weeks and he was a bit hoppy in trot again. Osteo says his stifle will always be weak and he needs the muscle around it to be kept strong. So he can't have time off basically. She said horses with this problem can't be 3 day a week horses. They need constant, proper work to keep the stifle working properly. I am now working on building the muscle up again.

ETA Montyforever - don't give up hope. If you can build the muscle up she should have a good chance of a full working life, you just need to keep her muscled up. Izzy does everything without a problem - endurance, cross country, jumping, dressage, trec. But without all that work, his stifle plays up a bit.
 
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my old boy had stifle problem where it would pop out the amount of times we had his back leg in the air to pop it back in place lol. any way we found building his bum up worked a treat this was done slowly. we would have him over trotting poles trotting on the bit up hills once his muscles started showing his problem went away. prob was when he wasnt worked as much over the winter the problem did come back so we had to work him all year to stop it happening
 
I'm not sure they do. Dorey pulled her stifle when she was 6 and although she came sound after a week of rest and bute, she went lame on the same ligament last may, aged 13, and prognosis wasn't looking very rosey last time she was scanned :(

I'd advise against lunging again though. It won't help in the slightest. It could take years to recover properly!
 
CS has a locking stifle.

you need to do plenty of leg yield and work over raised poles to strengthen the ligament around the joint.

he's 7 and will debut at PSG this year so its not career ending if you can manage it......i guess there are degrees of it, his only sticks a few times a year now, but as a weak 4yo it was weekly.
 
Serenity - as far as i know and as far as the vet can tell there's no damage to ligaments/tendons. The joint was just slipping slightly out of place, obviously that will probably increase the chances of athritis ect but she was never hopping lame just uncomfortable and unable to trot with that leg on the inside on the lunge as that caused it to slip. Vet told me she needed to be lunged to help her recover, I felt terrible about it at the time and am going to attempt to longrein her soon so it's less pressure on the leg :)
 
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