Locking Patella in 2yo - Any experience?

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My 2yo has come in this evening with a locking patella. I've not seen or heard of this problem in any other of my mares progeny. I've turned him back out tonight as it seems he's better when he keeps moving, it locked up more when he was stood in.
Does anyone have much experience of this condition and its prognosis? I dealt with one when i worked at a yard but the YO just dismissed it so im not particularly clued up on how i can help him!
 
Hello, the first foal I bred developed this condition at around 2 yrs old too. He was mostly ok when turned out but it would often "stiffen" when he was stabled. Fortunately he was kept at home so with the aid of a field shelter he spent most of the time living out. He went on to win at County level and be a good riding horse. He lived to be 33.
 
My tb mare has a locking patella, i've had her since she was 5, she's 10 now. She was vetted and the vet said she will grow out of it, unfortunately she never did. She has very upright confirmation which doesn't help.

I opted for surgery for my mare as she ended up with a sore back and was reluctant to work forwards (our dressage scores were getting worse and worse) due to the stifle keep locking. She is always worse in cold, damp weather. The vets split her stifle ligaments under GA, this caused them to inflame and thicken resulting in them not being able to lock. She had the surgery in December 2011, only had 6 weeks off, is now back to ridden work. She does still lock, my vet has said the best way to manage it is with plenty of raised pole work(long reining) and hill work. Keeping them out as much as possible too really helps.

When your horse is old enough you will need to do lots of muscle building work to strengthen the gluts and hind limbs.

There is also a muscle building supp which vets recommended called Equitop Myoplast, it is rich in amino acids and proteins, it doesn't replace all the ground /ridden work you need to do but just supports it.

Hope this helps, good luck:)
 
I forgot to add... that the surgery has definately helped my girl despite her still locking sometimes she is 100 x better than before.

After some physio and lots of gradually fittening work she is feeling much better and we have our first lesson of the year this friday!
 
Peterpony used to suffer with this. I found walk work to strengthen him up did him the world of good and touch wood hasn't done this for a while now :)
 
Its not uncommon for young hprses to have this condition and alot of them do grow out of it. If it locks again, try to push the horse backwards before going forwards. this helps to slot it back in place. if it doesnt sort itself out, surgery is the next step. its a common procedure that is successful. :)
 
Mine does this, he's pretty unfit at the minute and apparently it will stop/reduce once the muscles build back up. He's not bothered by it after all. I've put him on a joint supplement to see if that makes any difference as well. My horse is 10 but I've heard its quite common in youngsters and a lot of them do grow out of it.
 
my daughters pony had/has it, it was worse when he was younger and always worse if he was kept stabled. Vet advised to keep him out as much as possible, walk inhand when he was too young too lunge to help build muscle. once he was old enough to lunge i used to lunge him on a slope to help build his butt muscles;)
He's now nearly 5 and rarely gets 'stuck' happened a couple of times over winter when i'd had him in a few days but now he's doing more work i've not seen it happen:)
 
I wasn't sure if I should lunge mine or not. Does it not put too much strain on the joint?
 
Skinny Minnie had this when I got her last year as a three year old. She had no muscle, which didn't help, and was in quite poor condition.

Chasing Fat Lad up the hill in the field and wading through deep mud has helped her build some muscle and I haven't seen her lock up in few months now.

Not sure if it is correct, but I was told that the younger they get it the more likely they are to grow out of it.
 
evj said:
I wasn't sure if I should lunge mine or not. Does it not put too much strain on the joint?
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i wouldn't lunge a 2 yr old, at that age i did lots of walking in hand, there is a small embankment on the farm which i used to walk him up and down, if you can walk him up and down hills it's ideal.
 
Mines 10 so he's not going to grow out of it. We've got small hills on one of the hacks we do but that's it.
 
ooop sorry lol thought you had the 2 yr old:o what has your vet said about lunging, they are in the best position to advise as they already know your horse:)
 
My 2 year old had it. She had been bred on the forest and was in poor condition when I first got her. She has poor conformation too. Her hooves are still poor, but were really dreadful when I first had her. The vet's advice was keep her out (she was anyway) and getting her walking out and about up hills. It took me some time to getting her walking out and about as she was semi-feral and she stopped having the problem by the time I got to walking her out. My vet was against lunging her (and I would have been against doing so anyway at that age).

It only triggered in her a few times and only when she had been in a stressful situation - i.e. when I first bought her and she moved to me, when she was first put in the same field as my others and the first time there was a major military exercise nearby. She has not had a recurrence for a long time and she has just turned 4.
 
thats what they tend to do! my little horse has this problem shes four this year and shes had it forever i think :S shes really bizarre - she started doing it in the summer when i had to keep her in one night for the farrier then it didnt happen for ages - then she have a growth spurt and it would start again, then winter came and she had to be stabled over night and occasionally shed do a few odd steps in the morning then be fine but it was rare if atall- then we turned her out 24/7 in the summer and it got worse then one day she was locked for 10hours and no one could do anything the vet was useless and but wasnt helping and she did finally unlock so we turned her away for 6 weeks and she got better bought her into work over last winter and she was kept in then just turned out for a few hours no problems atall not even the dodgy steps in the morning - she then came home in april and lived out 24/7 no problems thought she'd outgrown it - then oneday last week out of the blue she locked again - not seriously and just walked it off as she came out the stable! so frustrating thought she'd outgrown it - im now looking into a more muscle toning work plan for this summer! good luck its quite scary and worrying at first but as suggested already there are lots of methods to try!!
 
evj said:
I wasn't sure if I should lunge mine or not. Does it not put too much strain on the joint?
Click to expand...

I definitely wouldn't lunge. Hill work is the best 'treatment' - the ideal would be to have him turned out in a hilly field - or you could walk him in hand and get incredibly fit yourself!:D If no hills available, walk in hand (on a straight line) over raised poles.

Surgery should be a last resort - the long term results aren't nearly as good as when it can be corrected by fittening. Avoid stabling like the plague!
 
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