Locking Stifle - can anyone help with a few Q's? (Sorry - long)

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Chunkie

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Briefly, had vet out on Friday as my girl was leaving her o/s back leg behind when trotting up in hand and it scared me silly 'cos I thought she'd broken her leg.

By the time vet arrived only 4 hours later, girlie was trotting up as sound as anything, but vet thought from my description that she had a locking stifle.

I have watched her in the field and it happens almost every time she trots. I think from other descriptions that it's not a mild case, as she goes 3-4 strides before the patella releases, and on one occasion, was hopping along in canter with the leg out to the side?

I've read a lot about this condition over the weekend and it fits exactly with what's going on with my mare. My problem is, I don't understand why. She is an 11 yr old light/middleweight Sec D x who lives out 24/7 and had been in very light hacking since the end of September due to a pulled muscle in her loin area. She had not been ridden for 10 days when I saw this for the first time on Friday. She was not therefore totally unfit, although she is overweight as she'd been on the winter grazing for 9 days when it happened. She des not therefore really strike me as a prime candidate for this, which seems to be either a youngster or a horse coming back into work after an long period of time.

She is now back on restricted to try to get some weight off and I'm riding her in walk for an hour a day (have done that for 3 days).

At this time of year I normally pack up riding until March - I haven't ridden in December for 3 years! However, all the advice seems to be lots of steady, muscle building work, esp long slow canters. What will happen if I stop riding her? Will she be far worse by next March or will it stay as it is?

How do others cope with this condition - do your horses ever get rested, (I'm talking about 2-3 months off) and if they do, how are they when they come back into work?
Does the weather have an adverse affect?
Could there be future DJD complications?
Will swimming help, and if so, is it worth taking her if I'm not going to ride her, or should I leave that until next year?
Does it hurt? Some books/websites say yes, others no.

Thanks for taking the time to read this - any experiences/advice more than welcome and very much appreciated.
 
Sorry to hear about your mare! What did the vet actually diagnose? There are many reasons for a locking patella. The most common is muscle weakness and usually occurs in young horses. Given that your horse is recovering from a muscle injury it may be related? There are other more serious problems like OCD in the stiffle that can display a locking patella as a side-effect, but I would ask your vet to look into that.
 
You probably need to rule out anything else that may be happening in the stifle. If its purely locking stifle it would be worth strengthening the quadriceps muscles in order to make them stronger to help the stifle from locking so much, often weak quads can be a cause of locking stifle too. So lots of slow hill work in walk and trot would help+++, and lunging also, in the pessoa.
 
My mare has this and it is always slightly worse this time of year as her work has to decrease due to weather and light. But over the years I have found consistent work is the key. As others have said slow hill work, walk and trot work in the school and lunging. Gosh thats pretty much what bimble wrote!
 
I have a miniature shetland that has the problem and it's a nightmare, the vet split the ligament 3 weeks ago which was supposed to sort the problem, but it is still just as bad, they can actually cut the ligament but that can be tricky and again may not work. We also had a similar problem with out Welsh D, but not as bad and that has in fact sorted itsef with continious work and getting really fit. Someone suggested Cider Apple Vinegar, so am giving it a try with the shetland as am desperate for a solution.
 
Thanks for your replies.

The vet diagnosed locking stifle Booboos, but as she didn't actually see anything happening I wasn't sure about that (I've never actually seen it in a horse). However, after reading about it, I know the vet was right.

Both the vet and the equine sports therapist said that the pulled muscle would not be causing this, (it is in her loin, so a long way away) but I do now think that the locking stifle may have been triggered by a nasty slip which caused the muscle problem in the first place.

I am not going to be in a position to get her really fit through the winter but will try to continue to ride her at least twice a week so that she never gets completely unfit. She lives out 24/7 so hopefully that will help her as she won't be spending 15 hours a night seizing up in a stable!
 
Judging by what you have said, I would agree that the slip might have triggered it. My last horse had a locking patella/stifle, it gradually got better over the two years I had him. The farrier sometimes had problems as it would lock if he pulled the leg too far to the side and poor horse would make all sorts of strange movements to sort himself out (farrier got wise and used to keep leg at a straighter, lower, angle after a while).

So just do what you can riding wise and perhaps the situation will improve naturally as the muscle damage from the slip improves. I think living out is the best thing as you say.

Mine never seemed in pain, just annoyed that his leg was locked (he was easily annoyed!). On a xc course once we went through quite deep water and the dragging effect caused it to lock briefly, much to the consternation of the jump judge who was yelling after me "That horse is lame - pull up, pull up!". Must have looked a bit bizarre but we were heading for home with another horse in sight and he wasn't fazed at all, just made a few weird strides on three legs (at least that's what it felt like) and then he was off again so I kept going
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I sold him (not due to the locking) and he is now Grade A sj (damn!).
 
Quick update - vet has just rung and agreed that she may have pulled a ligament when she slipped.

I am going to give her the next 3 months off as I would have done anyway and bring her back probably much more slowly than I normally would do. If it's still happening, then she will go for a scan and we'll take it from there.

Thanks again for the replies.
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