locking stifle joint

[maxapple]

has anyone had any expereince of this & possible solutions.

My gelding has this problem in his back leg where occasionally his joint locks in place then snaps back out of it again. It doesn'f affect him when moving / being ridden, just when standing still (usially when i am picking his leg up to do his feet) or very occasionally when he's moving about in the stable.

Its not really a big issue - just wondered if there was anything i could do to help this problem?

 

[Madcow]

I have had two horses on my yard with this, on both occasions after vet. consultations the owners have been told it was important to control the horse's weight (both were cobs) and that regular exercise was vital. Both horses improved following the advice, although the vets did warn that if it didn't then there was a possibility that they may need an operation.

 

[cellie]

We had a pony on loan who had this problem .The more excercise he had the better he was the muscles etc help support the joint.We put him on a joint supplement and he only locked on two occassions.The vet also recommended he was kept on a supplement for life.

 

[Butterbean]

Is he young? Mine started doing this last winter when he was 5, it didn't really inconvenience him but occasionally he couldn't pick his leg up for you to pick out his feet etc. Once or twice he was too uncomfortable to be ridden but generally he was fine after he had been warmed up.

Vet saw him and just advised that he needed to get stronger behind & to do as much strengthening work as possible, in particular hill work. Also that he was likely to grow out of it. Since then it has hardly been a problem at all, he still locks up occasionally but only for a moment. Interestingly though it is worse when weather is really cold, other people with horses that do this have also said that.

 

[maxapple]

Hi

Thats for the advice everyone. he's 13 & a TB, so tends to keep a nice weight thankfully. Its definately got worse in the cold, so i'll just make sure he gets enough exercise & perhaps try a joint supplement. At the moment i only ride at weekends (both days) but i guess i'll have to get over my adversion to schooling in the week!!

 

[DuckToller]

Just to follow up, I had a youngster with this. Vet said to long rein to help. Main problem was shoeing him, caused him to lock, so farrier shod him in doorway so he could prop him up a bit! It got better with exercise, the fitter and more muscle he developed the less he did it. I sold him and last heard of he was Grade B show jumper!

 

[reddie]

We had a cob with a locking stifle. He was fine as long as he was exercised regularly and turned out as much as possible. A joint supplement didn't seem to make any difference to him

 

[irishdraught]

4yr old pure bred ID grew very big, very quickly and failed her grading (at 3) cos of locking stifles. She went through loads of tests with the vet as one of the grading panel thought she was a wobbler!
Found out that both stifles were locking, basically down to lack of muscle tone and growth. We decided not to back her and turned her out in a hilly field and she is nearly there now.

She was put on a joint supplement but we will never know if it was the hilly field or the supplement that helped - I suspect it was more to do with the turnout though as the supplement has been stopped and she is continuing to improve.

 

[Booboos]

I had a horse with this problem and went through hell with it, but it is not a happy story...

There could be more than one causes of a locking joint. As a general rule if the horse is young and unfit it is likely to be a muscle problem and will improve with exercise, e.g. hill work is good, but you need a gradual programme of work.

An older horse is unlikely to have a muscle problem (even if in light work). My TB had cartiledge degeneration on both stifles and the patella locking was merely a side effect of the underlying problem. He appeared sound, but only because he was bilaterally lame, and we only realised the extent of the problem when he was nerve blocked. The options here are: rest, joint injections and surgery. Surgery has the best prognosis for return to competitive work, 80% chance of recovery to previous level of work. My poor chap had the surgery on both legs, went through 9 months of box rest and gradual exercise, got the all clear one year after the surgery only to lock up again six months down the line at which point his dressage career was over. The whole thing from the first time he locked up took two years. However, if you are not competing you may find that you and your horse can just live with the problem without going to all this trouble. My chap, Thomas, was in pain when in work and found it very difficult to do any collected work, although he was still a very lively hack through-out!

 

[Butterbean]

Booboos - were there any other indications other than the stifle locking?
Since I replied to this post, vet has seen my horse & thinks he may have a problem with his stifle - the horse has been very unbalanced in right canter for the last couple of months, just wondered if this was something that had happened with yours? I thought he had injured his left hock and / or pulled muscle in his back but vet thinks stifle-related.

 

[Booboos]

Sorry to hear it might be the stifle, but it is positive that you are on the way to a diagnosis.

Thomas was billateraly lame on both hinds so he appeared sound at trot, on the lunge and even after a flexion test. It was only when we nerve blocked one leg that it became apparent how really lame (4/5) he was in the other. In retrospect there were many changes in his way of going, but at the time it was difficult to tell whether these were due to a training problem or a physiological problem. The best way to describe it is that he was stiff on the right rein all through his back, so his mouth was clamped on the right side of the bit, he was falling out the left shoulder, away from the right leg but over-bent, collapsed and crooked through his whole body. Like your gelding he appeared to be OK when moving, he only locked in the stable especially after a night in. Well into his recovery and two weeks before he showed stifle locking symptoms again I felt the stiffness when ridding him and I knew immediately the problem had returned. So I think that once you have felt it and know what it is you can recognise it returning.

For what it is worth I recently had another horse with exactly the same ridden problems and it turned out to be his back, so I think that back and hind limb problems (especially billateral lameness) feel very similar to the rider.

Best of luck! I hope you get a firm diagnosis and can get some help for your horse.

 

[BethH]

My horse has this as a secondary symptom of Kissing spine and is worse in damp weather. In regular work it has gone away but as other have said, you need to keep the weight off and keep your horse regularly exercised. Mine was bi-laterally lame as well which made diagnosis of KS really hard, it took 2 yrs to sort and his whole life he has found using his back legs effectively very difficult therefore making the stifle area a bit weak. I would say it is especially important when working your horse to make sure you are getting him working through from behind correctly, this really helps build the muscle up in that area to support the weakness.

Have really only echoed what everyone above has said, but the more I work my horse the better he is