Locking stifles in older horses

[HollyWoozle]

This morning was an education for me! The farriers turned up on the wrong day and the horses weren’t ready, meaning I hadn’t picked out their feet before the farriers set to work. My mare slammed a hind foot down and clipped farrier on the ankle (fortunately he was fine) but he immediately said it wasn’t her fault, that her stifles lock and she swung it down and just caught him.

Mare is 20, retired, lives out 24/7. I had thought she was a bit stiff behind and noticed that when you pick out her feet, she will swing her leg back and then is fine afterwards. Foolishly I didn’t realise this was because she has sticky stifles. Have had her since 2009 and whilst she is a bit wacky, she has never kicked.

She is on a daily balancer and Maxavita Maxaflex (“Green Lipped Mussel extract SuPerna™ with added Glucosamine, MSM and HA”). Is there anything else I can do to help a senior horse with this issue or is it just a case of being wary when she first ‘unlocks’ them? ?

Thank you.

 

[soloequestrian]

With younger horses I think the recommendation is to strengthen the muscles in that area - they need to lift the patella to unlock the stifle. Perhaps think of some groundwork you could do with her to strengthen her up?

 

[nutjob]

They tend to lock more when the horse is unfit so if you can do some exercises this would probably help. Mine could be unlocked more easily / safely by backing up a couple of steps if it has locked.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Thanks both for your thoughts and apologies for the slow reply! I think I will test it out, perhaps backing her up a bit before lifting her leg to see if that makes a difference. Will take a look at some groundwork exercises too.