Locking Stifles

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splash30

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Does anyone out there have horse with locking stifles?

I brought a fabulous yearling in April from the field and who from day one since being stabled at night has locked up by the morning, (first morning when i realised was awful - lots of tears) its quite severe but does ease ( i never force him to move) and is fine after moving in the field all day at least 12 hrs unfortunality i dont have the facilities to leave him out 24hrs, all vets have said ignore it he will grow out of it, i contacted the old owner who said she had never seen it which i do believe as he was out since birth.

I want to hear of people who have dealt with locking stifles(who are not vets) to hear their thoughts and opinions, as i want to do everything i can for him
 
My old arab mare had locking stifles, mainly when i bought her out of the stables in the mornings. where i kept her we were able to do lots of hillwork which helped immensly. i then moved her to my own land and kept her out, with access to an open stable. it never happened to her again!
 
My boy has this too & I was devastated when we found out but it is easily manages with (as above) lots of turn out, fittening work and letting him walk around for a minute after coming out of the stable before mounting. My vet advised this & it works great but said that if he deteriorates there is an operation that can be done which fixes this problem permenantly. Also yours may well grow out of it. I know it feels like the end of the world but you WILL be able to manage it OK. Good Luck
 
Our lead rein show pony suffered from this - we gave him free access to a field shelter + small paddock for nights and fed cortaflex joint supplement. We owned him for 6 years and continued to show and do PC events without a hitch. He only locked up when confined at night - never when travelling.
 
I have read that hill work helps with locking stifles.

I too had an Arab who locked but only as a four year old. She out grew the problem as she gained weight and strength.
 
Agree with keeping him moving, if you have to stable him and he is locked up in the morning, move him backwards before forwards, this tends to unlock the stifles much more easily. Keep him out,especially if he's a youngster, cortaflex will help and he should grow out of it by the age of 5 or 6.
 
Yes I had a sec D colt with this problem, my vets advised castration as they considered it to be a congenital problem.....he was castrated......but never grew out of the problem, so as a 5 yo he had both stifles done ......box rest and slowly back into work, he is still going strong as a ride and drive some 10 yrs later.

I would certainly not breed from a horse/pony with this problem.

Just to add, the stifle op. was done on both stifles on the same day at home by our own farm vets and did not cost a fortune!!!!
 
I've had the same problem with my 2yold warmblood. She was locking every morning when she came out of the stable - moving her backwards or just rocking her backwards frees it up.

I spoke to the vet about it when jabs were due and was told not to worry as she's grow out of it. It got no better so I got the vet out again and he advised that it is a very common issue with young growing horses and is because bones, muscles and tendons are all growing at different rates. He advised as much turnout as possible, pref 24/7 and mild exercise. He recommended long reining up hills and a small amount of lunging as she is physically mature enough - but only big circles, only for 5 mins max and only on a decent surface.

If it doesn't come good there is an op they can have but he said he wouldn't do it on a young horse - only on one that developed the problem later.

Coincidentally she sustained a kick injury in the field on the affected stifle (!) and had to be hospitalised. The injury involved scans and x-rays and so the vet gave the joint a good check over and found nothing mechanically causing the problem other than 'growing'.
 
When i brought my warm-blood when he wasn't quite 4 yrs old he was fairly lightweight after a week or two i noticed he was locking up after discussing with my vet i was advised to get him as fit as possible and ignore it as he would grow out of it yes hill work was recommended too !! he also showed me an area on the stifle to rub/manipulate to free the lock.

when the same vet came for routine jabs at 6yrs old he said it was unlikely he'd need any corrective surgery.

he's now nine and competing showjumping dressage xc fun rides and hacks a lot so yes he's pretty fit.
Only very very occasionally does it lock now usually in the winter when stabled.
 
Both my section D yearlings lock their stifles up.

Neither myself or the vet is worried about this as its so common in youngsters.

Watch his weight, this is a contributing factor, they are just not developed enough muscle wise to unlock them.
 
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