Locking stifles

ycbm

ycbm

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I'm having my little man x rayed for locking stifles tomorrow, because they are getting worse since I treated him for EPSM and loosened all his muscles off. Talk about one step forward two steps backwards!

The x rays are for peace of mind, they aren't expected to show anything. I'll be talking to the vet about whether to have the ligaments chemically scarred to tighten them up, because he is now locking quite severely and is also occasionally giving way as he stands or walks.

I know already that two things which help massively are keeping him in a rug one thicker than he 'should' be in, and riding every day.

Do you have any other tips for managing this?

Did you have yours injected and are there any downsides to it?

Did ones you know get worse or stay the same? I'm not expecting him to improve, he's six this year and already does lots of hill work.


All help gratefully received. I think there may be a bit of turkey stuck down the back of the sofa if that's of any interest, because I really, really can't share my white chocolate Lindor balls, sorry :(
 
I have a 7 year old who has this. She last locked as a six year old and there were times when I thought she would never grow out of it but fingers crossed she has.

She lives out 24/7 and gets ridden as much as possible including hillwork. It helps not to let her drop condition too much so that means both keeping her weight right and keeping her workload up which I find hard in wet windy dark winters with a full time job plus commuting.
 
That is great news :) Mine is never in a stable for more than an hour a day, usually only while he eats his breakfast. He's in a big barn with three feeding stations at night.

I'm deliberately not riding him the last five days because I want him to be as bad as possible for the vet to see tomorrow. (And he's going to have his rug taken off in a minute, he'll be a cold unhappy boy by tomorrow morning, but I have booked first appointment.) But after the vet has gone, riding six or seven days a week will start. Luckily I can use a small indoor.

The advice to keep some weight on him is unexpected, but very welcome since he naturally carries a condition score of 3 to 3.5. and it would be difficult in management terms (he lives in a herd) to get him thinner.

I'm going to have a much easier time managing it than you, thankfully. Thanks for the info!
 
I had a little mare with locking stifles, only became apparent when she threw a splint and vet advised box rest. Well she started to lock up badly so vet said to turn her away for 2 month for splint to settle. Luckily it was during the summer.
Thereafter, we rode her every day, hill work, trotting etc. I found the school aggravated it, especially lunging. If you can turn out 24/7 it makes a massive difference, but with this weather/ time of year, tricky.

Also invest in some decent quarter sheets and keep warm at all times.

It did get better, but I found if she was stabled for anything longer than just overnight it was sticky next morning.

My mare also had EMS so keeping weight on wasn't an option.

Good luck, and hope you find a solution- I think it looks worse to us than it probably feels to the horse, but difficult all the same.
 
I am worried about him, this increase in instability since solving his EPSM rigid muscles leaves him looking scared to move or pick up his foot for me :( I bought him knowing he had a tiny stick, but it's got a lot worse and I thought they only ever got better or stayed the same. Of course, with hindsight, the rigid muscles caused by EPSM were holding the ligament in place.

I don't lunge, but also I've never used a quarter sheet and I have a beautiful Thermatex one, so i will now. He found the dry school surface more difficult in the summer, but I never realised why because he wasn't locking. I'm busy adding more fibre by hand over the winter to stabilise it more for next summer.

Thanks for the advice.
 
I've got a 3 year old who started locking up after slipping in field a couple of months ago. He's not locked since the second week but still slightly lame.
At the moment he's turned out and vet will see in a few weeks to decide if xrays are needed.
Good luck, it's horrible to see them like it.
 
OK. Sods law of course, he was better today than he has been for two weeks!!

No sign of anything wrong with the joints on the x rays, but they are not the same on both sides, which explains why he is worse one side than the other. Prescription is to keep him fit, work him lots and review in a year's time unless increasing the difficulty level in his dressage training causes any problems. We have a good set of x rays to check changes by in future, and I'm very reassured.

Interestingly, my vet says there's no good evidence that chemical or physical scarring is actually effective.He had a vet student with him who he gave a full explanation why, which was very interesting. It may be that it simply reassures the owner that they can kick on and work the horse, which is in itself usually very helpful anyway. And the ligament snip operation is not done any more in sport horses except as a last resort, which we are nowhere near with my boy.
 
I knew a few YEARS ago that had the ligament snip - it worked short-term but from what I've heard, it wouldn't have worked permanently. I did have care of one whose owner didn't want surgery - we gave him hill work - and pole work in the manege. He'd lock up occasionally but a quick reverse usually freed him up and his locking attacks became far less frequent within 6 months. Can't tell you long-term result though.
 
JanetGeorge said:
I knew a few YEARS ago that had the ligament snip - it worked short-term but from what I've heard, it wouldn't have worked permanently. I did have care of one whose owner didn't want surgery - we gave him hill work - and pole work in the manege. He'd lock up occasionally but a quick reverse usually freed him up and his locking attacks became far less frequent within 6 months. Can't tell you long-term result though.
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Thank you Janet. My vet's recommendation is one year turned away after a ligament snip, to allow the other two ligaments to strengthen sufficiently to take the extra load. Long term, in sport horses, it can apparently cause the other two to pull their attachment off the patella. So it's reserved for really severe cases as an alternative to putting them down, these days. And minis who aren't expected to do any work.

I'm very reassured from having clean pictures, so tomorrow we'll be cracking on!
 
my mini has just had both hers blistered,vet wasnt keen to snip due to risks of instability,we are a week on ,so far so good but early days. The theory is it causes scar tissue to develop and shortens the ligament. She is nearly 8 and has had ongoing problems and gets stuck for hours not minutes and no conservative treatment has helped.
 
Now I have peace of mind I have swapped him back to how I managed him last year to keep his weight down, because he was much better last year. So, No rug at night in a barn. And he's been really good since Monday, hardly any stick. I know on theory he should be kept warm, but he's better cooler. I think he may move around more when he isn't swaddled in a thick rug.

I'm feeling so much happier about him :)
 
most vets I have talked to don`t like the idea of desmotomy, but what exactly have they seen and in what quantities seems to be a mystery. I spoke to one vet in Ireland who reckons that objections to it are a load of crap based on a paper by a vet some years ago, he seemed to think it was the way to go and seemed to say it was very successful, but how do we know either way, do we know a vet who has done this repeatedly and kept track of the horses long term, 10 plus years for example? and another thing could be related to the after care, treatment etc, the irish vet for example uses 6 weeks box rest after the op.

there is cutting and splitting of the ligament, what are the benefits of these in different degrees of ufp, I for one would love to know.
 
Our elephant tore his middle ligament in his stifle two years ago. Only sign was locking up.
On x ray he had some ocd changes and the when they scanned saw the hole. He had prp and shock wave and he hasn't locked up since.
Lots of hill work in an active gait helps.
Ours is struggling at the moment as yard have issued a three hour turnout until the standing water goes so is very stiff.
 
Slightlyconfused said:
Our elephant tore his middle ligament in his stifle two years ago. Only sign was locking up.
On x ray he had some ocd changes and the when they scanned saw the hole. He had prp and shock wave and he hasn't locked up since.
Lots of hill work in an active gait helps.
Ours is struggling at the moment as yard have issued a three hour turnout until the standing water goes so is very stiff.
Click to expand...

That's why I x rayed, just in case of ocd. Luckily clear. I'm so lucky to manage my own turnout, sorry to hear about yours.

Contrary to all the'normal' horses mine is vastly better if not rugged overnight. Go figure :)
 
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