Loose stifles

[Daisychain]

I have a nice young horse who has slightly loose stifles, ie downward transitions she sometimes catches for a second. she is a big tb mare and i feel it is just growing pains really, last night i took her on a s.j. clinic and she was fine, but on getting home her stifle had locked up, she was fine next morining and was galloping round field today perfectly. any suggestions for supplements etc.

 

[hollyandivy123]

there is a "new" well its just started to be diagnosed syndrome called equine polysaccharide storage myopathy. the horse has a problem with eating to much carbohydrate. symptoms include locking stifle, and various others including tying up in extreme cases. it is observed in the larger horse, and the way around this is changing the diet putting oil in instead of mix and nuts. if you google for it there is quite a lot on the internet about it. my friends horse had similar problems with his back legs and over the winter it got a lot worse and he would lock a lot. by changing his diet to chaff, alfa A and oil. he has improved a lot, even to the extent with removed the breakfast portion, only for him to start to show symptoms again. this syndrome shows various different symptons and each horse is different. sorry just realised that this makes it sound depressing. talk to your vet and have a look at the internet you pm if you want more stuff

 

[Llwyncwn]

If it is ESPM, speak with Spillers who have developed a proven feed to help with this, its called Winnergy Equilibrium Low. Although it is a complete feed, I add oil and Hi Fi Light and Equivite. It may just be something simple like a locking patella which is quite common. Perhaps its time to have a chat with a friendly vet.

 

[Daisychain]

I have looked up espm, and dont think it is that, it is a locking patella, i have chatted to my vet about it and she seems to think she will grow out of it eventually and recommended cod liver oil. Thanks

 

[lizzieuk1]

quite often young horses have this problem, its mainly due to muscular imbalance, try lunging on a slight hill to build up her hind limb strength then reassess the situation. if she doesn't grow out of it they can operate to increase the depth of the groove the patella sits in but obviously thats in extreme cases

 

[sarahwilkes]

one of our ponies was kicked in the field at 6 months old. after not using his legs properly for a couple of weeks he developed locking stifles. (looks terrible) the vet advised to lunge over poles. encourages mucsle use and builds up strength. after a week the result was amazing. he is 2 1/2 now and has only suffered once last winter when he was stabled for a week when the weather was bad.
keep exercising has been the key to his recovery.