Stifle lameness... Grace update (any experiences?)

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I took Grace over to Peter Scholefield in Halifax this morning to have a look at this strange movement in her back left leg. He asked for her to be walked and trotted up on the straight, flexioned both bacs (no change at all) and then watched her on the lunge.

He said he could definitely see what I was seeing and believed it to be the stifle. She had anaethetic put into the joint itself which showed a good improvement but then made the other hind show some lame steps.

So, she is having to stay in with him until he discovers exactly what is going on.

However, I do not know anything about stifle issues at all... He said many young big horses have some issues with their stifles which just need working through. Does anyone have any experiences?
 
I bought my horse knowing she had a stifle problem. Call me mad, but she's from my godmother so it's all fine.

I looked into stifle injuries a lot before getting her. The general gist is that they are managable, rather than being a massive loss of use job. Lots of trotting poles and exercises to strengthen the muscles to support the joint. Get rid of excess weight too. I think that's really helped my horse out a lot.

I spoke to the vet about my horse, and he advised me not to work her too hard as her stifle problem seems to be aggrevated by too much work. Saying that I did a 100 mile trek on her over the summer, and she was sound the whole way.
 
Thank you for the advice and well wishes... I am waiting for them to phone me later on as I suspect she will be xrayed etc once they have done the other stifle. I have to admit, I could not see the other one at all, so he obviously has a very acute eye for it
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She was such a good girl through it all...
 
[ QUOTE ]
i would avoid too many circles as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've not heard that one. Chess can't circel to save her life, but I've always put that down to her being used to trekking in a straight line for most of her life. I've never had a problem with her being lame on a circle though. What will circles do to the stifle?

Forgot to say that my vet told me not to jump either, but again this is because Chess' stifle seems to be aggrevated by excess work.
 
Not sure if this is any help or not as I don't know whether my mare's stifle problem is as bad as Graces or vice versa, but I have found keeping her at the correct weight and LOTS and LOTS of walking up hills keeps her managed.

She is better in regular light work. I try not to do too much lunging or circle work, and if I do school her, sandwich it between two hacks out one the day before and one the day after. Am especially careful of deep school surfaces. Having said all this, she is really just a big expensive pet - I don't do anything/compete with her, I just keep her ticking over so shes happy (not the sort that you could just turn out and leave). She is also on Newmarket JT too, which am not sure if I am imagining it or not, but am sure there has been an improvement.

Whenever I do get problems, without fail its usually when:
a) She is overweight (blasted good doer!!)
b) She has had time off
c) Fields have been dry as concrete and then lots of rain so they have a slimmy slippery layer on top!

She has been sound for two years now, and is 8 yr old 15hh cob. I get her back checked every 6 months, and the physio often picks up on the stifle, but its never been bad enough that I haven't been able to ride her

Sorry for waffling!
 
Hiya, is she actually lame or short behind in her foot falls? I only ask coz my boy tore his cruciate ligament and thats kind of inside(ish) the stifle but he wasnt lame as such just wasnt even in his stride.
 
circles in general are not good for horses joints etc, and nor is lunging. V interesting article in h&h a couple of weeks ago about it. doing squares much better. If you have a horse with any joint problem injury always best to long rein straight lines. Cirlces = pressure on joints.
 
Have they ruled out OCD in her stifle yet? It could be that she just has some very small fragments that are 'floating' about at the mo and will take time to settle down. (There are some really advanced horses who suffered with this when they were younger but are doing really well now.) However, that wouldn't explain why she went lame on the other when the one was nerve blocked ...

At least it doesn't sound like anything major.

Fingers crossed!
 
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