Stifle Lameness

[Floy]

My poor lad went very lame suddenly whilst on a gentle hack on Monday and it appears that he is lame in his stifle on his left hind. There's no obvious swelling but he's clearly very sore. He's on box rest at the moment and the vet is coming back on Monday to decide whether to refer him to the vet hospital. The vet thinks it could either be arthritis as he's had low level intermittent lameness in the past on the left hind, or cartilage that has broken off suddenly. When he walks, he holds his left hind out to the side but he does put a little weight on it. Am a bit nervous about what will happen next. Has anyone else had experience of stifle lameness before that they can share?

 

[hallarider]

Hi - heres my story with stifle lameness

My gelding is four and went lame back in march this year when we started to back him. After further investigations they suspected OCD in his stifle and hock. He had an operation to remove a bone chip and they also found a bone cyst in his stifle joint. The gave a fair prognosis at the time and definately put it down to OCD (The operation and diagnosis cost in the region of £5000). After 8 weeks box rest the vet then told me to start backing him. I was concerned a couple of days later as he was still lame. The vet came up and said there was nothing more they could do and I should either retire or put him to sleep. Needless to say I was pretty devastated so enlisted the help of a horse healer who says I must carry on working him (from the ground) to build up his strength behind to support his pelvis for six months and then there hopefully will be no reason why I can't start to ride him. My boy walks down hills with his toe turned outwards as well!

Also, the vets did offer me steroid injections into the joint but decided against it because of the severity of lamenss.

How old is your boy? Good luck and I hope your lad recovers quickly.