Stifle operation....opinions plz

[squirrelc17]

Objective opinions whether for or against please.
My horse needs arthroscopy, lame behind...blocked to stifle. X-rays clean.
5 year old 17hh warm blood. Bought October 2013. Done very little work since. Jumped 10-15 times in last 10 months and no bigger than 90cm.
Really appreciate any thoughts/experiences people have.

 

[Dottie]

Hi,
The operation will be used as another form of diagnosis to try and give you some answers as to why he is lame. You can't see everything in the joint with X-rays and scans but the arthroscope will be able to look at the structure of the stifle more closely and see if there is any damage to any structures/ cartilage/ ligaments. If they do find something that they can fix they will be able to tidy it up/try and repair it whilst they are in there.
Obviously there is the risk of the GA, but you may have more of an idea as to what is causing his lameness and how to treat it going forward. Good luck.

 

[LouiseG]

Unfortunately it's the only way to get a definitive diagnosis as to what's going on in the stifles as x-rays dont really show much, if anything. My horse had it last December and it was fairly uncomplicated with regards to the surgery/recovery, but his prognosis isn't great. I dont think with stifles they should be treated blindly with injections as it's just masking the problem.

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

My mare had unknown lameness for months, we had everything checked - back, feet, legs. Had vets, farriers, physios and no one could tell us what it was. It was all very frustrating as stifle injuries can go undiagnosed for months due to them being not very straight forward with symptoms.

Rainbow Equine in Malton suggested a scan simular to a human MRI and they had a mobile scanner so she didn't have to go there to have it done, they came to us. They still do have a mobile scanner I believe. A hole was found in her stifle. She didn't need operating on as such as the vet who treated her was skeptical it would work in her situation as she was very stressy on box rest so there was a chance she would easily un-do all the operation while being stupid in her box. He suggested ultra-sound treatment on her stifle once a week for 6 weeks and then once a fortnight for 8 more weeks, with field rest. She was not to be on box rest due to her stressy state, and also he said that as soon as a horse goes in the field again after box rest, there was a high chance of them ripping the hole again as soon as they run about.

She had 6 months field rest along with her ultra sound, then 3 months of being long reined down the road in straight lines (no circles in the school) in walk every day. After 3 months we added bursts of trot. Then after 6 months had gone by, she was allowed to be longreined in the school. After 6 weeks, she was allowed to be ridden and slowly brough back into work. After a full 18 months since the injury, she was back competing again and local level in SJ, XC and dressage. she never had the problem again and was sound until the day she died.

I hope that helps somewhat. If you need to ask me any questions, no problem.

 

[TrasaM]

I don't know whether my experience will help or not but here goes. A friend's horse who I used to share had problems with his stifles..the left especially. After 18 months of vets telling her to rest bute and then work back to fitness he was still getting progressively worse. Then about 5 weeks ago they finally referred her to Newmarket. Scans showed that he'd compensated for the problem by changing his gait and as a result both stifles had developed bony growths. This, plus additional problems with kissing spine which may it may not have also been linked to original stifle problems, meant that a decision was made to terminate
Had the surgery been done sooner or at least proper diagnostics undertaken then it was likely that he could have gone on and been ok. As it was it was all too late.