Stifle problems

[scewal]

My 4 year old cob x tb has had a clicking stifle for the last few months. The click disappears once she walks out properly as she is quite lay by nature. There is no clicking during trot. She was broken in Dec 11 and been ridden lightly since, but the last few weeks has been ridden more
Yesterday she felt a little odd behind on right diagonal. Today on the lunge she was short on the clicking side and in trot looked like she was hopping on said leg.

Anyone come across this before?

 

[Pauli]

Hey,
Clicking does not necessarily mean anything. Many horses click in joints etc and do not show any problems. Other horses click and have problems. I have seen many horses with stifle problems. It always depends what the cause is. Maybe get a vet to rule out if there is a severe problem or not.
In case the vet cant find anything I would advise to get a chiropractor as they are very good and I personally find a chiropractor is very helpful to horses with stifle problems or back problems etc.
Also seen as your horse is very young I would make sure that she is trained properly. Many problems come simply from training mistakes cause if the horse is not ridden properly tension, stiffness, muscle pain etc occur.

I hope she gets better soon

 

[scewal]

Thanks for your reply. Its the shortening in her stride in trot that worrys me. The clicking goes away once she is walking out properly. She is a lazy mare so getting her to work properly can be a challenge.
Am going to lunge her today and push her on in trot to see if she will lengthen, as like the clicking to see if it disappers when working properly.
She is a big girl and very young in her attitude, and still has 4 baby teeth and wonder if she has actually just turned 4 and not 5. So have everything crossed that it is due to her still growing.

 

[TED2010]

Sometimes they appear lazy because the underlying problem makes it that much harder for them to work through from behind. Yours might just be lazy but I have had a couple with stifle problems over the years and they often seemed 'lazy'. When you say the stifle clicks, it doesn't appear to momentarily lock does it? just a thought but locking patella is possible in a youngster if they are not very developed? They are not necessarily lame with it but can look uncomfortable if it happens regularly. I may be totally off track and there are many other stifle problems but just thought I'd put it out there!

 

[scewal]

Stifle doesn't seem to lock. Lunged her again but stopped after a few strides of trot. She is hopping worse today and looking uncomfortable. She normally likes to have a good play in the field but the last few days has been unwilling to break into a trot. Clicking also sounds louder.

Worried it may be OCD.