UPWARD FIXATION OF THE PATELLA-HELP!!!

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d4nny

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My 5 month old American Miniature filly has been diagnosed with upward fixation of the patella. Up until 2 weeks ago she was fine-can it just suddenly come on like that? The vet has advised not to let her get too fat and it may correct itself and make sure she gets good nutrition. Has anyone ever experienced this?! In all my years around horses I've seen or heard of this!! Any advice on dealing with this?! Thanks
 
my 2 1/2yr pony developed it out of no-where. The weather had just started to get damp and cold i brought him in for a night to dry of befor putting rug on and in the morn he was sticking.
I was advised to GET him fat and fit, a challenge so far i have managed ive just broke him to drive and so far has not shown anymore signs of it but i dont bring him in for lond periods. its been 10 months now.
I also wondered if it had anything to do with him being a bit croup high - the vet says thay see it in alot of youngsters and they tend to outgrow it i wondered if being a bit high on the back end maybe contributes to it ???????
 
i think miniatures are prone to it?

i had a new forest who had it and was advised to try and keep her fit and do pole work and hill work etc to build up the muscle.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong but its quite common in youngsters, rapid growth and not everything keeps up at the same speed, I do believe alot of horses grow out of it.

We had a Welsh D who suffered from this, he was best if kept out as much as possible, though it never had a major effect upon him, he was a FANTASTIC worker...jump to die for!
 
our yearling mini had it a few weeks ago and has been fine since.i gather its very common in youngsters and looks worse than it is.we werte advised to do walk exercise up hills to build her muscles but shes had no recurrence
 
Another one here.

I bought a mini (guestimate under a year going by teeth) last March, he'd been out in a field with 3 big horses, no shelter, bullied and was dehydrated and so ,so skinny, oh yes and the snow had been at least 2' deep for getting on for 3 months, also not helpful. He could hardly take a step without having to swing his leg back in place, pitiful to watch.

Time, food and a lot of TLC later he is 100% sound and as right as he'll ever be now given his less than perfect conformation. I think with youngsters a lot of it is down to just time, plenty of exercise (ie 24/7 turnout) and sensible feeding.

The only thing I don't have is hills, of any sort, so Charley had to make do with flat ground. That's him in the last signature photo now, he didn't have the energy or spirit to do much of anything when I got him.

Good Luck, I hope yours is just a case of growing out of it.

Out of interest, anyone, did you use any specific additives etc?
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions-hopefully she'll grow out of it!!
Enfys-I've not used any additives-I was going to add soya oil and limestone flour to her feed. Soya oil for her coat to be more glossy and limestone flour for her bones.
I used both these on my cob and he's done really well on them.
 
Hi, I have had 2 youngsters with this. I was a big hunter yearling the other a part bred arab so quite different! My vet said that it is really common in young horses that have been turned out 24/7 and then brought in overnight. He said that if it was becoming more regular and long term, there was a really simple procedure to snip the ligament ( not a GA op)He also said dont let them get too fat. Dont worry as both of mine grew out of it
 
My miniature developed this at 3 years old and didnt grow out of it. He had an operation in May this year on both hind legs and is now great!

He was terrible though, repeated locking, very depressed and scarred to move anywhere. Got bad quickly.

Whatever you do, dont let your vet submit any paperwork on it re the convo you had with him. If it comes to yours needing an op in 3 years time then insurance wont cover it if the condition has "formally" existed for over a year.
 
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