Locking Patella

[Rarah]

Got to work yesterday and my OH rang me very worried about Monac (part-loan horse). Went to turn him out in the morning and his hind right leg had locked.

This has happened before (but not whilst me/OH are around) so we have been shown how to massage area and back up him up to relieve it. To cut a long story short my OH struggled - he got Monacs trainer to help who couldn't do anything either. Luckily the vet was at the yard seeing someone else at the time.

As soon as the vet appeared Monac unlocked his own patella!! :p

The vet has recommended lots of exercise and hill work.

Went straight down to yard after work. Monac kinda dragging problem leg so I decided to lunge him and see how he went on. Didn't look too bad on lunge so tried to ride with no success. He wouldn't stand to be mounted. When I eventually got on he was really spooky and stumbled a couple of times. Only rode him for about 5 mins in walk in the menege. Didn't feel it was fair to him to ride when he seemed to be in discomfort.
As hill work had been prescribed I took him out for a walk in-hand up the lane (quite a steep hill). I was really quite upset by this time and Monac was spooking - probably picking up the bad vibes from me :(

Does anyone else have experience of this problem? Although the vet said to ride him I felt really cruel cos he wasn't happy.

I dunno what to do for the best.

It's his "owners" day to take care of him today so I'll be getting a progress update from her later.

Sarah
x

[galadriel]

Okay, a horse with a locking patella needs more strength in his quadruceps--that's the muscles around the stifle and patella, and they help it to operate more smoothly.

What your vet said about hill work was absolutely right, although you don't have to ride in order to do the hill work. The quads are exercised when the horse picks his hind feet up higher; the higher his hock gets, the harder the quads are working. Going up and down hills requires some more precision from the hind legs, so it works the quads.

Other exercises you can use to build quads are cavaletti, and backing up. The cavaletti will make him lift his feet higher, of course, and exercise the quads. Backing up is not natural to the horse, so build up *slowly*. Either of these may be a little more easy to accomplish than hill work on days when he is feeling sore. But do be aware that standing around feeling sorry for himself will just make him stiff; he *needs* to go out and move around, and he may not do it on his own. If you don't want to ride, you can just go ahead and lead him.

I'd actually not recommend lunging for this, as handling circles as well as lifting hind legs more may be more stressful than is good for him, yet.

[artemis]

I've had a horse with a locking patella. I did a lot of hill work. I live on a hill so it helped. She soon outgrew it & was fine.

[Rarah]

Thanks for your replies.

I would have been lunging Monac this morning if you hadn't said.

Yesterday he was given bute before going on a hack (not by me). Is it OK to do this so that he gets his exercise pain free?

[galadriel]

In this instance, since he needs to work to build his muscles,it's probably okay to give him painkillers. In many cases, it wouldn't be a good idea; the painkillers would just mask the problem, and give the illusion of comfort. But in this case, it doesn't matter--whether he's comfortable or not, he *needs* to be working...so may as well help him stay more comfortable while he does it.

[Ipsa]

We have a pony who had a locking patella. We did lots of hill work and cantering in straight lines. Luckily we were able to turn him out in one of our hilly paddocks as well.
He was seven when he had it worse and it is more common in younger horses. He is 14 now and has no problems.