Operation for locking stifle

[Loopslou]

Amber has had intermitent locking stifle problems since she was a foal. More noticable in the winter when she was stabled at night. Anyhow when I hacked her out yesterday it locked 9 times on a short hack. The blacksmith was out today and I checked with him if it could have been because her feet were needing done but he said no, it would have no effect. I ran the vet to discuss my feelings that the problem was deteriorating and he said he would come out and look at her this afternoon. My OH went up and it turned out that he did the procedure to stop it happening there and then because when he checked her it was locking really badly.

She may need the other one done but the vet thinks it might be ok.

She was so dopey when I went up after work to see her, poor lamb but was brighter tonight thank goodness.

Has anyone else had to put their horse through this procedure?

[shirley]

Did the vet give a reason why the stifle was locking???
We had a mare whose stifle really played her up, it looked as though she had broken her leg some mornings. We were advised that it was a congenital fault and was due to the ligaments and tendons holding the stifle in place. They needed tightening up so advised to lunge her / ride her and build the muscle up, which we did and the problem was resolved for then. But if not then we would have to have an operation to shorten the tendons etc to prevent the stifle from coming out of the socket joint it sits in. This operation would have required her to have a full aneasthetic, wound, several weeks of box rest and rehab care as well.
Did the vet give an injection into the joint to ease the inflammation at all? Also what causes her stifle to lock up?
Glad she is feeling better though.

[Loopslou]

Hi Shirley

I've had her since she was 71/2 months - I got her from the RSPCA - total bargain.

I keep them out 24/7 spring and summer but stable at night in winter and noticed her first winter that some mornings her leg dragged out behind her. I spoke to my vet and he said her stifle was locking and that she would most likely grow out of it. He also advised to let her carry a little extra weight as this would also help.

It really was only noticable in the winter mornings coming out of the stable but now that she is in work 3/4 times a week I noticed as we started to go down hill she would drop a little in the back end but then on the next step be ok plus it didn't help all the time.

On Sunday however she did this "dropping" about 9 times on a short hack and it didn't seem to make any difference if she was on a hill or the flat.

I rang the vet yesterday and he came out to check her and he said it was locking quite severely and that as she now coming up on 4 1/2 that it was unlikely that all the exercise I was doing plus getting older would solve the problem. He said they have 3 ligaments coming down to from the stifle and that the middle one doesn't actually serve any purpose but DOES cause all the problems with the stifle locking as its the ligament that catches on the patella and causes the agro.

Anyhow, he sedated her, injected her with antibiotics and gave a local aneasthetic to the area, two incisions and a poke about and he had the ligament out and snipped in two.

Now my other half said that I was to start riding her in a couple of days - good job I rang my vet to double check - couple of weeks!!!!!!

[shirley]

Sounds like a good result alround. Must admit my information was looked at about 6 - 7 years ago. Sounds as though they do keyhole surgery now!!! Wow. Hope all is well. Good luck

[bevb]

Yes I had a youngster that had to have both hers done. She has never had a problem since and that was 2-3 years ago now.

Bev

[tb_rider]

I just sold a size B mini mare who had locking stifles really bad. fourtunatly we didn't have to do the surgury because she wasn't ridden, just a backyard pet. but It is scary to watch them trot, and canter, It always looked like it hurt. it was creepy. :o

[Loopslou]

she's full of beans now, I popped on her for a wee walk last sunday and she was fine and dandy, hacked her out on wednesday night and she was all over the place wanting to trot and spooking which really isn't like her. She is in season though. The vet has reassured me that it would do no harm to lunge her on a really long line tomorrow to take off a bit of steam and then hack on her sunday because trotting on the road would really put stress on the remaining two ligaments at the moment.

Honestly, you would think she would know to look after herself but she is just raring to go!

[C H Pony]

My tb cross mare had this operation at 3 years old but only on one leg. The other leg has continued to lock but this has decreased with age and work- she is 14 now. It is important to keep the joint moving.If you don't get the other one done-my advice would be to not keep her stabled for excessive periods of time as this makes matters worse. Wish I had done both legs now but it was not the done thing at the time. My other advice is to make sure your horse has a decent bed as they can't sleep standing up after the op!