dragonfur said:
Have any of you had the stifle problems in any of your minis? What kind of treatment did they get, and did it work? What kind of surgery was used, if any was?
Thanks MinxiesMom for the vote of confidence! Dragonfur, you can check my history of posted topics for the long, detailed explanations but the short version is yes, both of my horses have this problem as well. My gelding had it very badly when I got him as a four year old stallion and caring for him was my introduction to the condition. I asked on here, talked to many different vets, followed all the instructions and tried just about everything but nothing helped him. I spent FOUR MORE YEARS avoiding the surgery because it scared me so bad to cut that ligament. I heard all kinds of horrible things about the arthritis it could cause, joint instability, etc., and frankly it scared the liver out of me since this gelding was my performance horse. What I didn't know at the time having never seen another horse with the problem was that Kody was not a typical case but rather one of the worst possible grades of this condition and there was no way exercise was ever going to help him. I finally tried the splitting procedure and it made things
worse, which I didn't think was possible. Kody and I were both about ready to give up. His quality of life was awful and even his indomitable spirit was being broken by fighting this condition day in and day out. I was in tears every other day watching him sink into depression and stop trying. I finally called and scheduled the desmotomy (the ligament cutting) and have never looked back. He never locked another step!
Over the next few months Kody learned to play in his paddock, to walk back and forth to his water and food without thinking about whether walking was worth it, to back up and give his hind feet without fear, and eventually to kick at flies and now other horses. I almost cried the first time I saw him stomp at a fly without thinking about it. He actually startled himself!
He no longer requires constant chiropractic adjustments and began to wear his hind feet evenly so the horse who couldn't go more than six weeks without seeing the farrier can now go 12 or more and still have good balanced feet. Watching the joy come back into his eyes was priceless and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. It was a miracle for us and any arthritis he might get is still better than what he was living with. I honestly think he's more likely to have gotten arthritis from all the wear and tear on the joint before the procedure than from having it done anyway.
My other horse is a colt I was given as a yearling because the owner knew I'd be a good home for a horse with a stifle condition. He'd been absolutely fine and then one day locked up a single hind leg in his stall and couldn't unlock it. Once he got it unlocked and got run around a bit he was better but would still catch on and off in that leg if left confined. I took him home, fed him up (he was a bit skinny from a growth spurt), gave him a large hilly turnout area and worked him over a few groundpoles and the locking went away almost completely. I was hoping he was over it but after three days in a stall at our last show as a two year old he finally locked up a bit again but it was mild and a little polework made it go away. This horse is such a difference case that I've hesitated to give him surgery for a variety of reasons. 1) Exercise does provide dramatic improvement in his case. 2) He's just a baby and still changing and growing. The condition might go away when he matures. 3) His quality of life is just fine at this point. He doesn't lock up in the paddock like Kody did, or even when backing or pivoting. I will continue to watch him for signs of trouble and will not mess around with other treatments but go straight to the desmotomy if I determine he requires some sort of intervention as an adult.
I've seen quite a few horses with this condition since having Kody's surgery done and there are definitely different levels of severity for locking stifles. Ones like Kody that lock and then release with a twang with almost every step are not going to be helped by anything short of surgery. A horse who locks very mildly and only when confined for long periods of time should probably be turned out instead of stalled and exercised frequently over poles at shows. Ones in between who don't lock all the time but can't get unlocked when they do may also be a good surgical candidate because they can really hurt themselves struggling with that permanently locked leg in the stall. Who wants to have to call a vet and use Ace and Bute every time they do that? It isn't really fair to the horse. Babies, if their quality of life is good, I tend to say "Wait." If they are miserable then get it done, geld them if it's a male, and disclose fully to whoever you eventually sell them to. Don't breed the parents again! I know totally post-legged horses who don't have a problem and horses who appear pretty angulated who do, so the conformational causes of locking stifles can be pretty subtle. IMO, having seen how horses with this condition suffer, it is absolutely inexcusable to breed an individual with locking stifles no matter how otherwise stellar they are. There is always a better horse out there somewhere who doesn't lock- breed to them instead. The offspring will thank you for it!
*rant warning*
I don't care if there's a five minute surgery that can make the horse normal, the fact is a problem like that would have gotten EATEN in the wild. We do our breed no service by knowingly perpetuating such a fatal flaw. Of course the individual horse can still be useful and loved after treatment, and should be, but they should not be bred.
I am fairly rabid on this as you can tell; it is insanity IMO to consider an inability to walk normally without surgical intervention as a forgivable trait in breeding stock! Perhaps a horse who only does it mildly for a couple of months during a rump-high growing phase, but not one who does it regularly as an adult.
*now back to your regularly scheduled topic*
As for the other surgeries and procedures, I honestly wouldn't even try them. The splitting has been a disaster for every horse I know who has undergone it and every single one of them ended up having the desmotomy in the end. Iodine injections might work on a very mild case but not for anyone else. Exercise is ALWAYS good but will only clear up the problem on certain mild cases. Try it anyway! That should always be your first line of defense. At worst your horse is stronger and better balanced when you're done.
dragonfur said:
He says the horses with this surgery can still stand up to sleep, but with a bit more awareness, as the ligament that gets cut is the one that locks the stifle while they sleep standing.
Yes, this is true. I was told they couldn't sleep standing any more and it's probably true that they can't do deep sleep, but my gelding still stands with a hip cocked snoozing in the sun despite having had both medial patellar ligaments cut. That surprised me but matched what I was told by other owners whose horses had had the procedure.
Minxiesmom said:
I have been told by a vet that on the young horses, if they get lots of hill work or long lining over trot poles (in a collected manner with hinds up underneath), it will help strengthen the stifle muscles and tighten the tendons and ligaments. Loose tendons/ligaments and poor muscling are allowing it to slip out of the groove at the end of the bone which causes the lock or inflamation. I am probably not saying it right, but it started to make sense to me.
I was told that horses with a shorter hip have more of a tendancy for stifle problems because of the angle of the leg. Longer hipped horses have less of a tendancy for stifle issues.
This is all correct and sounds well-spoken to me! Problems with bone formation (i.e. the bony groove itself) can cause the problem too, which is why the horse should be x-rayed before surgery is considered. An undermuscled horse (as in a young, weak horse who has been confined all its life with not enough protein) can also show this problem. You can also test blood for low selenium as that can contribute to tendon laxity and inappropriate patellar locking but in most cases that is not the cause of the problem. A well-conformed horse will not lock no matter how long they are stalled, starved, or denied enough selenium!
Leia
