newest update on UPF

[krissy3]

Well...Its sort of good news..I guess

It will take an additional 6 more months of uphill walking to build those knees, and keep things in line. She will not be allowed to be worked in the round pen, or to jump ( too young anyway...and we must hold off on the training , like piviots turns, circles backing up etc for at least another year or so .... Really I like this idea anyway, I like waiting till they are 4 to really start the training , its a great age to start, they seem to be really ready and the comformation is solid by then ( hopefully a good comformation) I have a pretty steep hill in my pasture, and we live in the mountains , so conditioning those muscles in front of the knee shouldnt be hard to do....I hope this works and my pacients pays off.

this is the vets idea along with the trainer. Maybe I sould video tape her every month , so i can compare the progress, and send it to the vet as well. any other ideas? she doesnt lock her knees ( thank god ) and she trots nicely , its just noticible at the walk on the left hind leg.... still about 1 inch to the outside....

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Do you mean the knee or the stifle? The stifle joint in the hind leg is equivalent to the knee joint in a human, yes, but a horse's official "knee" is the joint in the front leg. The back leg has the hock (equivalent to our ankle joint) and the stifle (equivalent to the human knee.) From what you've said in the past I'm assuming you mean the stifle.

In either case, videoing her regularly seems like an excellent idea! I'm very happy I got some tape of my guy locking before his surgery to document how he moved. You mention your girl is stepping to the outside...that can be a muscular and/or chiropractic issue that is easily remedied in one session. Kody (my locking boy) still tends to track to the outside on his right hind leg when he's sore but with a little body-work he's straight again and moves much better.

I have to back and pivot my horses on a daily basis to get them around their gates and out of their paddocks and they do fine so I tend to have a jaundiced view of instructions that say it's necessary to avoid it entirely, but it's very important to listen to the horse's body and help them move in a way that is healthy and non-stressful. Each movement should be slow and deliberate, originating from a relaxed spine and correctly flexed lumbo-sacral region.

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