Stifle Locking

[Matt73]

find that my 11 month old filly was dragging her left hind leg (the toe was dragging on the ground). I freaked for a second and then realised I had seen this before in a really big, gangly 5 year old warmblood. I knew right away that her stifle was locking and that (hopefully) it would work itself out with a bit of a walk (which it did). She is walking normally now but I hear a bit of a "pop" when when that joint moves. Is this something I should be really concerned about or is it fairly common in growing horses? Will this correct itself? Any help on this would be much appreciated.

 

[minijoyj]

I had a filly that did this. I would back her up when it would lock up. She out grew it after a while, it seemed to be when she grew real fast that it happened.

 

[bluerogue]

One of our fillies did this too. Ours did it after a stupid farrier trimmed her wrong though. She quit doing after 2 weeks or so. Watch your filly, and if she continues doing it for a long time (a month or so?), talk to your vet about it. I'm not really sure how long you should watch her for. Maybe someone with more experience will know. I haven't had any of mine do it, excpet that one filly. And she was mostly popping, not really locking up.

 

[joylee123]

Hi,

One thing I found that helps is to make sure her rear toes are kept short ( but keep them in proportion so the heel isn't too high. You don' want them to look as if they are on high heels)and have the farrier (or you) roll them to help her break over easier. No long pointy back feet :nono:

I had a wonderful little stallion, his stifle never locked but I noticed shortly after buying him that you could hear a popping sound (chicken bone kinda sound) and you could see the hesitation in the joint. I started to keep his rear toes short and rolled and he made one heck of a driving horse and beat some of the best. He's 17 years old now and a 4H gelding-and loving it

: but you can still notice it, if his toes are too long. and not rolled, but it is totally undetectable once he is trimmed properly.

Good luck :saludando:

Joy

 

[Matt73]

Thank You All.

Great advice!

Matt

 

[Charlotte]

I was going to say just what Joylee said........good advice on the trimming of hind feet. You also might consider a supplement containing vitamins ADE & selinium (sp?) If these vitamins & mineral are low in the diet it can cause issues such as this. Two that we have used succesfully are Rejuvenaid and Foal Aid.

And exercise! All the time turn out is best with some kind of exercise plan.

There are more drastic measures that can be done by a veterinarian, but to me starting with the simple is the first step.

Charlotte