Adding again:
IIRC, the worsening of the stifle symptoms, at least under saddle, lines up somewhat with me starting to turn him out in 4 hoof boots.
Add that to the change in balance for me in the saddle, and I think I may have a contributing factor. I’m turning him out in fronts only starting today (which we had no issues with previously, I was just trying to do him a favor with the hind boots 
).
We shall see. He was definitely more wonky today than he was not that long ago.
What do you mean by tail pulls being difficult? How are you doing them? You should really only tug on the tail with the horse standing square until you see the quads flex then try to hold for 3-5 seconds. It does not take much pulling. Nor is it a movement in motion. Do a few reps each side. You just want those quads firing to support the action of the patella during his normal movement. It is slightly about strengthening the quads but it is more so about building the neuro pathways for these horses to activate their quads on a regular basis themselves. In other words, don’t think of it as resistance training because it’s a pretty small amount of force you are applying.
I x-rayed, mostly because what I was really concerned about was arthritic changes in the stifle. It wasn’t like we needed to ultrasound to figure out what the actual problem was, pretty obvious what was happening and that’s all an ultrasound was going to offer to the equation, whereas an x-ray would at least add some color regarding changes.
To me that’s the more compelling reason to give adequan or inject with hylarten etc. The unfortunate byproduct of this condition can be some inflammation in the joint, and if things are getting worse that’s probably because there is some inflammation in the joint. That can contribute to changes. So you want to strike that fine balance between pushing them as far as you can and controlling inflammation. Adequan is probably a wonderful idea. I did inject once, actually fairly early on because that allowed me to progress a lot faster in his physical strength/development than adequan was giving us, so never let that stop you if that’s really the tool you need.
So I do them the way my vet taught me - horse standing still (I was specifically told they don’t need to be square actually, the leg will naturally be in different orientations and it will “activate” slightly different muscles that way), pull the tail at a 90 ish degree angle until you meet resistance and/or you can see the muscle activate. Hold for 6-10 seconds, 10x each side (build up to this). IIRC holding for longer does not appear to be any more effective.
By “harder” I mean which side is he preferring to move the leg, shift weight, etc instead of activating the muscle. Tail pulls can also show the locking, or at least they have recently.
Yes, and boy is it stressing me out today!
He’s been a bit of a goober lately so he’s been lunged more than I like - not galloping around or anything but some walk and trot discussions over manners. I don’t like backing him up as a correction and he’s pretty lazy so moving his feet is an effective cue for “let’s rethink our choices bud” 
. Looking at the calendar that puts us at 6 lunging sessions in 2 weeks - all under 15 minutes total, but I hadn’t realized. This week is when the wonkiness seems to have gotten more consistent.
Whoops bad horse mom, I probably overstressed him a bit. If he will cooperate, I think I’ll give him some easy days of just tack walking. We are headed into a 100 degree heatwave anyways so it may be too hot to do anything else for a bit.
@DMK is spot on. I did try Adequan but it was not enough and did injections which has seemed to make a big difference. It’s hard to strengthen and improve a condition when/if a horse is sore.
I would avoid lunging. If it’s needed make huge circles while you move with him to let him spread out so he’s not stressing the stifle joint in smaller circles.
Not sure how big hills are, but just slight inclines are helpful and no need to have challenging hills to go up or down.
As far as diagnostics, let your vet decide that. X-rays are the most logical place to start. Ultrasound may or may not tell you much and it won’t change your course of treatment anyhow.
More weight and muscle can help as well. I keep my 6 yr old in Super Sport so may want to add an amino acid supplement. If I recall, he is getting Vitamin E and magnesium.
Remember the part about it gets worse before it gets better? Maybe now isn’t the time to back off? Is he lame/sore OR are his stifles sticking?
If you keep backing off are you addressing the issue?
If my horse was lame, I overdid it and walk/rest until that passed. (This genuinely never happened, but I have an iron pony)
If my horse was uncomfortable (tightened his right jaw and tried hard not to engage his left stifle/leg), I would do a couple days of 1gr pm bute and work just as long, just not as much on harder things. THIS happened often in the beginning. It wasn’t fun for anyone.
If he had sticky stifles, it was normal work. Not a day to push forward, but not a day to back off either! Oh, how I hated these days. Trot tro flat tire trot trot trot flat tire. Grit teeth, hate life.
If he was going strong, we pushed forward in training and/or endurance which almost certainly ended up back at #2 in the beginning, now will most likely be #3 at worst, generally nothing.
There’s no problem with getting your vet involved to be sure your plan is solid, but the general instinct to back off because you’ve pushed too hard is the wash, rinse, repeat approach to the problem. Through best intentions, you could prolong it.
Yeah the lunging is on the biggest circle possible - he’s decided that cutting in and barging up to me when he thinks he’s “done” is a great solution so we’ve had to discuss that. Also, mouthiness. One thing I WILL NOT tolerate is nipping, so mouthiness gets corrected and if he does it again it’s Work Time.
All we have here are hills, unfortunately. There’s not a “slight incline” by my standards, but I avoid the steepest areas and go across the ones I can’t.
Vet is out in 2 weeks, for another horse. I asked about X-ray vs ultrasound because I have to tell them what to bring. They’re not likely to give me any suggestions until they come see him (which means ANOTHER farm call + weeks waiting for an appointment slot). Very fun 
I really appreciate you chiming in. Seriously! My vet is great but they basically don’t give you ANY information without a farm call. A valid approach, but it gets expensive after a while.
Right now the difference is he went from pretty solid with just a few “flat tire” moments to vaguely disconnected and “weird” going up the steep unavoidable hill on the left diagonal. To be fair, I’ve upped the workload a tad, and he IS better in some ways. He’s starting to stretch a bit at the walk, but the trot is sometimes like riding a pool noodle in 4 directions.
If he’s lame, it’s not consistent. And I hate to push a horse until they show me behavior symptoms, but so far he’s just toodling along happy to get to do more than just walk. I’ll see if I can get him to eat some bute - you may have convinced me to try it if only to give the vet more info later.
I would be inclined to agree with DMK here. It’s SO hard not to back off when they get wonky like this, but if he’s not showing an outright lameness, I’d try to remember that progress, especially in strength and fitness, is far from linear! If he still seems cheerful, not showing any signs of displeasure, I’d continue at the level of work you’re currently doing and see what you get. Definitely don’t crank up the intensity, but see if some consistency in the increased workload helps resolve the issue or further reveal it.
Growing is hard and weird and uncomfortable, and building muscle and strength is much the same way. I too struggle with the need to investigate and stress over the slightest change that isn’t outright positive (and honestly sometimes I still stress about the positive ones, because what if it’s actually a sign of xyz and we just missed it and… 
), especially as we’ve come to understand more about pain and its role in behaviors. But not all discomfort is bad or unproductive or going to ultimately lead to dysfunction. The analysis paralysis is real!
I’m stealing this. It’s SO REAL!
Yeah if I google too much I could diagnose him with a torn meniscus, hind suspensory tear, EPM and Lyme, DSLD, SI damage, KS, and career ending neck issues. Oh, but a supplement and a course from this guru will fix it all, if I ride bareback and bridleless after teaching him to consent in Morse Code!
Dr Google is the worst
Could the hoof boots be giving different traction than barefoot?
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