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"locking" hind leg joints

Every once in a while I’ll notice my mare standing like this with her hind legs, where she has her fetlocks not completely “locked”. She will sometimes even rest one hind leg and do this with the other. She has no problem putting her fetlocks back into the normal position if I ask her to shift her weight. Has anyone seen this before? Something to be concerned about? No soundness issues, no injuries, she’s 6, had her since she was a yearling and I’ve seen it on occasion throughout the years, so not like she started doing it now. And again, very sporadic.

Thoughts?

Thanks :slight_smile:

My late horse did this when he got older. In fact my first post here was about it. Since he eventually developed hock arthritis, my vet and I assume he was just trying to make himself more comfortable.

At the end he had EPM and was put down because he would go down and not be able to get up if he needed the worse hind to push himself back up.

Your horse is young so it could be due to something other than arthritis.

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Sorry to tell you, OP, but this is likely not to be anything good in the long term.

I had a young mare who did this. It was due to hock pain. You might not be seeing soundness issues currently, but she’s altering her stance for a reason.

How is the conformation of her hind limbs? Is she sickle hocked or overly long through the hind leg?