Would anyone be able to share any experiences they have had with MCL/LCL injuries of the stifle? What sort of treatment/rehab program did your horse receive? Did they come back to full work? Was it a chronic or acute injury? I am especially interested if it’s a chronic type of injury experience as it seems this is not too common in the stifle. Thank you in advance!
I’m sorry you are dealing with this. It’s not an easy injury to recover from and prognosis is often guarded.
I had a horse with a moderate MCL tear, but decades ago so I think now you have many more options than I did (PRP, IRAP, injections, surgery, etc). On diagnosis, the prognosis for return to work was very poor. My vet was reluctant to even say he could be paddock sound - but it was a young horse and we both wanted to try before PTS.
He did come back to work - but he was servicably sound at best. We managed around that, and had to do shows, clinics, and camps a little differently. No stalling for him, lots of MSM and glucosamine, and very mindful of no lunging or hard work in small areas. Full 24/7 turnout was a requirement for him - if he was stalled for even a day you would see a dramatic hitch in his get-along. When I asked my vet about this, his guess was that the resulting arthritis from the injury was aggravated by the fluids/inflammation that collected being sedentary.
His was undiagnosed for a while, so his case was chronic. He was out on off-farm lease while it happened so I can’t give you specifics on how it happened, but I will say I learned from the leasee’s barnmates he was lunged daily for an hour before being ridden. As a big, young horse, I’m sure this contributed to the injury. When he went lame I pulled him from the program and brought him home for diagnostics.
We treated with conservative management and an injection to the stifle at about 1 year in. He was a big horse - once the vet ultrasounded him and saw he had enough fiber pattern healing, we turned him out in a small chute since he was quieter that way. He spent about six months in that before being reintroduced to the herd. I think about a year in he was ultrasounded once more and showed the injury had healed, but with some noise and arthritis surrounding the area on US. That’s when we injected the stifle. He looked great in the field but any time I rode him I could really “feel” that leg, so I wasn’t comfortable riding him for a while.
I brought him back to work about two years after the injury, just hacking him around. He seemed to enjoy the work. I could still feel a shortness in his stride under saddle. I consulted my vet who evaluated him under saddle, he said to keep him in work and he would tell me when to stop. Well, he never did – I think he really enjoyed being around people and working; he never did anything more than BN / Pony-Club D level stuff, and he made a great partner to a lovely family friend who had him until he died.
My advice would be to take it slow. I didn’t canter him until he was about six months into work, and I know I spent the first few months completely avoiding a ring. No small circles. No lunging. Hillwork and pole work at the walk were very beneficial. I set up a 2 month conditioning schedule and sent it to my vet - it was essentially W/T over poles in straight lines. He is the reason that my program now always implements 6-8 walk poles in every dressage session. I remember good and bad days, and days where I felt I should just let him retire and live out his life in a field. I remember the injection really made a world of a difference. These days, you have a lot more therapeutic modalities at your fingertips. I’d look into joint supplements and things like Adequan or Pentosan too to keep things smooth.
Ultimately, your prognosis depends on the healing and whether or not (or how bad) arthritis sets in. My guy’s ultrasounds a few years down the road were pretty ugly. While the site showed that the original injury had healed, he developed arthritis as a result and that had to be maintained more than the old injury did.
Fingers crossed for you - I hope to read of another stifle success story. Just remember keep it slow and take steps back when you need to. They will tell you when they need to slow down.
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I’ve rehabbed my horse from stifle surgery, which isn’t the same thing. I used and still use the Eagle ProSix as it, even with 15 minutes a day, gives the horse a correct feeling of being balanced and correct posture throughout the body in ways that can help support healing.
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Thank you for your experience beowulf!
Nothing is super confirmed as the vet was taking the ultrasounds back to inspect closer in the radiology lab so I will know soon. The medial collateral ligament and lateral collateral ligament looked suspect in the RH with the MCL being worse. The meniscus and other patellar ligaments looked normal. Which sounds even more unusual as it sounds like it typically involves other soft tissue. I cannot find much about it in the stifle, a few studies and articles but not much.
This is also a young horse that I bred and there was never a known traumatic injury in their life. It has been gradual onset and we’ve been chasing the issue for the past 3 years since the horse was a 3yr old when starting under saddle. There is not much left to try at this point as this horse has been seen by probably 6 different vets at this point (including a university), bone scanned, tested for lyme/epm/vite/selenium, x-rayed head-to-toe, neuro-examed, injected all over, but this was the first ultrasound solely on the hunch in that it “looks” like a stifle lameness but it does not block out sound.
This was the last set of diagnostics I am doing, especially now that the horse is no longer insured, before I officially retire my 6yr old young horse who is barely even started. Sound at the walk and happy in the pasture but right now a 2 or 3/5 at the trot. As a 3yr old I noticed they were ever so slightly short on the RH but the vets didn’t see it at that time… so it got worse over time but could not be pinpointed 
I am waiting to hear what the prognosis is and whether it’s going to be even worth the money and stress (not a great stall rest candidate - will need plenty of drugs) to treat aggressively.
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