Just wanting to pick some brains with those who have dealt with loose/sticky stifles.
Sibling is doing trial ride with horse who has loose stifles, he seems to be quite underdeveloped in hind end and very tight hamstrings. Slight muscle pain in lumbar and sacrum. Just wondering if these are issues because of the stifles or separate? What other things have you personally dealt with that were secondary problems because of it?
Thank you!
Without seeing the horse it’s hard to know which came first, but they are definitely related. One could easily cause the other. As such, you have to work on both. Since you can’t really fix or manage loose stifles with the existence of the other issues, those are the ones you have to deal with first, to get some mobility back. It might take a good bit of concentrated MT work on the hammies and back, along with some chiro work, in order to even start on some PT for the stifles.
Unchecked, the combination of these things can end up affecting the whole horse, all the way to his jaw. The front end will start showing signs of compensating for the back end issues, the feet will show signs, the neck, etc.
What do his feet look like? If he has a negative plantar angle, that could easily lead to the soreness you describe and affect the stifles. The front of the back feet would have a bull nosed appearance. My mare was this way. We got her angles corrected and the toe dragging, sticky stifles went away for the most part. We still have to pay attention to fitness but she was greatly improved with just some trimming tweaks.
Susan
In my experience issues in the stifle/hind end seem to manifest and snowball if you are not ON top of a known issue - so if you have a weak stifle or loose stifle, before you know it you start seeing hock issues – then next thing you know sacral/lumbar issues then before you know it the horse’s neck is affected or they sustain some sort of soft tissue injury up from due to compensation.Sibling’s Trial horse is probably a perfect example. I’m with JB that without seeing the rads, the horse go, and anything else that it’s impossible to tell if it’s a perfect storm of unrelated issues cropping up or if it is compounded by the stifles. I’d lean towards compounded by the stifles.
I’d tell your sibling to pass --not because the horse isn’t lovely but because in my experience stifles tend to be the tip of the iceberg.
Indeed I should have mentioned that feet could be the cause of ALL of the issues. NPA behind wreaks utter havoc on things all the way up, then all the way forward 
I’d LOVE to see a conformation-type picture of those horse for my own education. If you have one but don’t want to post it publicly I’d love to see it via PM.
Whether to pass or not just depends on so much. If the root is the feet, that can be fixed with a competent farrier/trimmer, then body work and correct riding, as long as the horse is otherwise just what’s needed and the price is right.
I’ve run the gamete of lameness issues in the past 6-7 mo with my 5 yr old gelding with stifle issues (catching and secondary synovitis in stifle). One vet said hocks, one said SI, and my final vet who is lameness, sports med, and surgery, said stifle. Stifle is what I thought it was all along.
Yes, there can be lots of secondary issues that end up leading you on a wild goose chase in an effort to pinpoint the problem. We had multiple injections in hocks and SI with no improvement. Stifles x-rays and ultrasound also looked good, even though vet and I knew it was stifle issue. The xrays are only going to show bony changes that are typically quite far along, as well as any OCD lesions or cysts. Important to rule out though IMO. Ultrasound will help rule out any ligament tears or other soft tissue issues.
Since this is a trial horse, not sure I’d buy it. I was only 4 months into owning my guy when he started having problems, so the bulk of the time I have owned him in the past year has been rough. That said, loose or catching stifles is not the end of the world and can be a problem very easily managed/corrected with proper diagnosis and treatment. All depends on the horse, prospective owner, and what the horse will be used for.
I too would RUN RUN RUN from a trial horse with ANYTHING stifle-related. I wouldn’t take it for free.
If you’re anxious to own a money pit horse with f-ed stifles, I will give you mine.
Loose stifle cords can be helped with counter irritating them. (Blue lotion/dmso or injecting iodine) You can help the stifle out by squaring and rolling the toes. That being said, I wouldn’t take a stifle issue horse if you paid me.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8560468]
I too would RUN RUN RUN from a trial horse with ANYTHING stifle-related. I wouldn’t take it for free.[/QUOTE]
this x 100
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