stifle giving out

hi, my young horse had a lot of problems lately…almost a year ago he was diagnosed with a mild hind medial branch desmitis on his left hind. the horse was not lame but i could find that he was NQR behind. he had a long time off and the ligament has healed succesfully allready 4 months ago BUT he’ s still lame and even more than before. he do not want to turn in his stable to the left and when he does he turns on his fore legs and keep his hind leg very straight behind without moving them. I also noticed that when he turns his stifle givs out a lot and on trot keeps his hind legs straight and also stumble a lot. He’ s more lame on the swinging phase of the trot and when he turns to the right the left hind is kept straight and abducted. x rays and ultrasound showed nothing. He has a lot of muscular wastage on his left rump but i think is because of the lameness I have to bring him back to the vet in 10 days but i would like to know if anyone have similar experience. Thank you i feel i’ ll never get at the end of this. horses can be so heartbreaking…

Trying to follow along with your post, could it be possible that your horse’s stifle is locking/slipping? The “give out” you’re observing in the trot might be an upward fixation of the patella.

If x-rays ruled out any OCDs or other reasons why the horse is slipping/locking, it’s usually cause by overall hind end weakness or confirmation. And in this case, I’d wager a bet that the weakness is linked to the previous injury. UFP can be quite common in young growing horses as well, since the stifle joint is not developed until around 4.

Locking stifle example: https://youtu.be/h___Vp-1JKU?t=88
Slipping stifle example: https://youtu.be/SFFRJYB6PfE?t=70
(You can see the RH stifle slip right at 1:17)

thank you very much , the horse do not have any problem on the stifle, the vet did x ray and ultrasound and nothing wrong with it. But the slipping/locking cause lameness? because my horse is lame, thank you for the reply

If the horse is still lame but your vet can’t find anything wrong with it, I’d be getting a second opinion from another vet.

What exactly is a slipping stifle? Curious now.

@RainWeasley Here is a good thread that was on the topic: https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/f…ng-suggestions

I’m probably using the term incorrectly (or maybe upward fixating patella covers all of the whole slew of stifle-isms), but I’d have a horse that has both caught/locked and slips out behind on occasion.

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Sweet thanks, going to check it out. My mate’s dam had locking stifles, but hers don’t actually lock. They do seem to kind of catch now, and I’m wondering if that’s why she short strides ever so slightly on the one side. I’d been worrying she is still lame, but FB memories showed her doing the exact same thing 7 years ago that fixed itself once she got fit again. Apparently almost a year off work has not been good for her!

ETA: I said “catch” but “slip” does seem to be the better term.