Weak stifle on a 2yr old 17h quarter horse

I’m looking at a buying a 2yr old qh, the owner mentioned he was a little weak in his right stifle, Is this going to be a long term problem or will he outgrow it. What is the cause of it

Impossible to know without more information and a vet workup. Could be his conformation predisposes him to problems, or maybe it’s just a growth spurt kind of thing. (Is he really 17hh at 2yo?) Or could be from an injury. Make sure you do a PPE and tell the vet you want a specific evaluation of that issue.

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What, exactly, does “weak” mean?

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I’m not sure she just said it was a little weak, and the vet told her to do raised trot pole work to strengthen it

Is he really already 17h? That would be enough for me to say nope. Some youngsters do go through stifle issues that resolve, but I would be extra hesitant in a horse this big. I was working with one horse rehabbing him from a totally unrelated surgery and he had stifle issues still at 6. Had gone through some upward fixation as a youngster. He’s also a larger horse (but at least a WB and not a total monster for his breeding but still large). And the stifle doesn’t lock anymore but it’s an ongoing issue.

I’d at a minimum want to do a vet workup from my own vet, xray to check for OCDs, etc.

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I’d be wary of a 17h 2yo AQHA. I’m assuming this is a hunter type horse? Probably a good amount of TB in there? When the AQHA hunter horses started getting more specialized (instead of the old all-arounder types that did huntseat in the morning and western in the afternoon), getting that tall, TB type look became the rage to a point that they were breeding these gigantic babies, that they then lunged and started far too early. One stallion comes to mind, and his main feature was that he was 18h (at like 4yo) He was by a top sire, and had the right people behind him to promote him, but that horse wasn’t ever truly sound or comfortable looking.

I’d be very wary. Get a thorough vet check, and if you get the horse, turn him out and let him finish growing (because at 2yo, he still has plenty of growing and maturing to do…you’re going to have a BIG horse on your hands.)

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Pass. There is no way to know what the deal is without a vet work-up with diagnostics (x-ray and ultrasound) of the stifle.

I’d also be really leery of a 2 y/o that had been in work, especially one that big.

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