Young horse joints cracking?

[emilymorro]

I just recently bought a four year old Hungarian warmblood. I have the papers to prove that he is four and registered…and I have all of his vet records and lineage. Everything is spotless on paper…but I’ve never seen a young horses legs crack so much when they walk. It’s making me horribly nervous. Someone told me that it was just because he was young and growing so quickly (he’s 16.2/3 and should top out at 17 hands) but I’ve been around other young warmbloods and haven’t seen this…

Is this normal? I really don’t even know what to think of it. He’s moving fine, better every day actually, but the cracking still makes me nervous. Do you think there’s a problem? Should I call out a vet?

[merrygoround]

I remember a young adult human visiting an orthopedic surgeon because of popping knees.

The orthopod examined the leg, and informed the patient"We don’t treat noises." The leg and knee is still working well many years and miles later.

[pj1]

Once hauled one of mine to the University to be checked because one leg (hind) went snap crackle pop whenever he trotted. Vet said it’s nothing, probably go away and it finally did. Horse was completely sound the whole time.

[IrishHunter]

I work at a spinal and skeletal office (for people, though) and the doctors tell patient’s all the time that creaking alone as a symptom means nothing. Whenever patient’s complain the doctor just tells them they need to stretch more?

[emilymorro]

Okay…I asked a vet who came out to see some other horses and he said not to worry about it either. What a sigh of relief! It just must be that he’s still developing and somehow air is getting into those joints…

[4THEHORSES]

This is happening to my young mare and in her case (vet has been out) it’s down to her growing so fast. Tendons aren’t keeping pace with the growth of her bones. Lots of hand walking, a low protein diet and very frequent hoof trimming (weekly-biweekly) are helping a lot.

[IrishHunter]

The doctors where I work basically say its because air is getting into the joints because the musculature around the joint is too lax. I’m sure it’s more involved than that but that is how they put it in layman terms, hence why they recommend the stretching to tighten muscles.

[Pembroke]

Try Cortafelx HA. It helped when my big warmblood was growing up and was cracking.

[LarkspurCO]

[QUOTE=Pembroke;7417047]
Try Cortafelx HA. It helped when my big warmblood was growing up and was cracking.[/QUOTE]

Same here. I was told it’s normal but the Corta-Flx Rx helped a lot. Also seems to help the wonky baby stifles.

[retrofit]

I once vetted a 2 year old Oldenburg gelding who had a lot of joint noises. My vet wasn’t worried and I completed the purchase. Now he is coming-18 and schooling all of the GP with his current owner. He has needed very little joint maintenance this whole time.

I did find that once he was in his teen years, a sudden increase in that joint noise was the first indication that he needed a little maintenance. In his case, MSM & oral HA did the trick.

I wouldn’t be worried about the noise per se, but definitely take notice of a sudden change.

[emilymorro]

[QUOTE=4THEHORSES;7416429]
This is happening to my young mare and in her case (vet has been out) it’s down to her growing so fast. Tendons aren’t keeping pace with the growth of her bones. Lots of hand walking, a low protein diet and very frequent hoof trimming (weekly-biweekly) are helping a lot.[/QUOTE]

Low protein diet? Why is that? Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I just read back through this and realized I hadn’t paid much attention to this post. I feed him an extremely high protein diet… Why go with low protein? How does that help? (Not being argumentative by any means…I honestly don’t know.)

[californianinkansas]

Re: the low protein diet
My only experience with this is because of the special-needs Mastiff puppy that we adopted from a rescue, so take whatever I have to say with a grain of salt.

George’s canine orthopedist at the KSU Vet Teaching Hospital had us keep him on a low protein diet so he wouldn’t grow too fast and put even more stress on his muscles and bones. With the giant breeds of dogs (e.g., Mastiffs) the goal is to feed them a diet that will keep them healthy yet cause them to grow as slowly as possible. Perhaps it is the same with your tall youngster?

[emilymorro]

[QUOTE=californianinkansas;7517168]
Re: the low protein diet
My only experience with this is because of the special-needs Mastiff puppy that we adopted from a rescue, so take whatever I have to say with a grain of salt.

George’s canine orthopedist at the KSU Vet Teaching Hospital had us keep him on a low protein diet so he wouldn’t grow too fast and put even more stress on his muscles and bones. With the giant breeds of dogs (e.g., Mastiffs) the goal is to feed them a diet that will keep them healthy yet cause them to grow as slowly as possible. Perhaps it is the same with your tall youngster?[/QUOTE]

Huh, I have always just thought in the direction of doing everything I can to help his growth…but I guess fundamentally that does make sense.