Stiffle injections

[dancinpaso]

Hello
I just had the chiropractor check my horse and he said that he was extreamly sensitive on his stiffle nerve (not sure the technical term...) and he suggested to get a vet check on my horse & x-rays.He also suggested to get the stiffle injected or inner blistered, to cause scar tissue to form making the stiffle stronger. Have you guys ever heard anything about these tyoe of the procedures??? Or pro's and cons? THANKS!!!!

[Carol Nelson]

Boy, you just hit on a nerve...so to speak... ;-)
Last Monday, I went out to find one of my best mares dragging a back foot behind her. This is not the first time I have seen her do this. When she was a yearling, she was kicked by a mare I had taken in for breeding. Shortly after that I came out to find her dragging a hoof behind her. I immediately thought it was broken and in a panic called a vet but he said her patella (kneecap) had locked up and was causing the tendon not to be able to slip normally and hence she was not able to pull the leg back under herself. I developed on my own, a technique for slipping the tendon back in...which involved putting a rope around her fetlock joint and making her kick back, straightening the leg, and that in turn caused the tendon to pull back into it's original position. She was fine after.
That vet, being kind of an old school, suggested cutting the tendon to prevent that from happening. That is a common treatment for such an ailment. I opted not to have that done because she was so young, and when I came here to Texas, and found my current vet who is a lameness specialist, she said that that is now not the preferred treatment. You can have the injections to cause the scar tissue which is better but many times they will grow out of the situation. Other treatments are chiropracty and exercise which involves trotting the horse uphill in order to strengthen their backend.
Now this mare is six, gave me a gorgeous fino filly two years ago and hadn't had this problem for the past two years. The filly shows no indication of such a problem. Like I said, she did it again last week...probably kicking and bucking in the sudden cold weather we experienced. I tried to put it in myself to no avail, but I put her on Hyalun, which is oral hyluronic acid, a joint medication, giving her quite high doses, and Banamine for pain as I think it is painful for them. I don't stall her as I want her to move around as long as she is safe doing so. Within three days she slipped it back in on her own.
My partner was at Texas A & M at the time taking a reproduction course, and he asked them about it there. They don't recommend the surgery or the chemical burning, and said often times the horse will come out of it on their own.
So there you have it. If your horse shows no indication of having it's stifle go out, I would do nothing. If it does, get much more information before making any decision. I have heard of endurance riders who will have their horses do that on trail rides and they simply get off and slip the tendon back in place manually and get back on and complete the ride.

[PattiB]

If it is not locking up don't do anything. Backing them up will usually unlock it but once it starts locking the tendon is probably already stretched. Some horses grow out of it with turn out some continue to lock up. I had my gelding done on both stifles when he was three, he never had any problems with arthritis in his stifles,which is why they discourage it now. He died in May at 30 yrs old. Have know many horses that have had the surgery and a few with the injections. The injections were used on a stallion that was catching but not locking. Most are in their teens and twenties now and have had no problems since.

[dancinpaso]

Thank you guys for the great info. But he is not locking up what so ever and thats not why the chiropractor suggested the injections. He has not ever locked up but he has trouble doing circles in one direction and he fires a little diffrent in one rear as well. He has been off since I have had him but it has gotten much better. So we were guessing that it was a weakness and we have gotten it as strong as it can get now he needs a little medical attention to make it just right.

[Carol Nelson]

...as I said...get lots of information from different sources before doing the surgery...learn the pros and cons. Get several educated opinions.

I have heard that yes, arthritis can be a result of the surgery...but then would living with a locking patella cause arthritis also?
I have also heard that the horse can no longer rest on that leg...I don't know the validity of that statement.

[GeorgeGuns]

I have also heard that the horse can no longer rest on that leg...I don't know the validity of that statement

I have hound sort of the opposite to be true. I do a few horses that have known stifle probelms of varying degrees. Invariably, I save that leg for last. They can stand on it okay, I rest them frequently too to avoid "discussions". Its after I have had that leg up doing the trim, then they don't want to do much standing on it for a time.