stifle injury

[Cheryl Roll]

Just got a mare in and she has an injured stifle. Can anyone tell me what the prognosis is and what treatments should she have? Thanks.

[amanda1]

It depends on the unjury. Is it a soft tissue injury, did she pull a muscle, etc. Or does she have a fracture, a torn ACL? Let us know the specifics and you're sure to get some great suggestions here.

[Cheryl Roll]

I am not sure of the extent of the injury. My vet hasn't come to examine her yet and I was wondering what I should do with her til then and what her prognosis and treatment is likely to be. I don't think it is a fracture, she slipped on wet grass and pulled it most likely. Thanks.

[casallc]

There is not much you can do therapeutically. There is an operation where they can clip a tendon that will help but I have never seen one be 100% again. I have seen vast improvement on their own but they always will have a little back-step before putting that foot on the ground.
The injury is just called stifled.

[majxmom]

Time, time, time with no work, just turnout. I have taken in two horses from rescue that had stifle injuries. One was a 18yo gelding that won four races in 44 starts from 2 to 9, became a pony horse until age 18, developed a stifle problem and was thrown away. The other was a 9yo QH mare that developed bad knees (maybe from reining? no tattoo). She was a PMU mare so she had been in harsh weather in Manitoba, defending herself against a herd of draft horses, and heavily, heavily pregnant. Because of her knees, she was putting a lot of weight on her hind legs. Both they horses looked like classic stifle injuries. I turned them out by themselves in a half-acre pasture. They wandered around at will but without being pressured to move, and especially without having to roll back and spin away from a herd-mate. Both horses stopped swinging their hind legs out pretty quickly, within just a couple of weeks of being turned out alone. I imagine that if they had been put back into use right away, they probably would have started exhibiting symptoms again quickly. The mare had a healthy foal, so she had to move out quite a bit with the foal, but she did a good job schooling the filly to stay with her. They are both totally recovered now.

The rescue was really urging me to have the surgery on the mare. The tendons that hold the stifle and the patella are split into three parts, and there is one that loops over the patella. I think that every tendon is necessary to proper movement, and you ought to try to keep them if you can (an exception being a club foot or something where the tendon is obviously too tight). I would try a long turnout before surgery. If you take the pressure off, sometimes things get better in a hurry.

My vet advised me to spread cooling compunds on the stifle like Ice Tight or Mineral Ice, and bute them. The Ice Tight is a mud that had to be rinsed off twice a day, so I used the Mineral Ice. I just sponged off the previous application, scooped a handful in my hand, spread it on the stifle, and I was done. But I really think that time and rest were the best part of the cures.