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Discussion on Stifle ligament or muscle weakness?
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New Member:
rlrhorse
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Posted on Friday, Oct 10, 2008 - 12:23 pm:
My mare had the MPLS surgery 4 weeks ago for intermittent catching of her stifle. She would sometimes feel like her back end "collapsed" momentarily while at a canter. It never seemed to upset her or like it was painful. When my vet diagnosed her with intermittent UFP, I assumed this was what I was feeling while riding. However, she is still doing this while riding, now even worse than before surgery.
When I asked my friend, whose horse has just had bilaterral MP desmotomy, if her mare ever did this prior to her surgery, she said no, but she did AFTER the ligaments were cut. Since there is no way for her mare's stifle to catch any longer, she told me it was muscle weakness, and her mare had to gain muscle strength to compensate for the now unstable stifle joint.
Does muscle weakness sound likely as to what is occurring in my mare? I don't want to repeat the surgery if it is not necessary, and I have not noticed her catching any more when I lunge her. The "collapsing" only occurs when I ride her, not when lunged or worked in the round pen. Interestingly, she does not do this when my 50 lb daughter rides her either. Maybe it is her way of telling me I'm too heavy!
Thank you for any suggestions.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Oct 10, 2008 - 11:03 pm:
Hello Regina,
What type surgery did your horse have? There are now several procedures done. Right now we don't know what your horse is doing when she collapses. The next step to getting your horse properly diagnosed is someone needs to observe you while you ride your horse. Someone who can tell a trip, from a collapse, from a catching stifle. If it is hard to see, video taping the horse so you can watch in slow motion might help. For a discussion on what a catching stifle look like see the article on Upward Fixation.
DrO
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Member:
rlrhorse
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Posted on Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008 - 12:00 pm:
Dr. O,
My mare had the ligament splitting done with a scapel while standing (sedated plus a local at the surgical site). I'm beginning to think that it may not be the stifle ligament, but instead a separate issue, because she is moving much better and I don't see the stifle catching any longer when I work her in the round pen or lunge her.
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