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  Discussion on Does this sound like UFP?
Author Message
Member:
leec

Posted on Friday, Jul 23, 2010 - 2:06 am:

Hi Dr. O
I have a friend who purchased a 6 yr old Arab mare in the middle of March. She was pretty much unstarted and went from the pasture to fairly consistent work - 5-6 days/week about 2hrs/day, lots of work on the lunge line to start – walk, trot, canter with side reins under the guidance of a trainer. This lunging was done to apparently improve her topline and get her fit. The horse was a little underweight, a bit unthrifty in appearance and lacking muscle tone in the beginning, so she was put on concentrates/supplements/minerals/flax etc. My friend (we don’t live near each other) emailed me a couple of weeks ago saying, ‘my mare has "weird" movement with her hind legs at the jog. We have only been working on the jog for a couple of days, at first we thought she was just awkward in using her feet (she tends to be lazy unless pushed). But the more we worked on her jog stride in a circle it got worse. Walk/extended trot/canter are fine in the circle or on the rail. The right hind is more noticeable then the left. She doesn't flinch when I massage it with pressure and I can extend them in both directions. The movement is like a "hiccup" as she moves the feet, hard to describe.’

A vet saw the mare on Wednesday and this is what my friend said following the appointment, ‘The "funky" movement with her hind legs, right more prominent, is due to tendons getting caught on her patella. Curable with more exercise to strengthen and tighten the tendons. More trips to the hills is in order...'

My question is, can this diagnosis/treatment be accurate without the use of x-rays or ultrasound or...? I think this horse has been getting a fair bit of exercise over the past 4 months and is fit, so could this issue have developed as a result of the work? If so, wouldn’t more work cause even more harm? I feel my friend should get a second opinion and/or consider further examination. What do you think?
Thank you,
Lee C
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jul 24, 2010 - 10:32 am:

Hello Lee,
There are no radiographic or ultrasound changes that are diagnostic for this condition. It is diagnosed on the appearance of the lameness. For a description of the lameness and recommended treatments see the article, it addresses your specific questions.
DrO
Member:
leec

Posted on Sunday, Jul 25, 2010 - 12:04 pm:

Hi DrO,
I myself, have not seen the horse move, but was curious if the symptoms sounded like UFP, as my friend says the vet did not have a 'technical term' for the condition, but that the ligaments are stretched and catching on the Patella. I didn't see anything in the article about the ligaments being stretched. So, now another question... How might the ligaments have gotten stretched?
Thank you,
Lee C
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jul 25, 2010 - 7:00 pm:

The only cases I have seen where the ligaments are damaged (stretched?) are those with prolonged (several days) continuous locking of the stifle and a horse that has made repeated strong attempts to unlock the stifle and advance the leg. I don't see how this applies to your friends case where their appears to be nothing more than the possibility of transient short term interference.

Lee I don't usually review cases on a second hand basis for a number of reasons. I will not have anything more to say about this particular case. If you have general questions about UF of the Patella that are not answered by the article I would be glad to answer them however.
DrO
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