K
kaykay
Guest
kinda hard to explain in type but ill try. stand the horse straight with someone holding the lead. (you do not want the horse to move forward) go to the hip and put horizontal pressure on it. kinda like pushing the horses hips over to the other side. my vet did this a couple times on each hip. when they have locking stifles you can see the instability when you put pressure on the hip. then when you lead the horse forward youll see the stifles lock up. A horse without locking stifle will be very steady even when you push the hips. Hes an older vet and when he showed me this i was just amazed. the mare had intermittent locking stifle but sure enough when he did this she locked up on one leg. He said its due to the instability of the joint so when you put pressure like this if they do have locking stifle this will make it appear
I will say also that when you see this in horses under a year with no sire or dam carrying the trait its usually just a growth spurt. but on an older mare like this and especially having it in both back legs my bet is its genetic
one more thing. the mare i had did not lock up like you usually see. what she did was drag one hoof. it was so subtle that it was very hard to pick up on. I called the vet out as i was afraid she was coming down with west nile or something.
hope that made sense
I will say also that when you see this in horses under a year with no sire or dam carrying the trait its usually just a growth spurt. but on an older mare like this and especially having it in both back legs my bet is its genetic
one more thing. the mare i had did not lock up like you usually see. what she did was drag one hoof. it was so subtle that it was very hard to pick up on. I called the vet out as i was afraid she was coming down with west nile or something.
hope that made sense
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