My Rocky Mtn had severe stifle problems from being kicked bad by a mare. I found a holistic vet that used Alphasonic on him. It is a machine that puts alphasonic waves into the body to help it heal itself. My horse was completely well within 3 weeks. That was over 2 years ago. It is based on accupuncture/accupressure without the pain and invasion of needles. I was so impressed that I bought a unit and use it all the time on him and myself for sore back, etc. Also my farrier trimmed his hooves so that he lands on the inside of his leg first, relieving pressure on the stifle. This has kept him sound for years and we ride about 20 miles a ride. Hope this helps you. Good luck.

Hearthman, I don't know if the vet's will tell you this, but cortisone causes all kinds of problems in the joints. Over time in humans, it causes the bone to disintegrate and when that happens, the joint will again become painful and useless. The cortisone only stops the pain for awhile. It is a cover-up, not a repair, and results in degenerative joint problems without a cure. That is why doctors only give 3 injections in any joint. Most vet's do not use cortisone, but use a mixture with HA and a pain-killer, which is much better. Why don't MD's use this combination instead of cortisone? I would spend time with a chiropractor and see what he/she advises. Surgery is always the last option. Good luck. Vicky

Small, I just came across this discussion (OCT 26)so may be too late to be of help. I recently bought a horse that has symptoms of stifle problems and so subscribed to www.horseadvce.com so that I could access the vet advice and articles. Cost is $7 dollars/month and bought a three month membership to start. There is a good series of articles and discussion on stifle problems there and the description, diagrams and veterinary response to various problems that are described are understandable and to the point. Should you choose to use the service, you can both describe your horses symptoms and the vet will advise and direct to information on site, and you can access the sites considerably large archived section on stifle problems. The page you want to start from is here. http://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/4/11484.html

Thanks for the input y'all. For now I'm going to have the mare injected with the cortisone and decide where to go from there. I'll have a nice long chat with the vet next week. I just hate to cover things up and not actually help the stifle. The mare is barefoot now and has been for well over a year. She's got great feet. No hills on my property. Very flat and nice footing for the most part. Talked to the farrier here and he'd like to wait and see what the vet suggests. Thanks again, Small

Hi Smallfry Dont know if this will be any help, My horse has a stifle problem and the best thing I can do for it is to keep him in work so the muscle is strong and holds everything in place. If your mare isnt capable of doing work under saddle or only light work would it be possible to lunge so the muscle builds up without putting any more strain on her? I would be wary of surgery unless there is no other choice. Good luck, I hope you get it sorted. Bandit

Fry back up and regroup.Look at the whole horse, I've been a farrier for more than 27 years, and as cloudy said proper farrier can help many things more than the surgens knive.Now we must ask our self if another problem is causeing the mare to load that stifle. After working with this vet chiorprater I've learned to look at the whole horse.If the right rear is whats hurting her look at the left front, there is problly something bothering her thats is causeing her to load it. A good farrier can help find this, one way is to look at how the mare wears her shoes or feet between triming cycles.I don't know what kind of pasture you have but some pastures can add to the problem, you want smooth terrain, and some hills, working the mare up hills will help this problem.A good site to ask for help from farriers is www.horseshoes.com there is a place to ask farriers for advice and 1 in your area might be a member.Also remember what works for 1 dosen't always work for the other. When I take on a horse with problems and it has all these strang shoes on the first thing I do is pull all the GIMMICKS off, balance the feet and go back to the basics, this is what most of us old farts do and 9 times out of 10 the horses is back to sound after a week sometimes the same day. Good luck and keep us posted as we all might learn something from your problem. Hoss

I personally would be leary of surgery.

Hiya fellas. Thanks for the info. I did look up some stifle related topics on the web and didn't find much. Mostly a lot of questions. I don't know that her stifle "locks up". That is not a term either of the vets have used. Nor is cramping. One vet, who was a boarded surgeon etc etc etc (very well educated vet to say the least) did seem to find a bit of change when the stifle was sonogramed er..whatever else you do in addition to xray. It has been a while since then. The new vet xrayed the mare two days ago and said he saw nothing. Old vet saw some calcification and minor tissue changes (I think). The mare has been injected with cortisone a few times along with adequan, cosequin and platinum supplements and injections. We did see improvement then. That was two years ago. Since then she was used for a bit until she seemed in pain. And now, she is a pasture pet until I figure out what I'm going to do with her. My problem with this is...Do I inject the mare and possibly still need surgery? To me, surgery is an obvious option and possible solution here. The cost of the injections is almost as much or more than the surgery itself. If surgery doesn't work then I may just have a retired horse on my hands. Another point a friend brought up is doing both stifles. She had a gelding done and says the horse is 100% better in fact he is winning everything in his divisions. BUT, she did end up doing both sides as once the one side was feeling better, the other side started to show he was off and having problems there too. The vet I saw here was quite eager to tell me about this new method or new drug/injections. He is a new vet to me and I want to make as educated decision as I can about this. This is a nice mare and worth saving to me but I hate to spend money on this over and over and over. I know there are no guarantees. It just seems like perhaps its a bit backwards? Injections then surgery if needed? Or surgery then nothing? Its also a bit curious to me when a vet is so excited to suggest to me about a new method although he may just know something (or a lot of things!) that I don't. He acted so much like this was THE solution to this mare. I dunno. Thanks y'all. SMALL ;)

she stifle Locking or is it cramping?

Hola Frita!!! :) I recently had an equine visitor here at the Singing Spur, with a locking stifle problem, on BOTH back legs. My farrier was able to set him up after a few trims, to virtually eliminate the problem. He still locked up, on one leg or the other, if his toes got too long. But the prognosis is good for continued comfort, with effective trimming. His owner was offered suggestions ranging from steroid injections to surgery...none of which came with iron-clad guarantees of continued relief. However, the farrier offered the best solution...at the regular trim-rate!! ;) good luck shugah!! :(