Hi! Guess What!!!!  Sonny has Locking Stifle or Upward Fixation of the Patella.

Here is an article on it~

The horses stifle is the same joint as the human knee. Just like the human knee there is a knee cap, the patella, a small flat bone that rides back and forth in the front of the femur. The patella connects the large muscles in the front of the upper leg with the long bone of the gaskin using three large ligaments. When this muscle contracts it pulls up on the patella and helps to straighten the leg out, ...image.

Unlike the human knee, the horse is able to hang the medial (inside) patellar ligament over a bony prominence of the femur, intentionally. By doing so the leg is locked in extension and the horse can rest and sleep standing up. Some horses have trouble with unintentional interference or even have the leg lock up and unable to flex normally. Even worse, the traditional surgical treatments for this condition have been found to cause permanent low grade lameness.

I have to do a LOT of walking and strengthening of the quadriceps w/ him to keep the patella from locking up.  I also have to keep him in shape and make sure he doesn't have to stay in a stall or sit around for a long period of time.  It was soooo stressful though this morning cause he was unresponsive and VERY VERY much in pain.  We thought he was like dying or something so we called the vet and I had already thought it was a locking stifle and the vet came out and it ended up being a locking stifle and so he gave him banamine and for the next 3 days we have to give him bute.  Well gtg help mom w/ Anna Grace:)!

Update

Hi!  Well here is everything that has been going on~
Red colicked night before last and I had to stay up ALL night w/ him!  It ended up he just had some gas.....

     I haven't had much time to work w/ the horses since its been raining but it did stop long enough for me to go and ride Sonny and work on his attitude; -)!  He was trying to kick me every time I got on so I fixed that, I did the circling game at an extended trot for 2 times around every time he'd do it and that fixed the problem very quickly ; -)!

    Red's been doing OK I've started desesitizing him to the saddle and leaning over him and stuff to get him used to me being above him:).  I'll probably start backing him in 6-9 months but before that I'm going to do some cavelletti therapy so he is more prepared and will have a little more muscle:)!

  Rambo has been, well, he's just Rambo.....  I've been working on his back legs being touched w/out him kicking out in fear.  He's doing REALLY well!  The reason I'm doing that is because he kicked my dog Jake HARD because something tickled his lower back leg and he FLIPPED HIS LID!  But everyone's OK:)!

  Arby is in heat (we think) so we've been leaving her be because she can get nasty when she's in heat!  She'll be fine one min. and then the next trying to take your head off!  Hailey did ride her the day Saturday.  Arby was good....  I really need to do some cavelletti therapy w/ her to help her back become more rounded and for her to get some more muscle mass.....

Well that is (I think) everything:)!  See Ya!

~Savvy Out~

TTouch

Yo!  Sorry it has been soooo long since I posted.  I've been REALLY busy w/ school and a science experiment....  I was researching something called TTouch to use on Red cause he gets really tense and here is a video that explains it pretty well~

I'll tell ya how it works sometime w/in the next 1-2 weeks:)!

Sonny and misc

Hi! I FINALLY got Sonny to do the circling game at a walk and trot in both directions!!!  He has been doing REALLY good!  Red has too.....  I had a panic attack/not enough protein/my electrolites off and I started shaking and could NOT stop!!!!!  I felt sick and I felt like !?**!? : -D!  SO I didn't work w/ the horses much (DUH!  LOL!!).......  Hey does anyone have any ideas on how to get Red to not be so attached to Rambo?  I have separated them and everything!  The only issue is the only 2 paddocks we have are right next to each other so they interact by and over the fence.......  Well, please comment if you have any suggestions!