Beautiful Hope...

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:)!