Case Study - Sammy - 3 year old Traditional Cob

Here we have a case study of Sammy.

Sammy is a rising 3 year old Traditional Cob.

Earlier this year Sammy starting showing signs of a locking stifle in the left hind and a sticky stifle in the right hind.

Both of these terms are also known as Upward Fixation of the Patella.

The horse's knee cap in the hind limb is not where you might expect.

The hock is actually relative to our ankle.

The stifle joint at the top of the leg near the flank is relative to our knee joint.

This joint is part of the horse's 'Stay Apparatus' which allows them to sleep standing up.

See my previous posts to learn more about the Stay Apparatus.

Part of the Stay Apparatus that is relative to this post is the ability of the horse to 'lock' the stifle in order to sleep standing with little effort.

In very basic terms the patella 'knee cap' locks into place with the help of ligaments locking into a ridge in the joint, this should then quickly and easily release as the horse moves.

In some horses, particularly young horses, the joint is a little unstable and the ligament can get stuck, meaning the joint is unable to unlock when the horse moves away or becomes locked during movement.

This can be quite distressing to witness, as the limb gets locked out and dragged behind the horse, although it often does seem to cause more distress to the onlooking owner than the horse themselves.

Sometimes the limb unlocks itself, other times intervention is required.

Simply backing up the horse can unlock the joint. Occasionally further veterinary intervention and surgery is required.

In all cases I would recommend consulting your vet and your horse having a full examination before attempting any sort of rehabilitation work.

In Sammy's case you can see that not only did he have the issue with the stifle, he also has an unusual muscle development of the hamstring muscle group down the back of each hind limb.

These muscles should be evenly toned down the back of each hind limb with no visible muscle lining.

Sammy's hamstrings were tight, bulging, tense and restrictive.

Following consultation from his vet and assessment from myself, his owner began some very gentle massage techniques, muscle activation exercises and gentle groundwork.

Around 4 weeks on, and thanks to the dedication of his owner, spending just a few minutes each day performing the techniques we discussed I was over the moon to see Sammy again, moving more freely even in the trot now and to see the change in his hamstring muscles which now look much more normal, softer and longer and the tone of his quadriceps and supporting muscles of the stifle has increased.

All this has been achieved with some very simple massage, stables based exercises and walking and trotting in hand.

Working with the limitations of Sammy only being a rising 3 year old.

I hope this shows just how powerful Equine Massage Therapy and simple low intensity training can be.

I have high hopes for Sammy that he has a great future ahead.

In the comments I will also post some short video of Sammy which I hope may be useful.

Massive thanks to his owner for allow me to share for us all to learn from 🙏🏻

Jess | Jessica Limpkin Equine Massage Therapy