Looking for comfort! Any experience with this?

Ok first of all, just want to say I have called the vet and yada yada yada. They are coming out first thing Monday morning at 830 (I swear. I went from never really needing the vet to all of a sudden being BEST FRIENDS with him thanks to Drifter these last few months).

Anyways.

We got a little bit of rain today and a dirt portion of the paddock Drifter is in turned to pretty thick Mississippi mud. The horses in the paddock around him were running around and enjoying the rain, so of course he had to join in. I was standing talking to a friend and watching him canter around. He hit the mud and his rear right leg went straight out to the side. Scared me to DEATH. I thought his hip had given out. I catch him, look him over... see nothing. Palpate all over that leg, no reaction. A little while later he is trotting around and the same leg does it AGAIN. And this time he is no where near mud. He starts walking as I go to grab him again, and it does it AGAIN!!! at the walk!! Get him out again and work my way up the leg. I get to his stifle and he lights up like a christmas tree. Cowkicked at me and tried to bite the heck out of my friend who was holding him for me. This is very unlike Drifter so I knew at once it was a pain response. Check the other stifle, he is calm as can be.

I cold hosed it for 15 minutes, but we never noticed any swelling in the area. He is reluctant to back from the ground now, and when we did get him to back he swung his back end towards that leg. He would not back up straight (never been a problem before for the most part) and I could not get him to back crooked towards the other leg. He would only back into the direction of the leg that was hurting him.

When he moves it looks like he is picking that leg up, twisting it, and landing it closer to the middle of his body now. He is also reluctant to extend the leg for hoof picking, etc when I tried it this evening.

I'm a nervous wreck. Vet told me to just cold hose it and they would come out first thing Monday

Has anyone had this type of injury before? Any idea what could be going on with the stifle? I am wondering if the slips did it, or if the slips were just a symptom of some other problem in his stifle I haven't noticed?? I guess some could say until the vet is out that there is no definite answer that it is the stifle, but I really think it is. I feel like him kicking out at the lightest touch in only the stifle area is a pretty big indicator..but I don't know. I hate lameness issues. I'm going to be freaking out until Monday

I don't have any words of wisdom, but I do have (((hugs))). Good Luck!

Thank you busysmurf! I figured it would be a wiser choice to post my woes on here, instead of trying to google the problem for possible answers. That never ends well in the making me feel better department. Ha

Locked stifle maybe?

My mare just got over that issue. Her leg gave way a lot too. Is he dragging his leg at all?

He has been dragging that toe, yes. But he was also dragging the toe on the other leg every once in a while. The vet and my new farrier were working together and had decided the toe dragging was due to the whack farrier who pulled the "incredibly long toe, lowest possible heel ever" trim job on him.

But maybe they were wrong. Or perhaps it was due to both issues? We pulled Drifter's shoes a few days ago because he was presenting with mild hindlimb lameness and vet had diagnosed it as being his heels were just too atrophied and that the shoes weren't allowing them to grow as quickly as they could. Farrier agreed and reccomended Drifter go barefoot for a while with a trimming schedule of every 4 weeks to keep an eye on the area.

Now you've given me something to think about bubblesblue! Poor guy. I would hate it if it was partly that stifle the whole time and we never picked up on it. Was your girl sore to the touch at the stifle as well?

Not extremely sore, but she was touchy about it. The only reason she didn't freak out when it was touched is because the moment she acted lame, I stayed off of her and restricted her movement so that she wouldn't move as much then hauled her down to the vet the moment I could.
If he does have a locked stifle, he is sorer because he has used it more. However I'm no vet and I'm just going off of a recent experience. The best thing to do is just to stay off of them and not let him run around. The only way to treat a stifle is to "blister" it which causes the stifle to tighten it up and keep from locking up again.

OMG I feel your pain! I have a horse named Teddy. He had to get surgery, and be on stall rest for a year... GET THE VET. (hugs) It'll all be ok! It just gave me more time to bond with him. Hand walk him, that kinda thing. Even taught him some tricks to keep him occupied! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE message me with ANY questions. Its ok girly :) Stay strong

Bubblesblue- Is that the same as upward fixation of the patella? Or is it something different? I thought upwards fixation of the patella was fixed using straight trotting and building up the hind end? I could be totally wrong though. (Also, obviously what I said about trying to stay away from google didn't last long ha ha). He has never presented like his stifle has locked per se. Or at least I've never seen the hitch in his movement that most people say is there..

I really don't know. What my mare did was that her leg gave way a lot. Like she'd be walking just fine then all of the sudden, her leg would give way.

The stifle has a lot of parts where injury could occur. Keep cold hosing for now. After the vet exam you'll have a better idea of what to do depending on what he hurt. To me, it doesn't sound like he locked it up. I think it's going to be a ligament or tendon issue.