Wonderful. :/

So, Major and I were supposed to be attending a week long clinic, with a show on Saturday. He went pretty well last night, so I figured this morning he'd be set to go for tonight. I took him out and lunged him, and noticed while walking him out that his right hind leg kept locking up. I asked Damie to check, and she had no clue.. so we got Lonnie to see and she had no clue, so we called Laura and she said he was fine and just to walk him around because he was stiff.

Later in the day, it seemed to have gotten a bit worse, so I asked our instructor for the week to give her opinion. She said that I needed to go apply more liniment (which I had been doing a couple times that day as per Laura's advice) and just put him in his stall as it was a problem with his stifle.

Damie came down and asked what I was doing, so I explained it to her. She then decided to see for herself (which, to be honest, I didn't see the point and I wanted to just put Major away for the night).. and while walking into the arena, Major's stifle got even worse. Lonnie described it as "going down and out, rather than up and down) so we called Laura.

So, long story short, Major is going home at 1 tomorrow and I'm a very anxious camper right about now. Nobody has new sweet clue how he managed to do this, but I'm worried that this might interfere with buying him. I'm sure he's rejoicing in his stall right now thinking he'll go home and be a little pasture ornament for awhile.. but nope, stall rest!

My question for everyone is: what are your experiences with stifle issues and/or lameness?

I know Lonnie mentioned something about a degenerative disease.. so I really hope he just stepped the wrong way and it's just an incident.

I'm really thinking it may be patellar fixation. As when he steps forward, he drags the right hind foot on the ground and it's very "mechanical" in movement, hence why I said it locks up. That's exactly what all the websites mentioned for symptoms. I keep feeling less and less optimistic about this.. I'm going to be heartbroken though if he won't ever get back to 100%.. meaning that I won't be buying him.

What a turd.

Sounds to me like a locking stifle. My colt got it when he got his feet trimmed (his previous home never got it done!) the realignment of his leg triggered this. We just made him work, built up his muscle to help overcome this. Lot of practice over poles and up and down hills.

Here's some reading on it :)
Locking Stifles UFP

Has he recently been trimmed? If it came on suddenly I have a feeling it'll go away. Has he been off work lately - lost a little muscle? I work with a Percheron who locks up, a few canters works that out in minutes.

Also - if he's not perfect, does it really mean you can't buy him? I'm sure he could still compete on his good days, with work you could get him good. He looks like a wonderful horse and you clearly love him alot. Don't give up on him. :)

He's supposed to be trimmed fairly soon actually.. and no, he's in pretty good shape. He usually gets worked pretty well about four days a week, at least.

I'll read the link you sent, thanks! :)

ETA: I don't plan on it.. however, my dad is paying for the majority of the price so it's really up to him. I just am hoping that this won't hold him back and it'll heal with time.

Generally locking stifles just require work, maybe his work isn't balanced and he's not being worked enough on his bad side?

Of course this IS me guessing based on what you've mentioned, so please consult a real vet if it means that much to you, besides you'd probably want a pre-purchase exam anyway.

That's a possibility.. I do tend to prefer working in a particular direction, although I try to vary it up. Plus I do two lessons a week so he gets a bit of variety in what he does.

I'm only leasing him at the moment, but I'm hoping that Laura gets a vet down to check him.. if not, I have a family friend who is a large animal vet and I'll get him to come down and look at him.