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Gaits of Gold Gaited Horse Community Messageboard > Brenda Imus Questions and Answers > 'Ask Brenda' > Popping Stifles |
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Gaits of Gold Gaited Horse Community Messageboard > Brenda Imus Questions and Answers > 'Ask Brenda' > Popping Stifles |
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| Popping Stifles | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Tue May 29th, 2012 03:47 pm |
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1st Post |
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Offside G.O.G Community Member
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I have owned a few gaited horses. Certainly I am not an expert. None of my gaited horses ever made any of the snapping/crackling/popping sound. Even my one mare who I sold. She didn't pass the vet lameness exam  and I had never heard or saw an abnormal movement in her. I have another horse. All he does is snap and crackle and pop . He has never passed a lameness exam . I do not know what is wrong with him. The vet offered to do a nuchal biopsy to test for DSLD. I chose not to do that yet. I do ride him gently and hope it is just loose stifles. I re-read Brenda's articles and try to work on things that will help strengthen them. I am letting the horse be my guide to what is too much for him. He runs and carries on in the pasture with his pasture mate and does not look like he is suffering  .
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| Posted: Tue May 29th, 2012 12:11 am |
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2nd Post |
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Maldar G.O.G Community Member
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I watched a racking horse yesterday and went trail riding with a grade gaited horse today and they both had popping stifles, just not as bad as mine. And it didn't seem to affect either of them. It's not unusual for gaited horses to not be able to canter and stumbling I think is much common than the gaited community is willing to admit; even horsemen outside the community know about it. I can think of eight gaited horses in my area; one racking horse's owner says he doesn't stumble, the rest stumble a lot. And all the gaited horses I tried when I was horse hunting stumbled. (About 28 horses.) I've had him on Four-Flex HA for seven months now and I'll probably keep him on it, just for preventive measures. Since he tested sound this is just probably the way he is. I was startled when I first noticed the popping stifles, which is why I posted the question. I appreciate everyone's answers.
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| Posted: Mon May 28th, 2012 08:48 pm |
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3rd Post |
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Lakota Ranch Hand 
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Maldar, you say that you are going to assume that this is normal for gaited horses. I assure you this is not normal, especially if you quit turning him out because he would fall down when attempting to canter at liberty. There has to be something wrong. There is someone out there some where who can get to the root of this problem..... It may be as simple as needing a good joint supplement, IDK.
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| Posted: Sun May 27th, 2012 11:31 pm |
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4th Post |
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Maldar G.O.G Community Member
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The articles you mentioned deal with sticking stifles, not popping stifles. Engaging my horse's hind end only makes the stifles pop even more, and we only have hills where I ride, so it's not a matter of working and strengthening the back end to get rid of the problem. Otherwise, in the four years I've had him the condition would have improved. The x-rays didn't show any problems in the stifles, which is good. I'm going to assume that the popping is normal for gaited horses, since the other TWH at my barn does it also. BTW, they only pop when gaiting and cantering, there's no popping at the walk or trot. (He trots at liberty. It's actually a very good trot.) My horse is an 8 year old, unpapered SSH. I'm not sure which gait he's doing, it's definitely not a rack, since he has a lot of head nod. I'm assuming it's either a RW or fox trot, I'm leaning towards fox trot. Not sure if that makes a difference in the stifles.
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| Posted: Thu May 17th, 2012 05:46 pm |
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5th Post |
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Brenda Im Pasture Boss 
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I've covered this at some length in a series of articles on the home site. The first article is here: http://gaitsofgold.com/Gaited-Horse-Training-Articles/locking-stifle-syndrome-in-the-gaited-horse-part-i.html Good luck! PB 
____________________ It's not always about trying to fix something that's broken. Maybe it's about starting over and creating something better. |
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| Posted: Wed May 16th, 2012 05:20 pm |
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6th Post |
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Lakota Ranch Hand
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Sounds like a wise decision. Hope you get to the root of this problem.
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| Posted: Wed May 16th, 2012 01:02 pm |
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7th Post |
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Maldar G.O.G Community Member
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Thanks for your response. I did try to video tape it but for some reason it's hard to see in the video. My horse goes in tomorrow for x-rays of the stifles. His hind end often locks up and drops, and he refuses to canter. For years trainers said the problem was me, I wasn't being agressive enough, was letting him get away with being lazy etc., and insisted that "they" had no problems getting him to canter (they did, they just didn't want to admit it). The new trainer is the first one to agree that the horse is having back end problems. When he canters on his own it's a mess and he falls down a lot, I finally had to stop turning him out because I was concerned that he was going to injure himself. I guess I'll see what the vet says. I was just surprised to see that other gaited horses also popped in the stifles.
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| Posted: Wed May 16th, 2012 02:59 am |
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8th Post |
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Lakota Ranch Hand
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Not Brenda here, but this doesn't sound appropriate for a good sound gaited horse. A video would clarify this a lot if you could post one on youtube and put up a link here for us. I've ridden and been around a lot of nice gaited horses and none of them had the kind of action you are describing.
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| Posted: Wed May 16th, 2012 12:55 am |
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9th Post |
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Maldar G.O.G Community Member
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Hello everyone. Are a horse's stifles supposed to "pop" when they gait (but no clicking sound)? I have an 8 year old SSH whose stifles, when gaiting have a strong pop, but no sound. You can really see it in the hocks as they "jerk" when gaiting, or going up hill. A friend mentioned seeing it when I got him, but I didn't understand what she was talking about, then when I got a new trainer three months ago and I started seeing the "jerk". I assumed he had a stifle problem and made an appointment with the vet for this Thursday, but last weekend I was riding with a TWH and a Fox Trotter (who paced) and both of those horses' stifles popped also, when gaiting, but no clicking sound. I'm wondering now if this is normal and I'm wasting the vet's time. BTW, I ride a lot, five days a week, and we only have hills to ride in, so the usual means of "fixing" a stifle hasn't helped in four years. Thanks! Erin
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