Horse medial patella ligament desmotomy, severing, Fred update

By the way, Fred's medial ligament severing desmotomy was a complete success. She can even still sleep standing up, which is a surprise, but the Vet says that some horses manage to find a way to do it and clever Fred is one!
It is such a shame that she didn't come sound as well, as she is a Saint.

As I said in a previous post, the reason that she was WORSE after the splitting op to shorten the ligament was because it turned out that the problem was that the ligament was too SHORT in the first place, not too long as the Vet suspected. The operation to shorten the ligament then made the sticking worse, not better. It is ESSENTIAL that the Vet is CERTAIN that the ligament is too long before any treatment is carried out, be that injections or splitting.

I would not hesitate to recommend this treatment to anyone with a horse that has problem sticky stifles, either too short or too long, as my old Vet tells me that, contrary to what you read on the Internet, out of the hundreds of similar op's he has done during the last 30 years, not ONE has had any further problems or arthritis in later life.

Fred goes to a new home.

Fred will never be 100% sound. This is the opinion of both the Vet and myself as after 3 months of strengthening work, she is still 1/10 lame on the off-hind, probably due to a paddock injury 2 years ago which I witnessed. Fred was galloping around and slipped, dragging her off-hind stifle behind her. She got up hopping and came sound after a few strides, but she must have torn something up high as she is still lame after nerve blocking the stifle.

Fred has gone to a 'Happy Hacking' home as she is sound on straight lines but not on an anti-clockwise 20M circle. I gave her away on permanent loan and I am sure that she will be loved and looked after. She is only 9 miles away and I shall visit her often.