Horses Knee Problems

Many knee injuries in horses, such as chips, inflammation and osteoarthritis, are brought about or helped to progress by conformation problems in the animal's knees. These conformation faults can cause harder wear on a horse's knees than he would experience with correct conformation. In correct knee conformation, you can draw invisible lines down the middle of the front and sides of the horse's legs and the legs look straight.

  1. Bench knees

    • To look for bench knees (also called offset knees), look at the front of the horse. If the horse is bench-kneed, his cannon bone--which runs between the knee and the fetlock--is not placed directly under the knee and upper arm of the horse's front leg. Instead, it is off to the outside of the leg. A horse with bench knees stresses the inside of the cannon bone and often develops splints (inflammation of the ligament connecting the splint bone to the cannon bone).

    Bow-legged

    • When a horse is bow-legged, he has what's called carpal varus. This is when the knees turn inward toward one another. The turn in the knees can cause problems in the outside of the horse's knee. Carpal varus in a foal can correct spontaneously, but sometimes you have to put the foal in casts or have the legs surgically corrected.

    Calf Knee

    • A calf-kneed horse does not have a straight line from the shoulder to the hoof when looked at from the side. Instead, the knee is behind the line. (Imagine drawing a line down the middle of the horse's leg to the ground.) Calf-kneed horses are prone to chips in the knee's structures.

    Knock Knees

    • Knock knees is the opposite of bow-legged. Called carpal valgus as well, a knock-kneed horse is one that has one or two knees that are turned outward when viewed from the front. This can be corrected in a foal same as bow legs. Carpal valgus places stress on the inside of the horse's knee.

    Over at the Knee

    • A horse that is over at the knee, when using the same invisible line as for calf knees, has a knee that is placed in front of the line when viewed from the side. This horse always look like his legs are about to fall from underneath him. A foal that is over at the knee can be fitted with splints and casts to help straighten the leg.