Constriction of annular ligament

E

Eyore

New Member
May 2, 2006
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Surrey
had the vet out last week who after scanning my horse has said she has a constriction of the annular ligament in one of her hind legs. At first he said the only option was surgery which involves cutting the ligament but after checking with another vet at the practice has now said it may be possible to inject the tendon sheath with steriods which will involve a long period of box rest but obviously is not quite as drastic as surgery. He wants to come out this week and give the first lot of injections with another lot 5 weeks later. During this time she will continue to be on box rest and then hopefully I will be able to start walking her out in hand.

Has anyone had experience of this (surgery or injections) and did their horse recover ok and become sound again. I'm so worried about her.
 
sounds interesting.

one of our ponies has a suspected strain of her annular ligament, after 6 weeks off work at grass she's come sound (30 year old section A). I think it's a particularly difficult site to treat as it acts like a sling arouns the fetlock and has some interaction with the interosseous, so i should imagine surgery is quite drastic.

I'd be interested to know how things go.

Sorry I'm no help

good luck

HH
 
My 21 yr old connemara had the surgery it was in her front leg, she had the annular ligament severed to try and resume her jumping career but she can never be jumped again as it didn't work.

Also the leg is stiff and looks very lame but after 10 mins on the lunge it suddenly just frees up.
Then she can be ridden as normal. She has to be warmed up fully before riding her and the vet said the more work for her the better. She looks and rides like a 5yr old!
 
My 9 year old welsh cob had just gone lame again from a previous annular ligament strain in her off fore fetlock which she did end Oct 05. She had the usual box rest, bute, bandanges, hand walking from December and ridden walking from Jan 06, gradually increased her work and got her really fit and slim. Has done her first few fun rides with no problem at all with the first two on quite soft going on 14th and 30th April but went lame again after her next ride on 7th May which was mostly stoney bridleways. Prior to Oct she'd gone lame on the beach in Feb 05 but no scans or xrays were done and she recovered in about 6 weeks so I think that maybe hard ground aggravates it more - does this sound right. The windgall swelling that seems to have come up this week goes down with exercise and she wears her magnet boots most of the day. Question is do I agree to this operation to cut the ligament or should I wait until she comes sound again and see what sort of terrain makes her lame next so I can try to avoid it? or should I just get the operation done? She has never been lame in walk and I'm worried that the op could make her worse if it doesn't work. Have I given her enough light work to recover? What percentage of success did the vet give you?

Desperately trying to find out about as many peoples personal experience of this as possible before I make a decision.

Really Appreciated any input.

VW
 
my horse has just been diagnosed with primary annular ligament desmitis. he doesn't have any tendon sheath swelling, just a big annular ligament. the ultrasound scan showed damage to the fibres and an area of fluid. he is a 20yr old Welsh section D who was doing Elem dressage and sponsored rides, jumping 2ft3-2ft6. Previously did his proximal suspensory ligament in the other hind leg. The annular ligament is a bit swollen in that leg too, but nothing like it is in the lame leg. He's not very lame, but is worse after flexion and too lame to ride. He's having shockwave and injections of Cartrophen. He's also having topical DMSO with steroids in it. He's turned out in a small pen because he goes nuts in a stable and he's having 15mins in-hand walking twice a day. We've done 2weeks so far and he walks out really well, but haven't trotted him up. We discounted the surgery because of his age. I dont really know much about this disease. Any experiences welcome. I will be really happy if I can just get him back to hacking and showing as I think his dressage and jumping days are over.
 
You might be interested to hear my tale. I have a 13 yo Welsh Section D mare who had never been lame in her life. Then in February of 2005 she went lame in her n/s hind fetlock. The vet scanned it and said there was no damage to the tendon but she had strained the tendon sheath which was very swollen. So she had 8 weeks box rest, then out in field and walking etc. She got back into normal work and then in July of that year she went lame again. Think she should have been scanned again at the end of the first 8 weeks box rest to see if the tendon sheath was recovered – obviously hadn’t. So another 8 weeks of box rest. After that she seemed sound but then went lame again in the autumn. I felt the vet had given up on her as he said the prognosis was poor. So I got a second opinion from an old vet of mine (marvellous leg man) as luckily the mare was insured.

He said the problems was caused by loads of scar tissue in the tendon sheath and the only way forward was surgery, an ancillary ligament desmotomy I think it was called. That was just before Xmas so she had the operation early in January. Was in hospital about 10 days during which time she was walked out in hand daily. Vet said he was pleased with the surgery and had removed all the scar tissue he could find. Once she came out it was hand walking for ages daily. That said the vet was the most important part of the recovery. If the horse is not exercised regularly the scar tissue will build up again. After a couple of weeks she had to be ridden walked and then trotted for short periods – even if she felt lame. The vet came several; times during this period and pronounced himself pleased with progress. Eventually he pronounced her 98% sound (about two months after the op) and we were all so pleased and amazed at her recovery. Mind you she did drop a lot of condition after the surgery which is normal I know.

Now she seems as sound as a pound and six months on she is in light work, walk and trot and a bit of canter which we are building up. I find lungeing is helpful particularly with canter she can regulate her own pace. She was an excellent jumper before the injury but we have decided that her jumping days are done.

The thought of surgery filled me with horror at first, but the vet said it was our only option. The insurance paid for the operation but I had to finance the daily walking and riding as I am at work all day. I am really pleased with the result and six months down the line she remains sound. I try to do things to strengthen her leg but not put undue pressure on it yet (as in a lot of striking off in canter).

So can thoroughly recommend the surgery – it certainly is worth a try.

Snowflake
 
just come back from the vets with my boy (20yr old Welsh Section D). Lame near hind too. We have ruled out the annular ligament desmotomy because of his age - I just cant put him through surgery with no guarentee of success. We re-scanned him today. He has had 7wks paddock rest and a couple of shockwaves, plus cartrophens. He has a fluidy area between the tendon sheath and the annular ligament and a big adhesion too which the shockwave doesn't seem to have done anything too. We've run out of options now. I cant put him through the surgery at his age so I'm going to have to retire him which is very sad because he's extremely healthy and fit for his age apart from this dratted ligament.
 
I have a horse who had a severe laceration to his tendon sheath, hind fetlock and had acute surgery to avoid infection. The operation went well although the surgeon noted that the annular ligament was severed and therefore decided to remove it altogether. He was placed in a cast after the operation and placed on box rest for a couple of weeks. After this time, the cast was changed to a bandage and placed in a small yard which was followed by daily hand walking. He had significant swelling but the vet surgeon said the prognosis was really good and that it would take about 4 months for recovery. Well, 7 months later he has significant synovial fluid behind his pastern and around the fetlock area. I feel that an important step was missed with his post-op recovery, the development of scar tissue and constrictions and now we are dealing with that. The vet surgeon told me that he can do a tenoscopy but says the prognosis now is poor. I'm not happy to say the least as I spent significant money on him only as he was giving me a good initial prognosis. He is currently spelling in the paddock and is a happy paddock ornament but is lame 2/5. I'm currently investigating shock wave therapy as possible treatment but unsure whether it's worth the try :(
 
VXW said:
My 9 year old welsh cob had just gone lame again from a previous annular ligament strain in her off fore fetlock which she did end Oct 05. She had the usual box rest, bute, bandanges, hand walking from December and ridden walking from Jan 06, gradually increased her work and got her really fit and slim. Has done her first few fun rides with no problem at all with the first two on quite soft going on 14th and 30th April but went lame again after her next ride on 7th May which was mostly stoney bridleways. Prior to Oct she'd gone lame on the beach in Feb 05 but no scans or xrays were done and she recovered in about 6 weeks so I think that maybe hard ground aggravates it more - does this sound right. The windgall swelling that seems to have come up this week goes down with exercise and she wears her magnet boots most of the day. Question is do I agree to this operation to cut the ligament or should I wait until she comes sound again and see what sort of terrain makes her lame next so I can try to avoid it? or should I just get the operation done? She has never been lame in walk and I'm worried that the op could make her worse if it doesn't work. Have I given her enough light work to recover? What percentage of success did the vet give you?

Desperately trying to find out about as many peoples personal experience of this as possible before I make a decision.

Really Appreciated any input.

VW
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Hi I had the surgery done on our 10 yr old cob both hinds. That was June last year, we did the 3 months box rest and slow progress to bring back into work and he started small amounts of cantering in the school in January. He was supposed to be back in full work this Easter. However middle of March he went lane on the front and now has this on the front legs too!! So now I am in a quandary do I pay another 4.5k for surgery, another year of recovery? I live him though 😢
 
@Cindy474 hello, welcome to New Rider. I have to tell you this is a very old thread - Original Post in 2008 - and may not get much attention as a result. I'm so sorry to hear about your horse's problems - why not start a new post to attract the most comment?
 
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