Equine Review

Hawkins et al (2021) have recently published a retrospective study into the clinical features and outcomes in horses with straight and oblique distal sesamoidean ligament injuries. Improvements in ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have improved detection of these injuries. This study included 51 horses, presented over a 17-year period. It found that lameness was usually unilateral and mild for both straight and oblique distal sesamoidean ligament (SDSL and ODSL) injuries. Horses with ODSL injuries were usually (79% of cases) painful on palpation of the proximal aspect of the ligament with the limb non-weight bearing, whereas 44% of horses with SDSL injuries were painful in the midline (over the deep digital flexor tendon). Horses with ODSL injuries tended to have fetlock or digital flexor tendon sheath effusions (67%); but this was the case in only 33% of SDSL injuries. Distal limb flexion exacerbated the lameness in 93% of cases.