Annular Ligament Syndrome - HELP!!

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Liz_B

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Hi everyone, my horse is 15 yrs old and has been lame for two weeks. He was lame for 4 days a year ago with the same leg but was back in work and there have been no problems until two weeks ago. The vet has done a scan and says it's annular ligament syndrome that will probably require surgery. First we're going to rest him for another three weeks on complete box rest and an aggressive dose of bute to try and get the swelling down. She also recommended bandaging the leg at night. Does anyone have any advice? I don't know whether to pursue the surgery which is obviously risky and might not work completely or to see if rest works. Are there any other treatments available such as physio or any supplements that might help? Any advice would be gratefully received!
Thanks
 
My eventer got this at the end of one season. I decided against surgery as I didnt want the added risk. He recovered and evented again within a fairly short space of time- he was off work for 4 weeks (turned out but should have been on box rest according to vets advice) Then bought gradually back into work. He wasnt lame again but he was never quite the same- I dont know if it was the ligament causing some pressure (had full lameness work up and nothing showed) or something else.
 
My mare had a problem with her annular ligament 18 months ago which also caused damage to her SDFT. The ligament was over twice the size it should have been on the scan and my vet was very pessimistic on recovery and certainly said it would never return to its normal size.

It was a very long haul (but a lot of that was for the tendon), she had 2 months box rest and 9 months paddock rest in total with lots of scans and some shock wave therapy at the end of it for her tendon.

For the annular ligament though, it had halved in size by the 4/5 month scan, but my vet was still talking about surgery at that point. However, at the 11 month scan pre starting her back in work, the annular ligament had gone back to normal much to my vet's surprise.

We have therefore not gone for surgery, although she obviously did have a very long time off and she is now back in work and just starting canter. At her recent scan in January she was signed off by the vet and I have been told to treat her like a normal horse and gradually increase her workload.

The thing that I think (but cannot prove) helped my mare's annular ligament to return to normal despite vet predicitions, was the twice daily use of a Bioscan Light Therapy boot for 15/20 mins. (http://www.wholehorse.co.uk/acatalog/Bioscan_Fetlock-Ankle_Saver.html)

I actually managed to get half of the cost of this boot on insurance and still use it once or twice a day either before or after exercise or turnout.

I can't prove it, but I firmly believe it has helped keep her leg down and the annular ligament heal.

Good luck.
 
my boy got annular ligament problems aged 20. he was lame left hind when i got him in from the field. had him scanned and his left hind annular ligament was humongous and his right hind bigger than normal. he didn't have tendon problems, just inflammation of the ligament. we tried rest, cartrophen jabs, shockwave etc and nothing worked. He went lame in May. after all that we went for surgery in August because he was just getting worse in the field and I could bear to watch him deteriorating. It was eiher try surgery or PTS and he was still insured so I went for it. Followed the recovery plan to the letter and all went fine for 6mths and then got him in from the field and he was absolutely crippled and could hardly move - think he pulled it treading on a rut in the field. It got better fairly quiclly but he remained slightly lame. I turned him away at a stud keeping youngsters company for 18months. Now, nearly 2 yrs after he went lame that 2nd time he is now hacking out twice a week fairly gently and aged 23 he looks pretty good
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We had the op last year and my mare is completely sound. The Annular ligament is like a hair scrunchie which goes around the fetlock to keep the tendons in place (I will never look at a wind gall the same)! My mare had a hole in her SDFT and once the annular ligament was cut, she could begin rehab. Jen, my vet gave me a full rehab programme for 12 weeks.

I am wondering why your vet has recommended bandaging - the swollen ligament will be producing heat and by bandaging it will not help?

I am not an expert or vet and would recommend you get advice from an equine specialist.
 
Hi, a lady on our yards arab has this problem. He is now semi retired but is sound enough to hack. He is bandaged when turned out and was bandaged in the stable too until recently. It has reoccured a couple of times but he is sound again in a few weeks. She does give him haldf a danilon a day but Im not sure if this is due to his annular ligament problem or something else. He is 19 now.
 
My mare was bandaged on her leg for at least 6 months and even now, I boot her in sports medicine type boots for turnout and boot or bandage for exercise (I know probably more for my benefit than hers).

I think it depends on the vet as to the advice, as another horse on my yard had a problem with his annular ligament and the vet didn't instruct bandaging at all, however, he was PTS fairly quickly by the owner, so I don't know what the outcome would have been.

My understanding at the time was that it was beneficial to try to reduce the swelling as much as possible, to prevent even more pressure on the tendons underneath the ligament, but I may have got that wrong, as I had a bit of information overload at the time!
 
My mare had the op 2 years ago, it had damaged her DDFT too. She is now 100% sound and has been in full work for a year. We use a magnet band a few months after the op which although not proven the vet thinks it helped alot.
 
Hi, thanks for all of the information. The vet recommended the bandaging as another way to try and reduce the swelling but I might get a second opinion as well. He's been on the bute for 5 days now and he does seem a bit more comfortable although the swelling is still obvious and he's clearly lame in walk.
 
My vet was very strict about bandaging to try to prevent anymore inflammation and enlargement of the annular ligament, as this can have serious consequences I believe on the tendons underneath (as I found out with my mare!)

I'd personally carry on bandaging as long as possible, as I said, my mare certainly wasn't out of full support bandaging for the two months she was on box rest, and then for the first half of her paddock rest (so 4 months approx).

She also didn't come sound for about 7 months, but that was complicated by the tendon injury.
 
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