cutting the annular ligament?

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Miramis

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Our wee welshie suffered an acute injury to her annular ligament which after 16 weeks is still causing problems.After 12 weeks of box rest and controlled exercise she was sound (although still swollen) she is once again lame for the last few weeks (2/5ths) Today scans showed no improvement from her initial scans and its been suggested that the best option is to cut the ligament and clean everything up.

Anyone had this done to their horse/pony and how did they recover? Did they get back to full work?

Any info appreciated, Ang x
 
I know of two horses who had this operation. Both subsequently broke down very badly and were destroyed.

Not an op I would ever consider, I'm afraid.
 
My pony had this op in may, a month after he became unlevel in trot. The op went well but 2 days later he had colic surgery after reaction to the anaesthetic.The colic surgery went well but then he got laminitis from the stress of two ops. We are now into the 5th month and he's spent the morning in the field and I have walked him out for 20 minutes this afternoon . I hope your pony is ok.Sorry I can't put photos on (not good with computer)
 
Have you tried the steroid injection? I had the option of that or surgery - was about 5 years ago now and I was advised to try the injection, it was successful and you would never know there had been anything wrong, she is now 21 and in full work - really occasionally if we do too much road work or just overdo things her 'bad leg' gets a bit puffy but it always goes down after rest/gentle exercise.
 
My boy had an acute injury to his annular ligament which I was told is rare as normally annular ligament problems are through wear and tear, like carpal tunnel in humans.

He had box rest and tensolvet initially, then shock wave and came sound for 2 weeks, then lame again.

I opted for surgery as the fluid had turned fiborous and the only option was to remove it. When I saw the surgeon he said he would do both front legs as the other leg showed thickening. So he had full surgery on the injured one and keyhole on the other.

That was in April 2011 and he has been sound without a problem since :D
 
mine had similar to Pasha - an acute injury to his left hind annular ligament. No improvement with shockwave, cartrophen, rest etc - in fact getting worse so opted for the op. He had both legs cut as other leg slightly thickened. Did really well for 6mths then had severe setback when came in really lame from the field. Had prolonged period of time off (by this point was 21yrs old) and then came back into work again. Did a full season of showing aged 24 and won almost everything I entered him in. Is getting a bit old and creaky now (26 now) so no more showing but still hacking out enthusiastically 3 times a week. I had the choice between op or PTS as he was deteriorating - am so glad I went for the op. I know a lot of people wouldn't given he was 20yrs old but he was otherwise very fit and healthy and he's still with me now and still happy as larry :D

amymay - this is a really really common op and it's very unusual to have complications from it - prognosis is excellent. Very unlucky to know 2 horses it hasn't worked for.
 
Thanks for all the replies so far!

'pasha' & 'Star'

Thats really interesting to hear your scenario's with your horses as our pony's injury is also an acute injury which she sustained in the field. Her scans the other day showed no problems with her tendons etc just the annular ligament extremely thickened. Her opposite side was scanned also and it is fine thankfully.

She did come sound initially and after 10 weeks of box rest and controlled exercise in hand she was allowed out into a pen (sedated as shes a bit of a hyper pony!) She also came back into gentle work and was doing well...however the swelling never went down completely and now although a little less it feels hard and tight and she is lame again. Vet said she isnt sore its just restriction from the tight ligament.

I have been offered the steroid to try, however my vet thinks it will only mask the problem for a short while.

Can i ask those who have gone down the surgery route what the aftercare procedure was like? How long did it take to get your horses back into full work?

Ang x
 
My welsh pony had exactly the same injury as yours,thickening but with no damage to tendons.He had tenoscopy and should have had 2 months box rest followed by a month walking out. As he had colic op and laminitis he actually had 3 months box rest .The first few walks out to graze in hand were pretty lively but he soon settled down. He is restricted to walking for next two weeks but then he should be back to normal. I put magnetic wraps on his hind legs at night.
 
post op care was fine. He stayed in for a few days for antibotics but didn't come home on any medication. He had big thick bandages on his lower limbs for 10days then we removed them and took his staples out - the wounds were only about 1.5inches long and had healed fine. He was on box rest with in hand walking which quickly led to tiny paddock rest as he box walks and weaves for England. He was back in full work within 6mths and bear in mind he was 21 by this stage so did take things nice and easy with him.
 
The surgeon wont know 100% if there is tendon damage or not until they go in (at least that is what I was told). Luckily my boy didn't have any!

He did 10 days box rest with in hand grazing whilst his staples were in and bandages on. He then did 6 weeks box rest with in hand walking twice per day, building up to 30 minutes. Then he went into a 20 x 20 grazing pen for 6 weeks and started walk work under saddle which i had to build up to an hour and a half with 15 mins trotting.

After that the vet gave him the all clear and he was back out in the field and could start getting fit, which didn't take long due to all the walking :D We did a 23km Endurance Training ride 8 weeks later within the time :D

The main danger with this surgery is that they have to be kept moving to avoid new tissue attaching to the tendons and restricting their range of movement, but at the same time the tendons are not protected (as the annular ligament is a like a band that goes around the tendons keeping everything in place). My vet said he's only seen 2 cases where the horses went lame again and both times they had escaped during the box rest faze, galloped off and severely damaged their tendons :(

My boy was a complete sod and constantly bucked and cantered around me and in his stable, but thankfully he healed ok!
 
Thanks for all the info :-) Im waiting on my vet getting back to me as she has sent all Frankie's scans to the surgeon to see what he thinks. Hopefully that will help make my mind up as what to do!

My main concern is the aftercare as Frankie is a bit of a hyper pony!!

I also need to get a cost for the surgery as i dont want to end up over my insurance limit.
 
Our cob had op in March 2011 and we were back riding him after 6 weeks of surgery-as other posters say, to keep him moving. He was very good, just burst staples on arrival home - vet out the same day to patch up! He recovered full soundness and has been to 2 BD regionals since then and BD D2M nationals. We were told never to jump or lunge him. He did go lame in June, supposed tendonitis, but skin is so thick due to mites (think Norah Batty stockings), damage - before we had him, that the scan showed nothing. He is now back in full work and hoping to go to competitions very soon. would opt for again - BTW swimming was REALLY helpful. we went 12 times, once a week, once he could be ridden again. I don't think he particularly enjoyed the last swims and began to get a bit boisterous before he went in!!! But they really improved his fitness with low impact.
 
Just wanted to update...

Our pony ended up having her ligament cut 2 weeks before Christmas as she was still very lame.

Pleased to say vet passed her as completely sound just under 2 weeks ago :-) been a long haul, lots of walking in hand. she has been ridden for the first time last week and was very well behaved!

We are just delighted that the op was a success ..hopefully it will stay that way!!


Thanks everyone for the advice and private messages x
 
I know this is quite an old thread, but my lovely mare is going in for an annular ligament tenoscopy today and I have been trawling through HHO for information and support on this condition. For background on her, she is 13 year old Fjord mare, who competes up to 1M SJ, XC and all PC events. never had any previous lameness (I have full history) but has had slight tendon swelling offside fore for about 5 weeks, we think brought on after mucking about around the field. we tried icing and box rest etc there was some improvement but still 2/10 lame in trot. she went to the vets yesterday for scanning and nerve blocks and they could see no obvious tendon damage but it showed up a very thickened Annular ligament which vet thinks is constricting the tendon. so she is going for her op this afternoon, all very scary stuff as never had a lame horse like this before, but vet feels this is the best option, he said untill he goes in won't know 100% if DDFT is involved also and we are hoping not as the long term prognosis for coming back into full work is much poorer and she is such a lovely girly who thrives on her work I cannot see her being a paddock ornament. would love to hear of any other positive outcomes and some HHO vibes please
 
Good luck with your mare.Just to update on my previous posts my pony is back to normal now.At his first show in April the Judge commented on his fantastic action so you can imagine how pleased I was.Mr T didn't have any tendon damage and I spent months hand walking him after the op.I hope everything goes well for you X
 
Thank youso much to both of you for the updates, it really helps to know others have come through this well, as an update, my girly had the surgery yesterday, there was no DDFT damage, which is what he was concerned about but they found a minor tear in her manica flexoria which they sorted out and also cut the annular ligament as it was very thickened and restricting the tendon. vet is very pleased and thinks at this stage her outlook is very good. so fingers crossed, she will come home Saturday, then three weeks box rest, three weeks walk in hand and hopefully start ridden work and getting back to fitness by end of 12 weeks. so a long road ahead but fingers crossed she will be back to her normal self ;-))
 
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