Principles of Ultrasonography of Tendons and Ligaments in the Horse

Equine lameness due to soft tissue disorders commonly occurs in the forelimbs,particularly involving the palmar metacarpal tendons and ligaments.Ultrasonographic diagnosis has proved highly popular as an easy, safe, non-invasivemethod of detecting these lesions, permitting not only their morphologic evaluationbut, more importantly, their observation over time.This paper presents a basic review of ultrasonography of tendons and ligaments ofthe equine limb especially of palmar/plantar metacarpus/metatarsus and pastern.