Retrospective Study of Distal Limb Tendon and Ligament Injuries Detected Using Ultrasound in Friesian Horses Admitted to a University Hospital (2003 2012)

Introduction
The tendons of friesian horses have been reported to be more elastic compared to previously reported data in thoroughbreds (1). this would suggest that their tendons and likely also their ligaments would demonstrate an injury incidence different from those found in other horse breeds. therefore, the aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate aseptic, closed tendon and ligament injuries as found in a large group of friesian horses presented to utrecht university equine clinic over a longer time period.

Material and Methods
A group of (n=49) friesian horses (fH) admitted to utrecht university in the period 2003-2012 with tendon and ligament injuries diagnosed using ultrasound were included in this study. the mean age of the horses was 10,4 years. the retrospective study in Warmblood (WB, sport) and Standardbred (SB, race) horses of Van den Belt et al. (2) was used to provide reference groups.

Results
It appeared that the percentage of SDft lesions in fH was 18%, while in WB this was 32% and in SB 37%. intersesamoidean ligament (iSL) desmitis was found in 16% of the fH and only in the hind limbs, in contrast to the WB and SB horses where no iSL injuries were reported.

Conclusions
The incidence of injury to the intersesamoidean ligament was much higher in friesian horses than in other breeds. However, injury to the SDft was much less common in friesian horses compared to Warmbloods and Standardbreds. thus, friesian horses seem to incur different tendon injuries than other breeds and it is tempting to suggest that these differences are possibly related to the different biomechanical properties of their tendons.