Photo: Dr. Robin Peterson Illustration

Tendons and ligaments in the horse are the “belts” and “cables” that hold bones in place and allow the muscles to do their jobs in creating propulsion– forward, backward, sideways, and up and down. Because of the workload often put upon them, tendons and ligaments are frequent sites of injury and disease.

What are tendons and ligaments?

Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary:

• Tendon–A fibrous cord by which muscle is attached to bone.
• Ligament–A band of fibrous tissue that connects bones or cartilages, serving to support and strengthen joints.

To go into detail about every tendon and ligament would fill several textbooks, which is something that’s already been done. Instead, we will concentrate on the tendons and ligaments in the limbs, especially the forelimbs, which often are the sites of injury and disease. We will examine their construction, how they function, and what can happen when some-thing goes awry