Desmitis of the wide portion of the sacroiliac ligament in horses

Abstract

Two adult horses, a horse (6 years old, castrated) half-blooded Quarter Horse and a Mangalarga mare (7 years old) showed decreased in step amplitude and lameness of one of the hind limbs (right and left respectively), after work with cattle handling cut (both with Grade I, scale from 0 to 5) in addition, the male presented a slight atrophy in the musculature of the right superficial gluteus; after clinical examination and screening with thermography (done before the animal works, pen and not exposed to any heat source or solar irradiation or any product on the skin surface) no "hot spot" was found either in the right or left limb in both horses, therefore suspecting a "high" lesion, without neurological origin, opting for transrectal pelvic evaluation by ultrasound (6.5 MHz linear rectal transducer) in those animals. Differences were found between the left and right sides in the ligaments, in the images produced by the examination of the wide portions of the sacroiliac ligament, associated with pain on the side corresponding to the change in the image obtained. We can then conclude after thermography, clinical and neurological examination, which excluded any injuries to the hind limbs and that the cause of lameness and the diagnosis of these clinical cases are unilateral desmitis of the wide portions of the sacroiliac ligament, showing the importance of transrectal ultrasound evaluation in cases of pain in the limbs or even high claudication.