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  Discussion on Research Summary: Horsebacks ridden vs unridden
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DrO

Posted on Wednesday, May 2, 2007 - 9:12 am:

Here is a confusing study that using ultrasound examined the supraspinous ligament of 3 groups of horses: unridden with no back problems, ridden with no problems, and ridden with clinical signs of back pain. The supraspinatus ligament is a major structure of the horses back that runs down the top of the bony processes that stick up from the spine. The first surprise is that unridden horses had more lesions than ridden-sound horses, though the differences were not significant. The second surprise is that the ridden horses with clinical signs of back pain had the same number of lesions as the unridden horses. There were no significant differences in lesions in the 3 groups. The presence of US lesions of the supraspinatus ligament does not seem to have much clinical significance.
DrO

BMC Vet Res. 2007 Mar 1;3(1):3
Ultrasonographic evaluation of the supraspinous ligament in a series of ridden and unridden horses and horses with unrelated back pathology.

Henson FM, Lamas L, Knezevic S, Jeffcott LB.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Injury to the supraspinous ligament (SSL) is reported to cause back pain in the horse. The diagnosis is based on clinical examination and confirmed by ultrasonographic examination. The ultrasonographic appearance of the supraspinous ligament has been well described, but there are few studies that correlate ultrasonographic findings with clinical pain and/or pathology. This preliminary study aims to test the hypothesis that unridden horses (n=13) have a significantly reduced incidence in ultrasonographic changes of SSL desmitis when compared to ridden horses (n=13) and those with clinical signs of back pain (n=13. Results The supraspinous ligament of all horses was imaged between T6-T18 and ultrasonographic appearance . There was an average of 2.08 abnormal images per horse from the whole group. The average number of abnormalities in unridden horses was 4.92, in ridden horses 2.92 and in horses with clinical back pain 4.69. No lesions were found between T6 and T10 and 68% of lesions were found between T14 and T17. No significant difference (p<0.05) was found between the three groups in the number or location of abnormal images. Conclusions: The main conclusion was that every horse in this study (n=39) had at least one site of SSL desmitis (range 2 to 11). It was clear that ultrasonographically diagnosed SSL desmitis cannot be considered as prima facie evidence of clinically significant disease and further evidence is required for a definitive diagnosis.
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