What are the ligaments on the sides of joints that bind the bones of the leg together?

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Collateral ligaments lie on the inner and outer sides of a joint, binding the bones together and stabilizing the joint against sideways forces. In the horse’s leg, you’ll see medial and lateral collateral ligaments at major joints like the fetlock, hock, and stifle, which help keep the limb aligned during weight-bearing and movement by resisting varus (inward) and valgus (outward) stresses. This side-by-side binding role is what sets them apart from other ligaments: capsular ligaments reinforce the joint capsule as a whole, sesamoidean ligaments connect the sesamoid bones and support the fetlock’s suspensory system, and pastern ligaments relate to structures in the pastern region but not specifically the side-binding ligaments of joints.