Horse anatomy

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Parts of a Horse

Morphology & Locomotive System of a Horse

1-Coronary band 2-Walls 3-Toe 4-Quarter 5-Heel 6-Bulb 7-Small pastern (P2 = Phalanx 2)

1- Heel perioplium, 2-Bulb, 3-Frog, 4-Frog cleft, 5-Lateral groove, 6-Heel, 7-Bar, 8-Seat-of-corn, 9-Pigmented walls 10-Water line, 11-White line, 12-Apex of the frog, 13-Sole, 14-Toe, 15-How to measure hoof width (blue dotted line), 16-Quarter, 17-How to measrure length (blue dotted line)

The anatomy of the horse comes with a large number of horse specific terms.

• withers: the highest point of the thoracic vertebrae, the point just above the tops of the shoulder blades. Seen best with horse standing square and head slightly lowered. The tops of the two shoulder blades and the space between them define the withers. Should be even with the croup, otherwise a "sway-back" may be present. The height of the horse is measured at the withers in "hands."
• mane and forelock: long and relatively coarse hair growing from the dorsal ridge of the neck, lying on either the left or right side of the neck, and the continuation of that hair on the top of the head, where it generally hangs forward. (See illustration.)
• dock: the point where the tail connects to the rear of the horse.
• flank: Where the hind legs and the barrel of the horse meet.
• pastern: The connection between the coronet and the fetlock. Made up of the middle and proximal phalanx.
• fetlock: Sometimes called the "ankle" of the horse, though it is not the same skeletal structure as an ankle in humans. Known to anatomists as the metacarpophalangeal joint.
• coronet: The part of the leg just above the hoof and below the pastern.
• hoof: The foot of the horse. The hoof wall is the tough outside covering of the hoof that comes into contact with the ground.
• cannon: The area between the knee or hock and the fetlock joint, sometimes called the "shin" of the horse, though technically it is the metacarpal III.
• muzzle: the chin, mouth, and nostrils make up the muzzle on the horse's face.
• crest: the upper portion of the neck where the mane grows.
• poll: the portion of the horse's neck right behind the ears.
• throatlatch: The point at which the windpipe meets the head at the underside of the jaw.
• hock: Hindlimb equivalent to the Heel, the main joint on the hind leg.
• stifle: The patella, corresponds to the kneecap of a human.
• gaskin: also known as the "second thigh," the large muscle on the hind leg, just above the hock, below the stifle.
• chestnut: a callousity on the inside of each leg
• frog: the highly elastic wedge-shaped mass on the underside of the hoof, which normally makes contact with the ground every stride, supports both the locomotion and circulation of the horse.

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