What are the parts of a horses leg?

Asked by: Lauren Santiago

What are the parts of a horse leg called?

Each hind limb of the horse runs from the pelvis to the navicular bone. After the pelvis come the femur (thigh), patella, stifle joint, tibia, fibula, tarsal (hock) bone and joint, large metatarsal (cannon) and small metatarsal (splint) bones.

What is the lower part of a horses leg called?

Heel:The middle part of the hoof is called the heel on a horse. Hock: The joint on the hind leg of a horse that acts like a human ankle. Hoof: The foot of the horse or the part of the foot that touches the ground. Knee: On the front legs of a horse, the part that does the same thing as a knee on a human.

What is a horses Shin called?

Underlying the stifle area is the stifle joint formed between the large hip bone (femur) which is equivalent to our thigh bone and the tibia. The horse’s tibia is equivalent to our shin bone. The stifle joint somewhat resembles a human knee.

What is the left front leg of a horse called?

Now, this forward leg is also called the ‘grazing leg‘ and carries most of the weight. And the hoof that carries less weight is often more steeply shaped. With adult horses, their hoof preference is often less clear.

What are horses knees called?

Carpal Joint – The carpus (carpal joint) on a horse is commonly referred to as the “knee” which is only on the front legs. The tarsus is the corresponding joint on the hind leg, commonly called the “hock”.

What are hocks on a horse?

The “hock” is a horseman’s term for the tarsus, an anatomic region of the horse’s hind limb. Horses of all breeds, types, and disciplines can suffer from hock-related lameness problems, especially those that work heavily off of their hind limbs.

What is the ankle of a horse called?

horses fetlock

A ‘horses fetlock‘ is a name of a joint between the horses cannon bone and pastern bone and is ‘the ankle’ of a horse. At the rear of the fetlock joint is a small bone called the sesamoid. Unlike humans ankles, the horse’s leg has no muscles and are in fact more similar to our fingers than our arms or legs.

What are the 15 main parts of a horse?

1. Name the 15 main parts of a horse.

• Muzzle.
• Pole.
• Crest.
• Withers.
• Croup.
• Dock.
• Girth.
• Barrel.

Where is the pastern on a horse?

The pastern is the area between the hoof and the fetlock joint.

What is the stifle on a horse?

The stifle is the horse’s equivalent to the human knee, and is therefore the junction between the bottom of the femur and the top of the tibia. The patella (knee cap) is a mobile structure that glides over the joint surface during locomotion, but can also be locked in position by various ligaments and tendons.

What does a stifle injury look like?

Initially, signs of stifle lameness are often subtle. Horses may seem off when taken out of their stalls, but get better as they continue working. A long period of stall rest and subsequent loss of muscle and ligament tone may exacerbate the problem. Reluctance to work may prove an early indicator of a stifle issue.

What is a horse patella?

What is the patella? The horse’s stifle joint is analogous to the human knee. Just like humans, horses have a patella, or “knee cap”, which slides along the distal aspect of the femur (thigh bone) during flexion of the joint.