The carrying hind leg bends easily in all seven joints. How should a horses back legs look? Viewed from the rear when the horse is standing squarely, each hind leg should be straight–from buttock to hoof. All the joints should be in a straight line. How do horses legs bend? Read more…
What are Meniscus and Meniscal Ligament Injuries? Meniscal injuries are the most common cause of lameness seen in the stifle joint, which can be mild to chronically severe. Horses that routinely jump, often while performing, are at a high risk of stifle joint damage. Can a horse recover from a Read more…
Cow-hocked This flaw – a result of the medial section of bones of the tarsus growing more quickly than the lateral part – causes the hind legs to be narrow at the hocks and base-wide from the hocks to the hooves. Can you correct cow hocks in horses? The deformity Read more…
Draft animals are used for work, and being cow-hocked helps pull a load because the animal can more easily get it’s feet under themselves to aid in pulling. However, when severe cow-hocks are present, the leg’s bony column doesn’t line up, and the limb’s ability to handle loading forces is Read more…
Rendering/Carcass Disposal: Vendors who will pick up and remove deceased horses from an owner’s property and dispose of the carcass. Please note: Many vendors serve large geographic areas, some of which cross multiple states. What does it mean to render a horse? Rendering is a process that converts waste animal Read more…
The lower surface of the hoof, from the outer walls and the inner frog and bars, is covered by an exfoliating keratinised material, called the ‘sole’. Just below the coronet, the walls are covered for about an inch by a cornified, opaque ‘periople’ material. What is horse sole made of? Read more…
(Photo 2.) The loin is the area between the ribs and pelvis on either side of the spine. Humans typically have five lumbar vertebrae whereas most horses have six. What is the loins on a horse? The loin is located between the last rib and the croup. It should be Read more…
Horse headsetters help to shape and position a horse. There is a wide variety of western horse training equipment that aids the rider in achieving a balanced horse. How do I keep my horses head down? For the “head down” cue, move the inside rein up toward the midline of Read more…
shoulder. Withers. The withers are at the top of the shoulder where the neck joins the body. The ‘lump’ seen on many horses is the top of the spiny process of the tallest thoracic vertebrae. What is the top of a horse called? Horse withers – the highest point The Read more…
At any given time, 30 to 40 different hormones are in distribution in your horse’s blood stream, orchestrating energy usage, water and mineral balance, heart rate and blood pressure, growth and sexual development, reproduction and stress reactions. Do mares get hormonal? Any mare that is cycling normally can have hormonal Read more…