Surgical stripping Your veterinarian will make a small incision on your horse’s leg above the growth plate. This procedure works by lifting the membrane from the bone; this releases the tension on the growth plates and encourages growth. In successful cases, this allows the growth of the leg to catch Read more…
Riding over raised poles (cavaletti) is helpful for developing strength in the horse that has weak stifles or hocks. The slow action of lifting the hind legs up and over the pole will strengthen the Tensor muscle as well as the Long Digital Extensor. Both muscle groups are responsible for Read more…
Also known as calf knee, a conformation fault where, when viewed from the side, the horse’s knee is behind an imaginary vertical line dropped down from the front and top of the foreleg. What are horse’s knees called? The horse’s carpus, or knee, consists of a number of small bones Read more…
Backing the horse will often remove the tension from the ligament and cause the patella to release. In severe cases the leg can remain stuck in extension, however the condition is often more mild and will appear as intermittent hopping as the patella catches and then unlocks during the stride. Read more…
Not every equine with a serious leg injury is a candidate for this option, but for horses with the right type of amputation, an artificial limb can allow many pain-free years in the pasture. Limb prosthetics for horses are usually constructed of carbon graphite with a titanium post. Why can’t Read more…
Digitigrade species walk with most of the length of their digits, but not the soles of their feet, in contact with the ground. Dogs and cats are examples. Unguligrade species walk on their tiptoes, often on hooves. Deer and horses are examples. What animals have digitigrade legs? A digitigrade animal Read more…
Thanks to specialized legs, however, a horse can lock its knees and fall asleep standing up — without falling over! A horse’s fear of predators also leads it to do most of its sleeping during the day. Do horses lock their legs to sleep? To protect themselves, horses instead doze Read more…
In the normal horse, the patella’s function is to sometimes ‘lock’ in an upward position when the medial patella ligament hooks over a ridge on the end of the femur. This is the reason that horses can sleep standing up, or rest one leg for long periods. Do horses lock Read more…
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”. How many knees does a horse have? Fun fact: Horses only have Read more…
The ergot is a small callosity (Calcar metacarpeum and Calcar metatarseum) on the underside of the fetlock of a horse or other equine. Some equines have them on all four fetlocks; others have few or no detectable ergots. What is the leg of a horse called? hind legsThe front legs Read more…