Causes of Knock Knees in Horses This condition is caused due to the uneven growth of the leg bones. As the bones grow unevenly the muscles and other bones may attempt to compensate for this uneven growth, causing further deviations and contortion. Early treatment before the bones fuse is essential Read more…
Stifle Joint – The stifle is the equivalent of the human knee and it is the largest, most complex joint in the horse. The bones that make up the stifle are the femur (thigh), tibia (shin) and patella (kneecap). What is the knee joint called on a horse? carpusStifle – Read more…
During prolonged calcium deficiency horses mobilize large amounts of bone mineral primarily from their facial and pelvic bones which become fragile and fibrous connective tissue develops. This fibrous tissue causes their facial bones to swell, giving them a ‘Big Head’ appearance. How do you prevent big head in horses? Treatment Read more…
Elephants are the only animal to have four forward-facing knees. All other four-legged animals have at least one pair of legs with knees that face backwards. Do horses have four knees? They don’t. They have one knee on each front leg. They have the equivalent of an elbow, close to Read more…
The answer is yes, horse can indeed swim. In fact, they are actually very competent swimmers, due to their huge lungs, which enables them to naturally float. Horses have a natural instinct to swim when they hit deep water and readily perform a paddle like action, not too dis-similar from Read more…
At present, in veterinary anatomy, the horse lung is divided into the cranial and caudal lobes by the cardiac notch on either side. In addition to these lobes, in the right lung, the accessory lobe is present. How are the lungs divided? The lungs are the major organs of the Read more…
1. They Can’t Breathe Through the Mouth! Horses, unlike many animals, only breathe through the nose and cannot breathe through the mouth. Why can’t horses breathe through mouth? The horse only breathes through its nostrils. The nasal passages in the horse are separated from the oral (mouth) cavity. Horses only Read more…
Horses are obligate nasal breathers, which means a horse’s breathing during exercise only occurs through his nose. During exercise, it becomes twice as difficult for horses to move air into the lungs, with 50% of the total resistance in the upper airway originating in the nasal passages. One Breath = Read more…
An estimated 14% to 75% of racehorses examined by endoscopy have EIPH. On the basis of a bronchoalveolar lavage analysis, a study suggested that 100% of horses performing strenuous exercise have EIPH. EIPH has been reported in various breeds. How do you prevent EIPH in horses? Some alternatives to furosemide Read more…
Given that horses are obligate nose breathers, oxygen making its way to the lungs must flow through their nasal passages, down the upper respiratory tract, and into the lungs through a network of tubes: trachea, bronchi, the bronchioles and into the alveoli (or air sacs). Why is the horse an Read more…