Equine Anatomy Flashcards
1
Q
Two facets of Conformation
A
- skeleton- cannot be changed
2. muscles and deposits of fat- can be manipulated with by exercise, feed and drugs.
2
Q
Many of the AQHA breeding programs are designed to raise horses to compete in a specific event
A
True
3
Q
Most breeds want a horse with a long underline and a ___________ back.
A
Short
4
Q
Most breeds want a horse with the hips __________ than the withers.
A
lower
5
Q
The pastern should be the same slope as the _______________.
A
Shoulders
6
Q
__________ hocks make a horse more a better athlete.
A
Low
7
Q
How many bones are in a horses Body?
A
205
8
Q
Each bone has a thin, strong membrane covering the bone called the ________.
A
periosteum
9
Q
A joint that moves toward the midline of the body is called..
A
Adduction
10
Q
Fascia
A
connective tissue
11
Q
One end of the muscle is called it’s origin and is usually less moveable than the insertion end
A
True
12
Q
Confirmation
A
Overall body shape and form
13
Q
Balance
A
each part is proportional with another . This can be see by dividing the horse into thirds.
- The point of the shoulder to the withers
- withers to the point of the hip
- hips to the point of the buttock
14
Q
Vertebrae in the spinal column
A
54
15
Q
Bones in the ribs
A
36
16
Q
Bones in the Sternum
A
1
17
Q
Bones in the skull
A
34
18
Q
Forelegs
A
40
19
Q
Hindlegs
A
40
20
Q
Category of Bones
A
- Long
- Cuboidal
- Flat
- Pneumatic
- Sesamoid
- Irregular
21
Q
Long Bones
A
Long, cylinder shaped. Acts as levers and supports
22
Q
Cuboidal Bones
A
Blocked Shape. Absorbs concussion
23
Q
Flat
A
Thin and Flattened. Scaffold for muscles and leg formation, protects organs
24
Q
Pneumatic
A
contains air spaces. Houses nasal passages
25
Sesamoid
accompany other bones in a joint. Reduces friction or acts as pulleys for tendons
26
Irregular
oddly shaped, unpaired. Various functions
27
Bone is...
a living tissue. It changes shape and density due to confirmation exercise and nutrition
28
Under the Periosteum is the bone's
Cortex. An outer layer of dense bone that gives the bone strength
29
The Center of the bone consist of...
Cancellous Bone that absorbs concussion
30
Joint
a point of contact between two bones.
31
Types of true joints
1. Flexion- bending
2. extension- straightening
3. Rotation- twisting around an axis
4. Adduction- moving towards the midline of the body
5. Abduction- moving outwards from the midline of the body
32
We first start to exercise a horse by first using mostly ________________ metabolism
anaerobic
33
An endurance horse after he is warmed up will use mostly ______________ metabolism.
aerobic
34
Muscle fatigue is caused by ________________.
Lack of Fuel, lactic acid build-up , heat build-up in the working muscle
35
Increasing the amount of fat on a horse will increase the horse's ability to use fatty acids for energy production.
False
36
Aerobic metabolism uses oxygen to produce energy in the cell.
True
37
____________metabolism can help build muscle mass.
Anaerobic
38
60 days of exercise can increase the glycogen reserves by as much as 33%.
True
39
Fatty acids from the body contain 3 times as much energy as glycogen reserves of the skeletal muscles.
False
40
Reflex reactions are much faster, because the afferent nerve sends the joint proprioceptors response back to the
Spinal Cord
41
A horse with a large ration of FTb muscles will be suited for ________________.
Barrel Racing, poles, roping, quarter horse racing
42
Genetics determine the ratio of slow twitch fibers to fast twitch fibers, but exercises can only change it a little
True
43
__________ twitch fibers are used for endurance type of events.
Slow
44
Fatty acids made from fat are more efficient at generating energy for metabolism than glycogen.
True
45
Endurance types of events use more _____________________ metabolism.
aerobic
46
______________ metabolism produces energy faster and produces more lactic acid build-up in the cells.
Anaerobic
47
A neurotransmitter called ___________ excites the muscle and causes it to contract.
acetylcholine
48
A horse with a short gaskin and high hocks will be very quick and athletic.
False
49
A horse with a short hip will __________________.
will have a short stride and will not have a lot of speed
50
Tipped Vulva=
wind sucker
51
A long gaskin and low hocks is very beneficial in performance horses.
True
52
A post legged horse has a hard time stopping because his legs are set too far back behind his hip.
True
53
A horse with a goose rump has a shorter stride.
True
54
The head and neck are used to help balance the body by raising and lowering the head.
True
55
If a horse's face has too much dish, or if the throatlatch is too small, it can limit the horse's intake of air.
True
56
If a horse's head is dropped in a turn, the horse will lose _______________.
traction with his hind legs.
57
Pig-eyed horses
have small eyes that are set back in the head.
58
A horse uses monocular vision when he use one eye to look back by his side.
True
59
The neck should be about the same length or no more than one and one half times the length of the __________________.
Back
60
Long Neck
1. A neck is usually considered long if it is longer than the body of the horse.
2. Long necks have longer neck muscles, causing a long neck horse to fatigue easier.
3. If the neck muscles get tired, the neck may become rigid and less responsive.
61
Ewe Necked
LIMITING FACTOR
The muscles at the bottom of the neck are large and the top of the neck has a dip in the middle of it.
Causes a high head carriage and will raise his head to get away from pressure of the bit.
62
Knife Necked
LIMITING FACTOR
| A long skinny neck with very little muscle both top and bottom
63
Binocular area
use both eyes to see in front.
64
Eyes
Wide-spaced eyes on the corners of the head offer the proper range site.
65
The withers are made-up of the first 10 ________________ vertebrae.
thoracic
66
Mutton withered horses are easy to keep a saddle on.
False
67
Usually mutton withered horses lack the ability to have great speed, due to a straight shoulder.
True
68
A low withered horse is more apt to have a long sloping shoulder.
False
69
Hollow backed horses are more apt to have a good back.
False
70
Mutton Withered
Flat and wide withers. Many times it goes along with straight shoulders.
A horse with short, flat withers has less range of motion when extending its head and back muscles, causing the horse to be less able to elevate its back when the head and neck are lowered or extended. This limits the ability to engage the hind legs needed for collection and stops.
71
Hollow behind the withers
Lack of muscles behind the withers
72
High Withers
1. High withers provide a lever for the muscles of the neck and back to work together in an efficient manner.
2. High withers quite often go along with a long sloping shoulder in running horses.
3. High narrow withers can cause a problem if the gullet of the saddle is too low or if the rider is not using enough pads.
4. High withers are better than low withers.
73
We do not want any muscle between the front legs, so the horse can move his front end.
False
74
A horse that appears to be bosomy, will be camped under in front.
True
75
A horse with a narrow chest is apt to be narrow throughout the rest of the body.
True
76
Halter horses can be so stout in the chest that it makes them slow in their pivots.
True
77
The slope of the shoulder
The angle of the shoulder is measured from the top of the withers to the point of the shoulder
78
Straight shoulder
LIMITING FACTOR
shorter muscular attachment area that has less ability to contract and lengthen than a horse with a sloping shoulder. The horse's stride is shortened and more concussion is placed on the front legs, causing more stress to the front legs and reducing the length of the stride.
79
Long sloping shoulder
IDEAL
It is much easier for the muscles to attach to a long shoulder blade and thereby increasing extension and efficiency of the stride. The long slope of the shoulder distributes muscular attachment of the shoulder for a larger area allowing more room for more muscles to attach. This decreases the jar of the ride and prevents stiffening of the horse's shoulder upon impact.
80
Long arm bone
The distance between the point of the shoulder to the elbow. A horse with a long arm bone or humerous, the elbow will be situated straight under the withers.
81
Long forearm
IDEAL
The length of the radius bone or the distance between the point of the elbow and the knee.
A long forearm is desirable for any performance event, especially when coupled with a short cannon bone.
82
Short cannon bone
IDEAL
83
Calf-Kneed
The knee sets back behind the shoulder if you drop a line from the middle of the forearm to the fetlock, the knee will be set back behind that point.
84
Bench kneed
The cannon bone is set to the outside of the knee when viewed from the front. This is not a great defect, but the horse has less chance of staying sound, because stress is placed on the outside of the ankle and knee joint instead of directly in the center of the joint.
85
Long and sloping pasterns
defuse the impact when the horse's feet hit the ground, thus reducing stress and giving a smoother ride.
86
Excessive length pasterns
can cause stress to the tendons and ligaments on the back of the cannon bone
The pastern is considered to be long if it exceeds more than three-quarters of the length of the cannon bone
87
The forelegs carry about ______% of the horse's total weight.
65
88
The shoulder, pastern and hoof wall angles should all be about the same angle.
True
89
The shoulder should be about as long as the neck from the poll to the front of the withers.
True
90
A horse with a long shoulder will:
have a long stride
91
A horse with a long forearm and a short cannon will not be very athletic.
False
92
A horse with a long slope to his shoulders will have withers that are _________.
set back deep into his back
93
For a horse to able to stop and have a burst of speed, the cannons must be:
Short
94
A calf-kneed horse's knees will set back too far.
True
95
Horses with ________ pasterns are more apt to have tendon problems
Long Sloping
96
The pastern helps absorb some of the concussion when the foot hits the ground.
True
97
Long Back
A back is considered long if it exceeds 1/3 of the horse's overall length.
Helps to increase the length of stride.
98
Short Back
IDEAL
want a horse with a fairly short back and a long underline. The shorter back gives the horse the ability to turn and stop. The long underline helps to increase the length of stride.
99
Short croup or hip
1. The croup extends from the lumbosacral joint to the dock of the tail (top of the tail).
2. A shorter croup or pelvis provides less area for muscular attachment to the upper and lower thigh. This diminishes the horse's "engine" power in speed or jumping events.
100
Flat Croup
1. The top line of the horse continues in a relatively flat manner all the way to the dock of the tail rather than falling off all at an angle over the hips.
2. A flat croup makes it more difficult for a horse to engage behind quarters so the back can tend to be stiff.
101
Ideal Hindquaters
The ideal length of the hindquarters is measured from the point of the hip to the point of the buttock, at least 30 percent of the length of the overall horse.
102
Short Hip
A short hip reduces the ability of a horse to fully engage his hindquarters to collect or stop for sudden bursts of speed.
103
Goose or Steep-rumped
When viewed from the side, the pelvis is very steep with a downward slope.
A steep pelvis shortens the length of the stride, because of reduced extension and rotation of the hip joint.
104
Cat-hammed or Frog's thighs
Poor development of hindquarter muscles, particularly along the stifle, creates a feline-appearing hind end.
105
Rafter Hips
A rafter hip is a wide, flat hip that is shaped like a key when viewed from behind and is not very common.
106
Short Gaskin and high hocks
A short gaskin and high hocks indicate a relatively short tibia with a long cannon bone. This type of horse is more apt to over reach with his back feet hitting his front feet, because this makes the rear stride longer than the front stride.
107
A post legged horse has a hard time stopping because his legs are set too far back behind his hip.
True
108
A horse with a short hip will __________________.
will have a short stride and will not have a lot of speed
109
A horse with a short gaskin and high hocks will be very quick and athletic.
False
110
A horse with a goose rump has a shorter stride.
True
111
Camped out behind
A horse that is camped out behind the cannon bone will set farther back than this line. This type of horse will not be able to stop.
112
Sickle-hocked
As viewed from the side, the rear cannon bone sets up underneath the horse.
113
Post legged
Post legged is just the opposite of sickle hocked; the legs are set back too far. This type of horse is not able to stop.
114
Cow hocked
As viewed from the rear, hocks tilt in towards each other.
115
Mule feet
A narrow oval foot with steep walls. Provides very little shock absorption.
116
Coon footed
The slope of the hoof wall on the sides is deeper than the slope of the pastern, and usually is very small and deformed looking.
117
Club foot
The slope of the front face of the above exceeds 60 degrees, with very upright heels.
118
Contracted heels
The heels appear to be very narrow (pinched in from each side) and the frog may be atrophied or degenerated.
119
Hoof wall
The hoof wall supports or holds the entire horse. The heel is made up of the toe, quarter, and heel. The toe should be round and the heel wide. A good strong hoof wall is necessary to hold the nails to keep the shoes on.
120
Bars
The bars run on each side of the frog and connect at the back to the hoof wall. The bars help support and stabilize the hoof wall.
121
Frog
to help pump blood back up the leg.
122
Sole
it protects all of the internal structures of the foot.
123
Balanced foot
When looking at the foot from the front, the foot should be symmetrical and fairly round. When looking from the side, the foot should set back under the horse with the center of gravity in the center of the foot
124
Contracted heels
The heel is narrower than normal, causing pressure on all of the internal parts of the hoof.
125
Long toe- low heels
A long toe and low heels cause tremendous stress on the tendons and leads to lameness; they can cause a horse to strain a suspensor ligament.
126
Breakover
the last instant in the stride when the horse's toe is still touching the ground.
127
toe is too long break over
the foot will break over slower and cause more stress to the tendons
128
straight leg break over
the breakover will happen in the middle of the toe.
129
crooked toe break over
the breakover will occur to one side or the other.
130
Foot flight
the path the foot travels when it is in the air
131
flight plan from the side
the arc the foot forms should be a balanced and continuous arc
132
Coffin Bone
The coffin bone is the only bone found in the hoof and it is the same shape as the hoof.
133
Navicular bone
It is the wedge-shaped bone (distal seasmoid bone). It lies behind the short pastern bone and acts like a pulley point for the deep digital flexor tendon.
134
Superficial digital flexor tendon
1. Runs along the back of the leg, closest to the skin.
2. The function is to flex the joints of the lower foreleg; knee, fetlock, and pastern joints.
3. Attaches to the sides of the pastern bones.
135
Deep digital flexor tendon=
1. It extends the elbow and flexes the knee and foot. In the hind legs it extends the stifle and foot.
2. It runs down the back of the cannon, fetlock, and pastern, over the navicular bone, and inserts into the surface of the coffin bone.
136
If a horse is crooked legged, all parts of the joint receives the same amount of stress.
False
