The Structure of a Horse's Body

Legs

• The horse's leg structure starts with the hoof at the bottom. Horses have heels at the rear of the hooves and then the leg, moving upward, develops into the pasterns and fetlocks with ergots protruding from the back. The front of a horse's lower leg is known as the cannon, the front forelegs are known as forearms and the rear legs are gaskins.

Back

• A horse's backside is the animal's load-bearing part. The withers -- the prominent point where the neck joins the spine -- is the highest constant point of a horse. This area is where the powerful muscles of the neck and shoulders attach to the spine and vertebrae. The back extends to the last rib before the tail and the flanks extend down the side of the animal from the back.

Head

• The horse's long, thin head attaches to the rest of its body at its very powerful neck muscles. The forehead is broad, full and flat and the fine nostrils are capable of wide dilation to permit maximum inhalation. The crest is the neck's curved top line and the poll is the bony structure that lies between the ears.

Henneke System

• Breeders use the Henneke body-condition scoring system, which considers six parts of a horse's body to evaluate overall health. Law enforcement officials use the system to investigate animal cruelty cases. Henneke's evaluation scoring sheet assesses fat covering six main regions of the horse: the withers, neck, shoulder, loin, tail-head -- the base of the horse's tail -- and ribs.