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Ideally, the length of a horse's back from the peak of the withers to the point of the hip should be 1/3 of the horse's overall body length (from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock, excluding head and neck). A horse's back is called "long" if the length exceeds 1/3 and "short" if less than 1/3.
The horse has flat and wide withers, from short spines projecting off the 8th–12th vertebrae. Can be seen in any breed. The withers are an important attachment for ligaments and muscles that extend head, neck, shoulder, and back vertebrae, and are also insertion point for muscles that open ribs for breathing.
Most horses have 18 thoracic vertebrae. The processes at the withers can be more than 30 centimetres (12 in) long. Since they do not move relative to the ground as the horse's head does, the withers are used as the measuring point for the height of a horse. Horses are sometimes measured in hands – one hand is 4 inches (10.2 cm). Horse heights ...
"Medicine hat": An unusual type of Pinto or Paint coloring where the horse has dark ears and poll (like a hat on the head), but surrounded on all sides of the head and neck by white. [5] Shield: A dark Pinto marking where the horse has a dark colored chest, surrounded completely by white on the shoulders, legs, belly and neck.
Poll evil is a traditional term for a painful condition in a horse or other equid, that starts as an inflamed bursa at the cranial end of the neck between vertebrae and the nuchal ligament, and swells until it presents as an acute swelling at the poll, on the top of the back of the animal's head.
The path this horse takes through the air is an arc. Bascule / ˈ b æ s k juː l / is the natural round arc a horse's body takes as it goes over a jump. The horse should rise up through its back, stretching its neck forward and down, when it reaches the peak of his jump. Ideally, the withers are the highest point over the fence.
The horse is evaluated in motion, usually at the walk and trot, but occasionally also in the canter. The walk is often the best gait to evaluate foot placement. [10] The trot is generally the best gait to localize the lameness to a particular leg, because it is a symmetrical gait where the front half of the horse and the back half move in ...
These saddles have a cut-back pommel, which is set back several inches (usually four) to allow for the higher withers and neck set of the horse. The saddle has little padding, a very flat seat, and is placed further back on the horse to allow the extravagant front end movement of the horse.