About: Bone Anatomy of a Horse's Front Leg

   In this next part of our anatomy series we will focus on the bones of the front limb. The image below is not accurately to scale but it does show the general areas in which these bones live.

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A - Suprascapular Cartilage

B - Scapula: The "shoulder blade"; Transmits forces and motion of the front limb; Attachment of muscles and connective tissue that support cranial portion of the body; Flat in shape

C - Humerus: Attachment of major muscles that move upper and lower limb; "Point of Shoulder"

D - Ulna: Fused to the Radius to prevent supination (the outward rotation of the limb); "Point of Elbow"

E - Radius: optimizes cranial (closer to the head or top) and caudal (closer to the feet or bottom) muscles

F - Accessory Carpal: always lateral (or on the outside); the retinaculum attached as shown below to restrict other structures (tendons) to stay in place

G - Carpus: 7 bones comparable to a human wrist; provide shock absorption and flexion

H - Metacarpal III (Cannon Bone): comparable to the long bones in a human hand

I - Metacarpal IV (Splint Bone): 2 splint bones on each leg; creates a channel for the tendons to settle within; provides support to the cannon bone

J - Proximal Sesamoid: embeded in the suspensory ligament; prevent overextension of the fetlock joint

K - Proximal Phalanx (Long Pastern Bone): comparable to the first bone in a human finger

L - Intermediate Phalanx (Short Pastern Bone): similar to the middle medium sized bone in a human finger

M - Distal Sesamoid (Navicular Bone): helps to stabilize the lower joints and the hoof; many ligaments in this area

N - Distal Phalanx (Coffin Bone): similar to the last small bone in a human finger where the fingernail grows