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The Skeleton of the Horse

An adult horse has about 182 bones, excluding the teeth. The number varies occasionally by the union of certain bones in the knees, the hock, the sacrum and the tail. The skull comprises of about twenty bones, excluding the teeth, which number forty in the male and thirty-six in the female (the canines being absent). However, there is frequently a small tooth in front of the first molar in the upper jaw. The more prominent bones forming the framework of the skeleton are shown in the diagram below.

(1) Cervical or Neck Vertebrae (7 bones)
(2) Dorsal Vertebrae (18 bones, to which the ribs are attached)
(3) Lumbar or Loin Vertebrae (6 bones)
(4) Sacrum (5 or 6 united bones)
(5) Tail (14 to 18 bones)
(5A) Pelvis, composed of 3 bones, inseparably joined—Ilium, Ischium and Pubis
(6) Femur or Thigh-bone
(7) Fibula
(8) Tibia
(9) Bones forming the Hock or Tarsus
(10) Small Metatarsal Bone
(11) Shank or Cannon Bone or Large Metatarsal
(12) Fetlock bone, or Os suffraginis
(13) Coronary Bone or Os coroni
(14) Pedal-bone or Os pedis
(15) Patella
(16) Sternum, or Breast-bone
(17) Ulna
(18) Radius
(19) Knee or Carpal Bones
(20) Splint-one, or small Metacarpal
(21) Shank or Cannon Bone, or Large Metacarpal
(22) Humerus or Arm-bone
(23) Shoulder-blade, or Scapula

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Submitted: 20 Mar, 2006 (Edited 29 Aug, 2006)
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