Ergot (horse anatomy)

On this horse, the ergot is a small point at the back of each fetlock
back leg of a horse just above the hoof with a hand lifting away the feathers to reveal the eergot growing from the fetlock
Ergot on a heavy horse with feathers.

The ergot is a small callosity (Calcar metacarpeum and Calcar metatarseum) on the underside of the fetlock of a horse or other equine. Some equines have them on all four fetlocks; others have few or no detectable ergots. In horses, the ergot varies from very small to the size of a pea or bean, larger ergots occurring in horses with "feather" – long hairs on the lower legs. In some other equines, the ergot can be as much as 3.8 cm (1.5 in) in diameter.[1]

The word ergot comes from French ergot 'rooster's spur'.[2]

Evolution

The ergot is numbered 33 (click on image for closer view)
Tapir hooves showing sole pad and toes

Like the chestnut, the ergot is thought to be a vestige of some part of the ancestral foot of the multi-toed Equidae, the ergot corresponding to the sole pad of other extant members of Perissodactyla, such as the tapir and rhinoceros.[1] Unlike the chestnut, which in the same individual may be large on the forelegs and smaller or even absent on the hindlegs[1] the ergot is of roughly equal size on all four legs.

See also: Evolution of the horse

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c William Ridgeway (1905). The origin and influence of the Thoroughbred horse. University Press. pp. 538. ergot. chapter 2
  2. ^ Clothier, Jane, The Ergot, p.15, Equine News Autumn 2010
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.