Anatomy & Dissection

Scoot – Leg Joints

Posted on by ofequusandus

Post contains graphic post-mortem dissection images.

Scoot was not always a good boy. But he was always the very best boy that he could be.
Scoot 2022 – hip joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – hip joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – hip joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – hip joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – hock joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – hock joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – hock joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – hock joint of right hind leg.
Scoot 2022 – elbow joint of right fore leg.
Scoot 2022 – elbow joint of right fore leg.
Scoot 2022 – elbow joint of right fore leg.
Scoot 2022 – elbow joint of right fore leg.

Rethinking Rope – why I choose to use flat headcollars

Posted on by ofequusandus

Please be aware that post contains graphic post-mortem photographs of the facial area that may be upsetting to some.

Early 2017, right before making the change to using flat head collars.
Scoot wearing his regular flat headcollar.
Scoot 14.02.2022 – photo by Zinta Rutins. I stopped using rope halters on my own horses in 2017 but put this one on him simply for demonstration purposes.
Jack 2021. Please note how small the “safe zone” actually is – the area between the cheekbone and the floating portion of the nasal bone. The small hole almost directly above the cheekbone is the infraorbital foramen, where the prominent rope-like infraorbital nerve bundle passes through the skull.
Scoot 2022 – scalpel indicates location of the infraorbital foramen, where this large rope-like nerve bundle passes into the skull. As you will see in later images, the infraorbital nerves are not only present in this area, but actually run the full length of the safe zone – where we can safely fit a halter or noseband without risking the horse’s fragile nasal bone, before branching out into the external nasal nerves. Horse’s nose is to right of image.
Scoot 2022 – halter had not been adjusted from earlier photo, as I wanted to accurately demonstrate how this halter knot sits. Horse’s nose is to right of image.
Scoot 2022. Horse’s nose is to right of image.
Kass 2021 – demonstrating how this nerve bundle is not only present at the infraorbital foramen (positioned at right end of nerves) but it actually runs across the whole of the “safe zone” between cheekbone and the start of the floating area of the nasal bone. Horse’s nose is the left of image.
Kass 2021 – demonstrating the thickness and rope-like nature of the nerves in this area. Horse’s nose is to left of image.