Why do some horses have ‘tight’ defined lower legs and others do not?

[BBP]

My ponderings for today as I continue to obsess over suspensories. And it might be a really dumb question. Why is it that on some horses the lower leg is incredibly defined and you can see every tendon, ligament, everything really clearly, and on other horses the leg looks ‘softer’? Isn’t it pretty much just bone, tendon, ligament, fascia and skin below the knee/hock and there is no fat or muscle to disguise anything or fill any gaps, regardless of if you are a TB or a clydesdale?

On the less defined legs is it fluid build up, or thicker skin? Is it to do with the amount of bone relative to the tendon and ligament diameters?

The angles are different in the below photos as I was trying to catch the light on dark legs, but they show the difference in the two regardless of stance. One is much tighter looking, with very clearly defined suspensories. Even in winter coats the difference is clear to feel and see.

Just curiosity really.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I would expect the front limbs to match well and for the hind limbs to match well, but I wouldn't worry much (not at all if the horse is sound) if the fronts and the hinds had differences in this way. The joints above the lower limbs are very different - a hock is a much more powerful joint compared to the knee (wrist).

 

[BBP]

It’s not really a worry, I’m purely curious about why different horses have softer or harder looking legs, what it is that ‘fills the gaps’.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

Not really the question, but ive found with a laminitic pony that I can tell whether or not I'll be able to feel pulses just by looking at the legs. So in this case, it's extra blood flow through the arteries that leads to less definition. But this doesn't answer your question as to why some horses just have "thicker" legs all the time!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I see what you mean.

Urm... I guess that maybe even just having thicker skin would give a softer appearance to the leg. Horses don't really appear to put on fat on their lower limbs as they put on weight, but maybe some horses will have more fat cells under the skin which will again thicken the covering over that structures of the leg.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Breed, quality, age, injury and mileage.

 

[Tarragon]

I think that my ponies have a thicker layer of skin than a fine skinned thoroughbred, for example. So their legs will never look as well defined as a TB, even if you clipped the hair off.

 

[BBP]

On this picture it’s like the leg has been stuck in a vacuum and had all the extra ‘air’ sucked out of it. The hollows between the tendons/ligament/bone almost feel as though you could touch your fingers together between them. Other horses feel more ‘filled in’, but not filled if you know what I mean. I definitely see a difference between breeds, I just don’t know why. (This is one of those child like questions of ‘yes, but why?’?)

Maybe it is skin and how think it is.

 

[SEL]

I do think breed comes into it - you can't feel much on an Ardennes with tree trunk legs even with all his hair clipped off. We've got a retired warmblood with suspensory issues on our yard and its obvious to me when they are playing up just by looking at his skinny legs - everything is so well defined when they are 'normal' that any puffiness is really obvious.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I think it must be skin thickness. Off to look at photos of horse legs.

 

[Fransurrey]

I'd say it's more due to the bone than skin. Ligaments and tendons don't vary to the same extent as bone thickness and nor does skin.

 

[MissTyc]

I always think my warmblood looks WAY too frail through the legs because she has the vacuum packed look and you can see every little variation or thickening .... Some of my other horses just have one single tube of a leg that seems to contain everything. They all seem to work OK so I guess it's just natural variations!

 

[Fanatical]

It can be a whole variety of reasons but the main thing to note is what is normal for that particular horse. Some have more mileage so may have windgalls etc. Some horses get puffy legs with temperature changes and some horses legs will be a little filled after they have worked hard. Most horses will have really 'tight' clean legs first thing in a morning - particularly on a cold day. Most of the time if there are softer areas it would usually be fluid build up/ swelling. Although some horses get raised veins around their tendon area which can also appear puffy. As I said before, it's more important to note what is normal and what is not.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Spot the difference!

 

[BBP]

Interesting, thanks for the thoughts guys. One of those things I’ve never thought about and today was like ‘but why???’.

The vacuum packed horse is the one that can’t tolerate nerve blocks in that region, almost like there is no space for the fluid to go, whereas the more spacious looking softer legged horses haven’t objected. Vacuum packed horse feels like a great anatomical study, you can see and feel everything.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Spot the difference!

Thickened tendon on the right leg.

 

[blodwyn1]

I think it is more to do with the efficiency of the horses lymphatic system.

 

[milliepops]

my vet told me (when looking for a very small injury on US) that my cob's skin is thick even when her legs feel tight and cold there is not the same definition as others.
one of the old dears is prone to filled legs and always has been when stood in, so with her it's just fluid
TB has the vacuum packed thing except for the leg with a busted tendon, even though the others are all scarred and duffed up.

 

[Cortez]

Some types/breeds of horses have "dry" legs (and bodies, heads, etc), some are much more puffy and thick. Most of what we call "bone" on a horse's lower leg is actually tendons & ligaments, only the front bit is actual bone (under skin, etc. of course....).

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Thickened tendon on the right leg.

Much more prominant when you sit underneath him and look forward ?

 

[Cortez]

The horse has a bowed tendon, hopefully healed.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

The horse has a bowed tendon, hopefully healed.

Yes it was a 100% rupture 9 years ago. It is now 10% tendon fibre, 90% scar tissue but he has been the soundest horse on the planet since. I took him home from racing knowing I could pts 6 months down the line if he didn't come field sound. But he exceeded that. Won a lot in the show ring as the the tendon doesn't look too bad from the side and no judge will be going underneath him to see it from that angle. Plus being grey hides it more than a black leg would.