The Balance Mechanism of the Fore- and Hindlimbs in Horses

The horses spend a large part of their lives in standing. Standing for a long time occurs with the passive balance elements of the fore- and hindlimbs, including locking and reciprocal mechanisms. The balance elements are comprised from the restless tendons and ligaments including mainly the connective tissue, loaded on the burden in the muscle body. In order to understand the balance mechanism in the legs, one has to know that ligaments do not regress as much as the muscles, and tendons are less enduring to strain than ligaments, and ligaments play an important role in reventing transformations of joints into flexion. The muscles being involved in the passive balance mechanism of the forelimb are m. serratus ventralis, m. biceps brachii (lacertus fibrosus), m. extensor carpi radialis, m. extensor digitorum communis, m. flexor digitorum superficialis, mm. flexores digitorum profundi and m. interosseus medius. The muscles being involved in the passive balance mechanism of the hindlimb are m. gastrocnemius, m. peroneus tertius, m. flexor digitorum superficialis and mm. flexores digitorum profundi. Consequently, it has been put forth that how the mechanism of balance is important for horses and further told in detail with its mechanism that the legs acquire equilibrium under the body weight by means of stay apparatus, which get tired barely, has a high capacity of storing energy and can transfer its burden to bony tissues.