Thursday, November 12, 2009

Whats the point of a chestnut??

??? a chestnut on the horses legs, whats it there for?

Whats the point of a chestnut??
That is where their legs were attached to each other when they were in the mare's womb.





I'm not sure why chestnuts continue to grow though lol
Reply:Everyone is correct in their answers I'm just writing to say that at the track all four are photographed by the Horse Id Department in New York as they are comparative to fingerprints in people. Those 4 photos as well as photos of the front , back, and both sides of the horse are placed on an ID card which the chief Identifier brings to the paddock when the horses are being saddled to ensure that the horse running is the right one. This is done in addition to a state veterinary soundness exam and tattoo check the morning of the race.
Reply:It is not where legs were attached in the womb (they aren't ever).





Prehistoric horses had several toes on their legs rather than the one (a hoof) that they have now. The chestnuts and ergots are the "stumps" of those toes that ceased to function as horses evolved.
Reply:As everyone (mostly) said, it's the evolutionary remnant of a toe. Kind of like your appendix - a leftover that doesn't do anything.





As to uses... none natural, as far as I know, but I read somewhere they can be used for identification. Like fingerprints, each one is individual to the horse.
Reply:It used to be a hoof thumb/toe. Horses are just at a point in their evolution that they haven't lost their chestnuts or their ergots yet. :) Ergots are the small parts of hoof on the back of the hind fetlocks that were also hoof-toes.
Reply:the chestnut is the third toe from pehistoric days. the first is the hoof wall, the second is the frog, and the third is the chestnut.
Reply:I've heard that it is from where their thumb was a long time back in the evolutionary chain. I don't know if that's true though.


It serves no purpose that I know of.
Reply:used to be toes back in the day.





i had a horse with ergots that would continually grow and the farrier would have to trim them.
Reply:back when horses had 4 toes the chestnut was their fourth inner toe. They still have 3 toes inside the hoof, the fourth however just grew up the leg and.... shrunk basically.
Reply:The ergot is another prehistoric toe, no longer needed as the horse developed into a hoofed animal.


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