{"id":24260,"date":"2023-01-30T15:34:19","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T14:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=73512"},"modified":"2023-01-30T15:36:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T14:36:06","slug":"why-do-horses-have-chestnuts-and-ergots","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/why-do-horses-have-chestnuts-and-ergots\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do horses have chestnuts and ergots?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where are chestnuts and ergots found on horses and do they serve a purpose? <\/p>

By Stuart Blackman\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 30 January 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Anyone who spends time with horses will be familiar with the raised patches of hardened, hairless skin on the animals\u2019 legs. One of these, the ergot, sits behind and above the hoof. The other, the chestnut or night eye, is found further up, on the inner thigh.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Chestnut on the leg of a horse. \u00a9 Zeppo1 (talk) (Uploads) Creative Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The origin of these corn-like structures, which grow over time and may be trimmed for aesthetic reasons in domestic animals, is rather mysterious.<\/p>\n

One theory, which has become conventional wisdom in equestrian circles, is that they are vestiges of the toes that horses dispensed with as they transitioned from the five digits of their ancestors to a single hoof.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a seductive idea. After all, remnants of the second and fourth toes are still present as slivers of bone in the lower leg.<\/p>\n

The ergot and the chestnut are not, however, quite where one would expect them to be if this were the case.<\/p>\n

Neither is it clear what, if any, purpose they serve.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The ergot \u00a9 Arsdelicata, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The ergot is known to connect the skin to underlying ligaments, raising the possibility that it distributes the considerable forces exerted on the legs when a horse moves at speed \u2013 much like a shock absorber.<\/p>\n

The presence of nerve-endings in the ergot suggests that it might also provide the animal with sensory information about the extension and contraction of the ligaments.<\/p>\n

More like this<\/strong><\/p>\n