• 13 parts
  • Checked September 2026

External Horse Hoof Parts for Labeling

A hoof from the side and a lifted hoof from below, to print and label.

External Horse Hoof Parts for Labeling

Name Date

Numbered worksheet

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
More options

Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Coronet
  2. Periople
  3. Toe
  4. Quarter
  5. Heel
  6. Hoof wall
  7. White line
  8. Sole
  9. Bars
  10. Frog
  11. Central sulcus
  12. Collateral grooves
  13. Heel bulbs

Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step The labeled hoof, one view at a time

All 13 parts on the diagram

Show the list

From the side 5

  1. Coronet The band at the top of the hoof. Here the skin ends and the wall begins. New wall grows down from just below it.
  2. Periople A thin layer of soft horn over the wall's top edge. It gets wider at the heels and joins the frog.
  3. Toe The front part of the wall. The wall is longest here.
  4. Quarter The side part of the wall, between the toe and the heel. A hoof has one on each side.
  5. Heel The back part of the wall, where it is shortest. Here the wall turns sharply inward to form a bar.

From below 8

  1. Hoof wall The hard outer shell of the hoof. It is the part you see when the horse stands. From below it is the rim round the edge.
  2. White line A thin line of softer horn. It joins the sole to the wall.
  3. Sole The slightly arched floor of the hoof. It makes up most of the underside.
  4. Bars The wall turned inward at each heel. The two bars run forward beside the frog and fade into the sole.
  5. Frog A wedge of tough, springy horn between the bars. Its point is toward the toe.
  6. Central sulcus The groove along the middle of the frog, between its two ridges.
  7. Collateral grooves The deep groove on each side of the frog. It lies between the frog and the bar.
  8. Heel bulbs Two rounded, soft cushions at the back of the hoof. They are above the heels and behind the frog.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30 in at least two of these: S. Sisson, The Anatomy of the Domestic Animals, 2nd edition, 1914, the section The Hoof, https://archive.org/details/anatomyofdomesti00siss; R. C. McClure, Functional Anatomy of the Horse Foot, University of Missouri Extension G2740, https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2740; Wikipedia, Horse hoof, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_hoof. The sources list says which source gave what. Detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

These external horse hoof parts for labeling are on two drawings. Numbers 1 to 5 are on the hoof seen from the side, toe to the left. Numbers 6 to 13 are on the underside of a lifted hoof.

Read the full guide

Label an equine hoof: word bank

Thirteen names, in alphabetical order: bars, central sulcus, collateral grooves, coronet, frog, heel, heel bulbs, hoof wall, periople, quarter, sole, toe, white line. On the underside the grooves print gray: 11 is the single one down the middle of the wedge (central sulcus), 12 the one on each side of it (collateral grooves). 9 is the white ridge outside each of those (bars). 6 ends on the wide outer rim, 7 on the thin band just inside it.

Horse hoof side view labeling: five names

The side view is a sheet of its own, numbered 1 to 5, with the underside printed faint: coronet, periople, toe, quarter, heel. Lines 3, 4 and 5 run along one wall from front to back.

  • When marking, coronary band is right on line 1, wall on line 6 and cleft of the frog on line 11.
  • The bulge behind the heel in the side view is a heel bulb. Its number, 13, is on the underside.

Questions and answers

What is inside a horse's hoof?

Bone and soft tissue. The wall covers the front and sides of the coffin bone, the last bone of the leg. Also inside are the small navicular bone, two flexible cartilages and the digital cushion above the frog. None has a number here.

How fast does a horse's hoof grow?

The wall grows down about three-eighths of an inch a month, close to one centimeter. A dark patch of skin at the coronet leaves a dark stripe down the wall, which shows the way it grows.

What does the frog do on a horse's hoof?

It takes up shock and grips the ground. Each step also presses the frog against the cushion above it, and that pushes blood from the foot back up the leg, so the hoof works like a pump.

How many toes does a horse have?

One weight-bearing toe on each leg. It is the third toe, and the hoof surrounds its last bone. The first, second, fourth and fifth toes were lost as horses evolved.

Does the horse hoof worksheet have an answer key?

Yes. The key prints both drawings with their numbers and lists the thirteen names in order, coronet first and heel bulbs last.

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