• 24 parts
  • Checked September 2026

External Parts of a Horse

A parts of a horse quiz: the whole horse from the side, then its head up close.

External Parts of a Horse

Name Date

Tap any part to read, rename or leave it out

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Mane
  2. Tail
  3. Hoof
  4. Neck
  5. Back
  6. Shoulder
  7. Chest
  8. Knee
  9. Withers
  10. Barrel
  11. Flank
  12. Loin
  13. Croup
  14. Hock
  15. Fetlock
  16. Forehead
  17. Nostril
  18. Muzzle
  19. Forelock
  20. Face
  21. Poll
  22. Crest
  23. Throatlatch
  24. Chin groove

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 Next: the parts of a horse's leg

All 24 parts on the diagram

Show the list

The horse 15

  1. Mane Long, coarse hair that grows from the top of the neck.
  2. Tail Long hairs that grow from the dock, behind the croup.
  3. Hoof The foot: a horny box around the end of the leg.
  4. Neck It joins the head to the shoulders.
  5. Back The top of the body behind the withers, where a saddle sits.
  6. Shoulder It slopes from the withers down to the front of the chest.
  7. Chest The front of the body, below the neck. Also called the breast.
  8. Knee The large joint of a front leg. It matches a person's wrist.
  9. Withers The bony ridge above the shoulder blades. Height is measured here.
  10. Barrel The body of the horse, around the rib cage.
  11. Flank Where the barrel meets the hind leg, behind the ribs.
  12. Loin The short stretch of top line between the back and the croup.
  13. Croup The top of the hindquarters, from the loin to the tail.
  14. Hock The large joint of a hind leg. It matches a person's ankle.
  15. Fetlock The joint low on the leg, above the pastern and the hoof.

The head 9

  1. Forehead The top of the face, between the eyes.
  2. Nostril One of two openings of the nose, on the muzzle.
  3. Muzzle The lower end of the head: the nostrils, lips and chin.
  4. Forelock The front of the mane. It hangs between the ears.
  5. Face The front of the head, from the forehead down to the muzzle.
  6. Poll The top of the head, immediately behind the ears.
  7. Crest The neck's upper edge, where the mane grows.
  8. Throatlatch Where the windpipe meets the head, behind the jaw.
  9. Chin groove The smooth dip under the lower jaw, behind the chin.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two of these use it: (1) a Kansas vocational agriculture curriculum, transparency master Parts of a Horse, scanned page read at https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153527_0220 (forehead, face, nostril, muzzle, throat latch, poll, crest, neck, shoulder, chest, knee, fetlock, hoof, hock, flank, croup, loin, back, withers, barrel); (2) a North Dakota animal science unit, parts of the horse, courtesy of Vocational Instructional Services, Texas A&M University, https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153606_0743 (muzzle, forehead, face, poll, crest, withers, back, loin, flank, hock, fetlock, knee, chest, shoulder, neck, throat latch); (3) Wikipedia, Equine anatomy, External anatomy, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine_anatomy (back, barrel, chin groove, crest, croup, face, fetlock, flank, forehead, forelock, hock, hoof, knee, loin, mane, muzzle, poll, shoulder, tail, throatlatch, withers, each with its definition); (4) M. H. Hayes, The Points of the Horse (1893), Names of External Parts and Definitions, https://archive.org/details/pointsofhorsefam00haye (forehead, fore-lock, muzzle with the nostrils and lips, chin-groove, poll, crest, neck, shoulders, withers, knee, fetlock, hoof, back, loins, flank, croup, hock, barrel). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no photograph or plate followed. Licence: own work

How it works

The external parts of a horse, which riders call its points, run from the poll behind the ears to the hoof on the ground. The drawing names fifteen on the body and nine on the head.

Read the full guide

The whole horse, then the head

Numbers 1 to 8 are the parts most people know: the mane, tail, hoof, neck, back, shoulder, chest and knee. Numbers 9 to 15 are a rider's words: the withers, barrel, flank, loin, croup, hock and fetlock. Numbers 16 to 24 are the parts of a horse head: the forehead, nostril, muzzle, forelock, face, poll, crest, throatlatch and chin groove. The elbow, stifle, gaskin, cannon and pastern are on the horse leg page.

  • The forelock is the front end of the mane. It hangs between the ears.
  • The crest is the top edge of the neck. The mane is the hair that grows from it.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a horse's face?

From the top down: the poll behind the ears, the forelock, the forehead between the eyes, the face running down the front of the head, and the muzzle, which takes in the nostrils, the lips and the chin.

Where are the withers on a horse?

At the neck's base, where the mane ends. The withers are the bony ridge above the shoulder blades, just in front of where a saddle sits. A horse's height is measured there.

What is the croup of a horse?

The top of the hindquarters. The croup runs from the loin back to the dock, where the tail begins. Some charts call it the rump.

What is the difference between the knee and the hock?

The knee is the large joint in the middle of a front leg, and matches a person's wrist. The hock is the large joint of a hind leg, and matches a person's ankle and heel.

What is the barrel of a horse?

The body of the horse between the front legs and the hind legs. It encloses the rib cage. The flank is where the barrel meets a hind leg.

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