noun
fetlock
FET-lahk/ˈfetlɑːk/
The lower-leg joint immediately above a horse's hoof.
The horse's rounded fetlock sits above the sloping pastern and hoof.
Etymology
Middle English fetlak named the tuft of hair behind a horse’s pastern joint; the name came to denote the joint itself. Its deeper Germanic ancestry is uncertain.
In context
this whole bone is the cannon below that this joint is the fetlock and we come down to the pastern and our horses hoof
More examples
- The horse stands in mud up to its fetlocks.
- She gently feels the fetlock just above the hoof.
- The injured fetlock keeps the mare from running comfortably.
Forms
fetlock · fetlocks
Similar words
- joint
- A broader term for a connection between bones anywhere.