The knee of the horse is more accurately referred to as the carpus and really has no similarity to the human knee at all. The analogous structure in the human is the wrist. Disease of the carpal region is common and therefore after lower areas of the legs are ruled out the knee becomes suspect as lameness higher in the leg is much less common. This article discusses the anatomy, and localization of lameness to the carpus, and the diseases of horse's knee. Treatment and prognosis for the diseases of the knee are also covered and links to more specific resources provided where appropriate.

Just like the human wrist the carpus is made up of a number of small squarish bones that lie in two rows making three distinct joints. The upper two joints, the radiocarpal and intercarpal joints are flexible hinge joints. The distal joint, the carpometacarpal is fixed. It is important in understanding the diagnosis of diseases of the knee that the distal two joints communicate. We have an article on the knee with diagrams and a more in-depth description of the anatomy, ...more. Note: by right clicking the link and selecting "Open in a New Window" you can keep both the text and the image for reference on your screen as you read this article.