Frog (horse anatomy)

Its rubbery consistency suggests a role as a shock absorber and grip tool on hard, smooth ground.

The frog also acts like a pump to move the blood back to the heart, a great distance from the relatively thin leg to the main organ of the circulatory system.

[citation needed] In the stabled horse, the frog does not wear but degrades, due to bacterial and fungal activity, to an irregular, soft, slashed surface.

If chronically exposed to bacteria, for example standing in manure, the frog will develop an infection called thrush.

[3] A 2018 study on horse foot morphology has suggested that the frog is actually composed of remnants of digits II and IV.