To check a horse's digital pulse, feel at the back of the fetlock or pastern, where the artery, vein and nerve run together as a cord over the sesamoid bones. Rest two fingers there, strum sideways until you feel the cord roll under them, then press just hard enough to hold it. In a healthy foot the pulse is faint or impossible to find, and that is the normal result. A pulse you can feel easily, called a bounding pulse, means inflammation inside the hoof. Bounding pulses in both front feet, especially with a horse who does not want to walk, are a laminitis red flag. Call your veterinarian immediately.
This is the check almost every horse article tells you to do and almost none teaches. It is also the check people give up on fastest, because the first honest attempt on a sound horse produces nothing at all. This article covers where the artery is, how to feel it, how to prove your technique works when you find nothing, and exactly what a strong pulse means for your next phone call. It sits alongside your horse's baseline vital signs and the hands-on method for temperature, pulse and respiration.
Where the digital pulse actually is
The digital arteries run down the lower leg in pairs, one on the inside of the limb and one on the outside, on the front legs and the hind legs alike. They carry the blood supply into the hoof. Near the fetlock the artery runs alongside a vein and a nerve in a bundle, and that bundle is what your fingers are hunting for. It sits toward the back of the joint, over the sesamoid bones, and it can also be found lower down at the pastern where the artery passes toward the heel.
You are not feeling for the pulse first. You are feeling for the cord. The cord is a physical thing you can roll under a fingertip, and once you have it, the pulse is a matter of pressure. People who cannot find a digital pulse are almost always people who never found the bundle.
How to check a horse's digital pulse, step by step
- Set the horse up. He should be standing square on a flat, hard-ish surface, weight on all four feet, calm and not eating. A horse who is resting a foot or shifting will give you a reading you cannot repeat.
- Make yourself safe. Squat, do not kneel. Face slightly toward the front of the horse so you can see his head and move out of the way. Keep a hand on his shoulder or leg as you go down so he knows where you are.
- Place two fingers flat on the outside of the fetlock, toward the back edge of the joint, at the lower part of it.
- Strum. Move your fingers side to side across the back of the joint, the way you would strum a guitar string, until you feel something cord-like snap or roll under them. That is the bundle.
- Settle and press. Once you have the cord, stop strumming. Rest your fingers on it and press gently. Too hard and you close the artery off and feel nothing. Too light and there is nothing for the pulse to push against.
- Wait. Give it a full ten to fifteen seconds before you decide there is nothing there. Then check the inside of the same leg, then the other three feet.
Check all four feet every time, in the same order. Comparison is the whole value of the check, and you cannot compare a foot you did not feel.
Why you probably felt nothing, and why that is the right answer
Here is the part that gets left out. In a sound foot, the digital pulse is normally faint, and often nobody can find it at all. Veterinary references describe the normal digital arterial pulse as faint or absent. So the beginner's experience, twenty minutes of squatting in the shavings and no pulse anywhere, is not failure. It is the healthy result, and it is the one you want.
The problem this creates is real, though. If you have never felt a pulse, you cannot tell the difference between "his feet are fine" and "my fingers are in the wrong place." That uncertainty is why people stop checking, and it is why the check is missing on the morning it would have mattered.
Prove your technique before you need it
This is the section the ranking pages do not have, and it takes one afternoon.
Step one: learn what a pulse feels like on something easy. Find your own pulse at your wrist, on the thumb side, with two fingers and light pressure. Sit with it for a minute. You are calibrating your fingers, not diagnosing anything.
Step two: find the cord on your horse without expecting a pulse. Do this ten days in a row on all four legs. Your only goal is to feel that bundle roll under your fingers. When you can find it in five seconds on a foot you cannot feel a pulse in, your technique is proven and a future zero is trustworthy.
Step three: catch a real one honestly. A digital pulse commonly becomes easier to feel after hard work on hard ground, in a foot with a stone bruise, or in a foot with an abscess brewing. If your farrier or vet is working on a foot that is sore, ask them to let you feel that leg and a sound one back to back. Two minutes with a real bounding pulse under your fingers teaches more than any description, including this one.
Step four: write down what normal is. Not a number. A sentence: "Both fronts, nothing findable. Left hind, faint, easier than the others, has been that way since March." That sentence is your baseline, and it is what makes a change obvious. The same logic drives getting an honest resting heart rate on a fidgety horse.
What a bounding pulse means, and how fast you move
A strong, throbbing, easily felt pulse means increased blood flow and inflammation inside a rigid hoof capsule. It is a finding, not a diagnosis, and the causes range from an abscess in one foot to laminitis in both.
Laminitis is the reason this check exists. In acute laminitis a bounding digital pulse is one of the earliest and most consistent signs. A 2019 Veterinary Evidence knowledge summary reviewing hoof wall temperature and digital pulse pressure reports, citing Wylie et al. (2016), that 91% of veterinary-diagnosed acute and chronic laminitis cases presented with an increased digital pulse. The American Association of Equine Practitioners is direct about what to do with a suspicion of laminitis: treat it as a medical emergency and notify your veterinarian immediately.
Hours matter here. Damage inside the foot progresses while you are deciding whether it is worth a call.
Call your veterinarian now, out of hours if that is what it takes, if you find:
- Bounding pulses in both front feet
- A bounding pulse in any foot together with heat in the hoof, reluctance to walk, or shifting weight from foot to foot
- A horse rocked back onto his heels, refusing to turn, or lying down more than usual
- A bounding pulse in a horse who got into the feed room, has had a recent grain change, or has a history of laminitis or metabolic disease
- Any of the above together with a resting heart rate that will not settle
While you wait, do not walk the horse anywhere you do not have to, and ask the vet on the phone what they want done with him. Do not give any medication, including anything left in the barn cupboard from a previous horse. Pain relief given before the vet arrives changes what they can see when they get there, and dosing is a veterinary decision, not an owner one.
Which feet, and what your vet will ask
You do not interpret the pattern. You report it. But knowing what will be asked makes the call faster and the answer better.
| What you found | What to say on the phone |
|---|---|
| Nothing findable anywhere | "No digital pulse I can find on any foot, and I can normally find the cord easily" |
| Strong in one front foot only | "Bounding left front, nothing on the other three, and it is warm compared to the right" |
| Strong in both front feet | "Bounding in both fronts. He is reluctant to turn and standing rocked back" |
| Strong in all four | "Bounding in all four feet" |
| Strong in one hind only | "Bounding right hind, nothing elsewhere, and he was shod yesterday" |
Add the horse's resting heart rate, his temperature, whether he is eating, what he ate in the last two days, and what changed: new grass, a feed switch, a long trailer ride, a hard ride on hard ground, new shoes. That is the whole call, and it takes ninety seconds.
What else lifts a digital pulse
A strong pulse is not automatically laminitis, and pretending it is will exhaust you. It also appears with hoof abscesses, bruises, a nail bind or a hot nail after shoeing, a fresh injury lower down the leg, and sometimes after hard work on hard ground. Cellulitis and other infections in the limb can do it too.
The honest position for an owner is this: the causes overlap and telling them apart requires hoof testers, a lameness exam and often radiographs. That is why the article stops at "what you found" and hands you the phone. A one-foot pulse in a horse who was sound yesterday and is suddenly three-legged lame is a different urgency conversation than a two-front bounding pulse, and your veterinarian is the one who holds that distinction.
What this check cannot do
It cannot rule laminitis out. Not every affected horse shows a pulse you can feel, and the figure above says 91%, not 100%. A horse who is footsore, reluctant, or off in any way still needs a call regardless of what your fingers found.
It also cannot be learned from an emergency. The first time you go looking for a digital pulse should not be the morning your horse will not walk out of his stall, because on that morning you will not know whether the faint thing under your fingers is a pulse or your own heartbeat. That is the argument for doing the whole thing weekly on a healthy horse, ideally starting in the first two weeks after a new horse arrives.
FAQ
Where is the digital pulse on a horse?
On the lower leg at the back of the fetlock and down the pastern, where the digital artery, vein and nerve run together as a bundle over the sesamoid bones. There is one on the inside and one on the outside of each limb, front and hind.
Should I be able to feel a digital pulse on a healthy horse?
Often not. Veterinary references describe the normal digital pulse as faint or absent, so finding nothing on a sound foot is the expected result. What matters is that you can reliably find the artery itself, so that a zero means something.
What does a bounding digital pulse mean?
It means increased blood flow and inflammation inside the hoof. Causes include laminitis, an abscess, a bruise, a hot nail after shoeing, or a limb infection. It is a finding to report to your veterinarian, not something to interpret at home.
Is a strong digital pulse always laminitis?
No. But bounding pulses in both front feet, especially with reluctance to walk or a rocked-back stance, are a laminitis red flag, and the AAEP says to treat suspected laminitis as a medical emergency and call your veterinarian immediately.
How often should I check my horse's digital pulse?
Weekly is enough for most horses, along with the rest of the baseline. Check daily during high-risk periods your vet has flagged, such as after a grain overload, during spring grass, or in a horse with a history of laminitis, and check whenever the horse seems footsore.
Sources consulted: American Association of Equine Practitioners, "Laminitis: Prevention and Treatment"; Merck Veterinary Manual, "Laminitis in Horses"; Veterinary Evidence (2019), "Can changes in hoof wall temperature and digital pulse pressure be used to predict laminitis onset?", citing Wylie et al. (2016) for the 91% figure. This site is written by a horse owner of more than ten years, not a veterinarian. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a dose, or a treatment instruction, and every abnormal finding on this page ends in the same action: call your vet.