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The horses circulatory system and blood vessel
system
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Click on photo to enlarge
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The horses circulatory system is a very large and
complex system made up of veins and arteries. The blood
is the pumped under enormous pressure from the heart
along the arteries which have thick muscular walls to
deal with the pressure. It oxygenates the body and the
internal organs.
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- The circulatory system is based upon the heart -
a hollow, muscular organ in the chest cavity. It pumps the blood
around the body and is divided into four separate compartments .
- Blood from the right ventricle goes to the lungs
to be oxygenated and then is returned to the left ventricle.
- Blood from the left ventricle is pumped all
through the body in arteries.
- Arteries repeatedly branch and diminish in size
until they become microscopic capillaries.
- Capillaries permit necessary interchange between
blood and tissue. They eventually join up to produce veins, which
convey blood to the right atrium and from there to the right
ventricle.
- A horse of average size has approximately 50
pints (28 litres) which circulate through his system every 40
seconds.
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