incisors. Your horse’s front teeth are called incisors. These teeth efficiently clip the grass as it grazes. These are also the first teeth to appear as the milk teeth grow in and the first to shed as the permanent teeth push through. How many front teeth do horses have? twelve Read more…
The area in the horse’s mouth where a bit communicates our pressures most effectively to the horse is called the bars. These gaps between the front teeth and the back teeth on either side of the jaw consist of tissue-covered, pressure-sensitive cartilage. Why do horses have a metal bar in Read more…
Underbite (“Sow Mouth”) Prognathism (“undershot jaw,” “underbite”) is rare in the horse, except in miniature horses, and is usually clinically insignificant unless there is a total lack of occlusion between the upper and lower incisors. What is an undershot jaw? An undershot jaw occurs when the lower jaw grows faster Read more…
Laryngeal hemiplegia is caused by paralysis of one or both of these cartilages (called the arytenoid cartilage; Figure 1), due to lack of innervation causing atrophy to the muscle that moves the arytenoid cartilage. The left arytenoid cartilage is the most common side affected (up to 95%). What causes recurrent Read more…
Over time some horses can develop a wave mouth due to an abnormal or uneven bite, which causes the molars to wear in an irregular wave-shaped pattern. Horses with an over or underbite may not wear their incisors properly, and these front teeth may require attention as well. What is Read more…
2-5%. While some breeders droop their shoulders and shake their heads when faced with affected foals, floundering in their misfortune, others pick up the phone and call the equine orthodontist. Parrot mouth, long believed to be an inherited condition, reportedly affects 2-5% of the equine population to some degree. Should Read more…
While not common with an underbite, a horse with an overbite could develop ulcers of the soft palate if the misaligned teeth dig into the soft tissues of the horse’s palate. Moderate discomfort from resulting sores or ulcers in the mouth can cause a horse to back off his feed. Read more…
As far as genetics go, parrot mouth is NOT directly heritable. That is, we rarely see an individual sire or a mare throwing an abnormally high number of parrot mouthed foals. The most common cause of it is when a mare is bred to a stallion of very different head Read more…
It’s harder for your horse to properly chew with a bit. The bit rests on the tongue and therefore interferes with tongue/chewing action. I have seen a bit after a horse has snacked along the trail, often there are wads of grass mucked up on the bit. What is the Read more…
RELEASE – the horse begins to give larger signs that muscle tension has let go. These larger release responses can be one or a combination of the following: licking and chewing, snorting or sneezing, shaking its head or body, or repeated yawning. Where do horses hold their tension? Horses that Read more…