Understanding how your horse's teeth work will help you make decisions about their husbandry.
Horses graze by plucking with their incisors, and then grinding forage with their molars in a circular motion (masticatory movement). Horses consume around 1 to 2% of their bodyweight in forage per day - 10kg on average.
If the grinding surface becomes uneven, they will alter that circular motion, which over time, tends to exacerbate changes to the grinding surface causing 'waves' and 'hooks'.
The Grinding Surface Can be altered by:
Eating with their head up instead of at ground level. This can often happen with fence-feeders or suspended hay nets. It's generally not a big deal if the horse also grazes, but some horses like performance/race horses or ponies that are kept off pasture because of compromised metabolic function are supplied all of their calories in hard feeds and hay. If they eat those at head-height instead of at ground level, this will change the angle at which they grind forage.
Tooth pain from a broken tooth or abscess or other.
A missing tooth.
Age. Horse's teeth erupt throughout their lifetime in a generally predictable way - hence the expression "long in the tooth". We can estimate the age of a horse by examining their incisors. It's a myth that they continue to grow throughout their life. They will eventually run out of tooth.
Signs you need to call a dentist:
Bad smelling breath. A healthy horse's breath is usually pleasant.
Uneven muscling on the cheeks and forehead. Often horses that eat predominantly grain will have prominent forehead muscles because they are chomping rather than grinding.
Horses dropping food, or routinely spitting out food.
"Quidding" Horses will stuff a swab of grass between their tooth and cheek if they have pain.
Manures that contain stalks longer than 2cm indicate they are not grinding sufficiently.
Weight loss.
Resistance to the bit, headshaking or otherwise being uncomfortable in a bridle - remember the cheek-strap runs directly along the join between the molars.
Do Hay Nets Damage Teeth?
We encourage horse owners who have horses or ponies with Cushings/PPID, laminitis, or even just 'good-doers' to feed soaked hay. The easiest way to do this is to put the hay in a net. Submerge the net into a garbage bin filled with water for about 20-30 minutes, and then to pull the whole net out and hang it on the fence.
People worry that eating all of their meals in nets might damage their horse's teeth.
A study published in The Journal of Equine Veterinary Science from May this year has shown this is not the case.
The conclusion of the study is as follows (BW is body weight and BCS is body condition score):
"The current study is the first to evaluate horse dental conditions and abnormalities in relation to hay net use. The results from this study indicated that hay nets have the ability to help manage BW and BCS in mature horses with free choice access to hay, reduce hay usage by 20 %, and do not lead to an increase in dental conditions or abnormalities over a one year period. These findings highlight the benefits hay nets can offer and help to alleviate concerns regarding hay net use and horse."
Key Take-Aways
Feed your horse at ground-level if you can.
Allow your horse to graze if they are not metabolically compromised.
Horses that are stabled or for any other reason consume less of their calories from forage will need more frequent dentistry.
If your horse has even muscling on their forehead and cheeks, is a good weight, has fresh-smelling breath and normal manures - don't beat yourself up for not calling the dentist as often. That being said, ideally, you will periodically have a dentist check your horse's teeth so that small problems don't become big ones.
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