Signs of Dental Problems

I make it a habit to read my mare’s behavior. For example, I can detect an oncoming heat cycle. She bats her big, brown doe eyes at any horse that will look, then will nibble and flirtatiously tug at her lead rope, oftentimes untying it.

I can tell when she is not feeling well if her ears aren’t perked and her eyes aren’t bright. When you look at your horse, do his eyes look bright and shiny? Is he eager to work?

Sometimes we get in such a hurry that we don’t listen to what our horses try telling us. Or, we just don’t understand them, or misinterpret them.

Take some time to read your horse for dental problems. Here is a list of messages your horse might be sending to you:

• Refuses to take the bit
• Tosses his head/carries it crooked
• Won’t collect under saddle/hollows out his back/has a weak top line with little muscling
• Heavy on the bit on one side or the other
• Won’t pick up one lead or the other
• Spits out wads of hay
• Stuffs his cheeks with his grain before chewing it
• Soaks his hay in water
• Has bad breath that smell like something is rotting
• Has asymmetrical jaw muscles from one side of the face to the other
• Has a sour attitude
• Has loose stool/long stems and grain in stool

Look at his front teeth:

• Does he have an overbite or underbite?
• Are his incisors straight along a horizontal plane, or are they diagonal or curved up or down?

Stand to the side of his head. Grab the bridge of his nose with one hand while the other hand slides the bottom jaw, or mandible, from side to side. Put your ear against his face to hear the teeth sliding. You should hear a deep grind. If you mostly hear a sound similar to two pieces of glasses rubbed together, this indicates that his incisors are overlong.