FROM YOUR HORSE’S MOUTH

As conscientious as we are about scheduling farrier visits and annual vaccinations, we aren’t always quite as proactive about our horse’s dental health.

In our defense, the ingenious design of equine teeth means they usually don’t need many interventions throughout most of a horse’s life. The incisors at the front of his mouth are shaped and positioned to clip grass with ease. Tightly packed cheek teeth offer ideal surfaces for grinding forage and grains. His upper jaw is slightly wider than the lower one, permitting it to move easily from side to side, maximizing this grinding efficiency.

Because your horse spends most of his waking hours chewing a fibrous diet, the grinding surface of his teeth are constantly being worn away. And he’s well equipped for that, as well: Equine teeth continually emerge from deep sockets within a horse’s gums, replacing tooth surface that has been ground away, much like pushing lead through a mechanical pencil. Your horse’s teeth emerge from his gums at a rate of about