We believe your horse’s dental care is essential to your horse’s well-being. Maintaining proper dental care rewards your horse with a longer, more comfortable future regular exams and routine maintenance is especially necessary for today’s horses. It is important to have your horse’s teeth checked at a minimum of once yearly, or twice yearly for horses over the age of 15 years. Checking a horse’s teeth is simple, painless, and easily done at time of vaccines or any other visit.
The following things can be a sign of dental problems and you should consult your 3H Veterinarian to have your horse evaluated:
- Drops wads of feed (especially hay) while eating or drools
- Large amounts of hay or grain in the water bucket
- Holds his/her head at an odd angle while chewing
- Refuses to eat
- Poor body condition
- A bad mouth odor
- Tosses or shakes his/her head when wearing a bridle
- Pushes his/her nose in the air when you apply pressure on the reins
- Resists turning in one or both directions
- Flinches when you touch in the mouth
- Eats hay before grain
- Difficulty chewing
- Excess salivation
- Undigested food in manure
- Bit chewing
- Tongue rolling
- Fighting the bit
- Bucking
- Failing to stop or turn
- Swelling of the face
- Nasal discharge
Many horses with dental problems do not show any signs. They simply adapt to their discomfort which is why at 3H Equine we recommend routine evaluations.
