Lessons Learned from a Dentist

I have been a horse owner for over 35 years and I would like to think know more than your average Joe about my equine friends.  So I am always excited to find out something new about them. 

An equine dentist at work

Horses teeth grow constantly and can grow sharp points on their molars which need to be filed down in a process called "floating".  Yesterday I had the equine dentist out to "float" my boys teeth.  He also looked at their incisors, said they both had a very good bite and that they must get regular turnout on pasture.  What I never realized, but if you think about it it should be common sense, is that their incisors grow at the same rate.  Grabbing and ripping out grass is how they wear them down.  My horses have always had access to pasture so it never dawned on me that horses on a hay/pellet diet don't use they incisors as much and often have trouble.

Yet another reason for keeping horses as natural as possible!