Posted by Geoff Tucker on Fri, Jul 31, 2009
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Teeth in horses younger than 5 years old go through very dynamic changes. When you start to float a young horse, it becomes a commitment to continue floating that horse every 3 to 4 months because in that short period of time, new teeth erupt, floated caps are ejected, and soft teeth become sharp again.
This video explains this paradigm and replaces the old saying that only older horses need to be floated. In addition, I add a description of caps, cap remnants, wolf teeth, and jaw lumps. More detailed descriptions of these can be found in individual videos on the subjects.
FAQ by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.theequinepractice.com.
Blog by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Posted by Geoff Tucker on Fri, Jul 31, 2009
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Teeth in horses younger than 5 years old go through very dynamic changes. When you start to float a young horse, it becomes a commitment to continue floating that horse every 3 to 4 months because in that short period of time, new teeth erupt, floated caps are ejected, and soft teeth become sharp again.
This video explains this paradigm and replaces the old saying that only older horses need to be floated.
FAQ by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at
www.theequinepractice.com.
Blog by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Posted by Geoff Tucker on Mon, Jul 06, 2009
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
In terms of horse teeth, caps are what we humans call our baby teeth. Technically, they are called deciduous teeth because they fall of like leaves of a deciduous tree. They sit like a cap on your head over the permanent tooth erupting below it. They are located over the incisor teeth (also known as the nippers directly behind the lips - 6 on top and 6 on the bottom) and the premolars (the first 3 cheek teeth counting from the front to the back - top and bottom, both sides = 12 teeth). Between the age of 2 and 1/2 until almost 5 years of age, these caps are jettisoned from the mouth.
Often, the break away from the mouth is uneventful. However, on occasion, two problems can occur. First is during the maturation, the tooth loosens but does not come off. The tell tale sign is a foul odor coming from the young horse's mouth. Second is an attachment of the cap breaks off leaving a hard piece located between the permanent tooth and the gum (like a kernel of pop corn stuck between your tooth and gum). This can become a source of localized infection and pain and must be removed. They are more easily discovered with fingers than with eyes.
FAQ by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at
www.theequinepractice.com.
Blog by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Posted by Geoff Tucker on Mon, Jul 06, 2009
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
The frequency of floating a horse is variable and is related to the individual horse. Often, we think of prevention on a mechanical device, like how often do you change oil in a car's engine. A horse is a living thing and not a machine. It is the threshold of pain that determines how frequently you need to float. Other determinants are genetics, age, and discipline. The least determinant is the cost because the benefit of preventing pain inside the horse's mouth is well worth the little annual cost you spend getting it done. Plus, this one preventive act may help decrease other costs such as lost hay and grain (spilled or not eaten due to pain), lost training time (horse is more compliant and willing to learn), and decreased vet bills (a more comfortable horse is usually more healthy).
FAQ by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at
www.theequinepractice.com.
Blog by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Posted by Geoff Tucker on Mon, Jul 06, 2009
The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.
Hard, non painful lumps located along the bottom edge of the jaw or on the face and seen in horses between 2 1/2 to 5 years of age are a common result of the eruption of permanent cheek teeth in the horse.
FAQ by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at
www.theequinepractice.com.
Blog by
Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.