Teething in young horses

Teething can be 'a pain in the mouth' for us humans, but how about for our horses?

While I had baby pony (non-aggressively) attaching himself by his teeth to the poop scoop handle, the wheelbarrow, my coat sleeve and the occasional piece of my arm the other week as I was trying to get jobs done I was contemplating why he was so incredibly mouthy and unsettled sometimes and why at others he was such a lovely, calm boy who kept his teeth to himself. I voiced this to my mum and her reply was stated obviously 'well, he's 3. He's probably teething and it's probably hurting him.' Why had I not considered that?! Probably because in the 20+ years I've been around horses (including many young ones) I've never heard of horses teething being acknowledged or discussed within the equine community. Especially in relation to behaviour! So I did a little research on Baby Horse tooth development (during which I found a total of zero scientific papers on the topic, so if anyone has any I’d love it if you could share them with me please?!).

What I did find was that the foals teeth erupt through their gums when they're only a few days old, by the time they are around 6 months old their full set of baby teeth have (in most cases) developed, this includes 24 teeth in total, 6 upper and lower incisors and 6 upper and lower pre-molars.

Just like humans horses do lose their baby teeth to make way for new adult teeth to emerge. This usually starts happening at around 2 years of age and the full adult set isn’t usually complete in their development (of breaking through the gums) until the age of 4 ½ - 5 years of age. Interestingly the age range where people seem to notice their horses are typically most mouthy (It’s worth noting that geldings and stallions also sometimes have 4 canine teeth which can erupt at around 5 years of age and which have usually fully erupted by the age of 6). So what does this mean? Well I don’t have any research or data to make any real statements about their experiences generally but for Harry (and the other young horses I work with) it means I now have far more empathy for him when he's having a 'chew everything' day as it really only takes common sense to realise he’s uncomfortable at best or even in quite moderate pain at worst (as many teething children could tell you, it’s not always the nicest of experiences to say the least!).

As far as I can tell from the literature already written about teething in horses the only thing really acknowledged is the fact that if something goes ‘wrong’ with this process that it can cause medical issues. But this discusses the more ‘extreme’ end of the scale where horses have caps which have broken in half, become embedded in the gums and need veterinary excision etc. It doesn’t highlight the fact that the straightforward process alone, working ‘as it should’ can also be a cause for discomfort, pain and cause out of character, unwanted displacement behaviours in our young horses.

It’s important to remember with any species that pain and discomfort often prevent the ability for needs to be met, and specifically in the case of horses we need to recognise that whereas teething humans only have to eat on their sore gums a handful of times per day and can still really struggle with it teething horses are using their chompers for around 18+ hours a day, every day! This means while their mouths are uncomfortable and sore they rarely get any respite, unless they take a longer break from eating than usual (they do do this) in which case the pain caused by chewing may be replaced by increased hunger, and in turn if they don’t eat for an extended period of time possibly some gut discomfort or hypoglycaemia as well as emotional frustration (All ‘speculation’ sure but not irrationally so I don’t think?). Add onto that that it’s sadly still common practice to back horses before they’re physically and emotionally developed and you’re then needing to account for the fact we are often plonking a chunk of hard metal into their already uncomfortable mouths as well. Really we’re just putting together all the ingredients that create a recipe for disaster!

In my experience with young horses I would think it’s fair to say plenty of them just manage to ‘get on with it’ only ever showing a few low intensity signs of struggling with this teething process but I also question how ‘little’ they’re struggling generally and how much we’re simply failing to notice their struggle. It’s only in the past few years we’ve really begun understanding about the more subtle stress and calming signals of horses and I believe the increasing information we now have through various studies still has a long way to go in reaching most horse owners and helping them better understand their horse’s behaviours and needs. It’s not one size fits all either, we must also account for the fact that regardless of the cause of discomfort not all horses show their struggle in the same way, some of the signs I have noticed with different horses and ponies who have clearly been teething between the ages of 2-5 years have included:
Tongue lolling / rolling
Playing with a loose tooth with their tongue
Excessive rubbing of their cheeks, lips and gums
Excessive mouthing and chewing behaviours of people and random objects
Occasional head tosses (over a short period of time, a few days for example)
Becoming increasingly quiet and withdrawn for short periods
Having difficulties with chewing
Dropping food during training (+R)
Tooth grinding

This is not a comprehensive list and obviously each of these things could have an array of different and more serious underlying causes so if you’re horse starts displaying any of them and you don’t know why I’d always say speak to your vet but these are some of the things, in my experience which I have seen teething horses experience and display patterns of in relation to how uncomfortable their mouths are. No wonder we see young horses objecting to things, behaving in ways we deem ‘inappropriate’, being unenthusiastic about training even when we do things kindly and sometimes behaving (seemingly randomly) ‘out of character’ and struggling with the backing (and bitting) process this early in life.

What can we do with this?
Ensure your young horse is kept up-to-date with dentals with a qualified and experienced professional. Most vets don’t do dentals until a horse is 3 but some will happily routinely check their mouths anyway, just because they look doesn’t mean they have to touch the teeth!

If there are any sudden changes in behaviour such as chewing / nipping / biting / head tossing / rubbing their face a lot / mouthing / shut down / depression etc then get a vet visit to ensure there’s nothing going wrong with their teething process or that it’s not something more serious which needs addressing.

Be patient, empathetic and kind. If they’re sore and uncomfortable with something going on inside their mouth then don’t ask too much, they won’t likely feel like doing a lot of training or being ridden.

Although I don’t advocate backing any horse until they’re at least 6 years old if you are planning to ride your horse young then research bitless bridles or even consider training bridleless if your activity is suited to it (and even if you’re not then research them anyway). From birth to at least 5 years old horses have enough going on in their mouth already without a stonking great wedge of metal being strapped in there as well. If geldings and Stallions do grow canines it’s common for them to have them removed, this is simply down to the fact the bit sits where the canine teeth grow. The procedure for removal is entirely for human benefit and simply choosing to start training your horse bitless is a far less invasive, less aversive solution which doesn’t put your horse through unnecessary examinations and surgery (which as with all sedation and surgery has risks involved).

Provide safe items for them to chew in their environment to support them with any stress induced displacement. Although horses don’t tend to be ‘chewers’ when they are teething like human babies or dogs are Harry certainly has shown that some comfort can indeed be found from having something there to nibble on occasionally, and even if they don’t want to use it the option is there for them (You can simply provide ‘enrichment’ which is supportive of this time of their lives – firm rubbery things or soft items, Harry has a Jolly Ball style toy he chews a lot on his bad tooth days).

Talk to your vet about pain relief if they seem to be experiencing a severely bad period, I’ve never found this necessary for any of the horses I’ve worked with so far however Just like you wouldn’t think twice about giving your child something to take the edge off if they clearly needed it we can speak to our vets about helping our horses cope with pain as well.

Anyways, that’s my musings on teething in young horses, curtesy of my mum and Baby Horse Harry. I hope it helps people find a way to be more understanding and empathetic towards their young horses if they are having the odd ‘out of character’ mouthy day.

(Photo of Harry’s teeth a few days ago, his gums were all bleeding and sore over the past week where some of his new adult tegs are working through. No wonder he behaves unsettled at times, he's sensitive at the best of times poor boy!)  

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