How To Protect Your Horse’s Teeth

Dental health is one of the most important things horse owners need to pay attention to. A toothache or disease can affect the way they eat, how they behave, and how much care they need. Once a horse’s baby teeth fall out, the adult set is the only one they’ll have for the rest of their lifetime. Furthermore, they’re much harder to take care of than human teeth. If you want to prevent your horse from living with dental issues, learn how to protect your horse’s teeth. This way, you can give them the best chance at keeping their teeth healthy well into their later life.

Stop Bad Wood Chewing Habits Early

It’s common to see horses start chewing on the wood in their enclosure or around the pasture, but that doesn’t make it a good thing, especially if they’re cribbing instead of chewing. Cribbing is a separate and equally dangerous issue entirely. But if your horse is chewing on wood, you must take action to prevent this immediately.

Typically, a wood chewing problem stems from boredom with their enclosure and diet, but it may also happen due to nutritional deficits. If increasing the amount of activity and foraging time doesn’t help their wood chewing habit, consider consulting a vet for assistance. You can also spray horse deterrent on the problem wood or install metal plates to keep the horse away.

Help Senior Horses Eat

If your horse already has dental problems due to old age or disease, you don’t need to take drastic actions. Change how you feed your horse and alter their feed to make it easy to chew no matter how many teeth they have left. By feeding your dentally challenged horse properly, you can protect their remaining teeth and gums, allowing them to live happy lives.

Regular Dental Checkups

Just as you should see the dentist twice a year for checkups, so too should your horse when they’re young. As they age, you may only require one dental checkup a year, depending on the condition of their teeth. While you can find dentists for horses, your primary equine veterinarian may also be able to handle dental checkups. Preventative care is one of the most reliable ways for how to protect your horse’s teeth, and it’s far easier to fix concerns as they happen rather than afterward.