Question
I recently bought a quiet, aged racking gelding to use as a trail-riding horse in the rural area in which I live. I am having a blast with him! Despite lots of hay and two grain meals a day (10 lb or 4.5 kg of a senior feed), he remains ribby. My well-meaning barn friends have flooded me with recommendations about how to change his diet to pack on some pounds, so I am evaluating my options on the nutrition front. Other than this, my friends have repeatedly suggested that he be seen by a dentist. When I owned my last horse in the early 1980s, I didn’t use a dentist. Can the state of his teeth adversely affect his weight?
Answer
I am happy to hear you’re back in the saddle again after such a long hiatus.
Just as a veterinarian annually sees your horse for vaccinations and just as a farrier tends periodically to his hooves, so too must a dentist care for his teeth. As a horse ages, visits by a dentist become increasingly important, as most horses begin to have trouble with their teeth as they approach their twentieth birthday. If dental trouble brews for too long, a horse’s ability to chew and digest feed properly can be compromised.
Like humans, horses have two primary types of teeth, incisors and molars. Unlike humans, the incisors and molars have a generous amount of reserve crown that hides above or below the gum line and slowly erupts as the horse wears away the visible crown. In young horses, the permanent teeth are deeply rooted with great stability. With each passing year, more reserve crown is used until, as aged horses, they have little left. Because reserve crown is reduced in aged horses, teeth lose much of their anchoring ability, which is why the incidence of loose and missing teeth is higher in geriatric horses.
In addition to wobbly or missing teeth, other common conditions of aged horses include malocclusions, periodontal disease, and hypercementosis. As teeth deteriorate, horses may have trouble chewing. In especially severe cases, they may drop balls of half-chewed forage from their mouths without swallowing, a behavior known as “quidding.” From your description, it doesn’t sound as though your gelding is having any of these problems.
With this is mind, the primary goals of dental care for aged horses are oral comfort and optimal chewing ability. The place to start is through consultation with a professional. Book an appointment for your horse to be evaluated by a dentist or a veterinarian with a keen interest in dentition. Only then will you know if your gelding’s teeth may be to blame for his inability to gain weight. Getting a baseline assessment of his teeth and staying on track with regular dental appointments will prolong both your horse’s well-being and your time together.
If the dental examination reveals no significant problems, refer to a veterinarian for a body-wide examination. She will likely rule out parasitism by asking for a deworming record, so have that on hand; be sure to have dates of deworming and the name of the product or class of drug. If that is unavailable, she may choose to do a fecal egg count, which will identify what parasites are problematic for your horse and will make a treatment choice clear.
