Routine dental care is absolutely vital to your horse’s health and general happiness. Lucky for us, though, it usually only needs to be addressed once a year, is most often quite simple, and is not terribly expensive.

A horse’s teeth begin erupting about a week after it is born and continue to erupt throughout its life. Like an iceberg, what you see is only the tip, with much more lying in wait in the jaw for future eruption. You may have wondered at times, as you watch and listen to your horse contentedly munching its grain, about the amazing strength and power it takes to pulverize hardened grains and kernels of corn into the fine meal your horse finally swallows. The equine jaw is enormously powerful and the punishment taken by the teeth is tremendous. As a matter of fact, left unchecked in the wild, dental wear is a major contributor to the much shorter average life span of the wild and feral horse as compared to its domestic counterpart. Teeth that have worn past a certain point can no longer process food well enough for it to be readily digested. The result is a horse that eats constantly while literally starving itself to death. As a horse owner, seeing large amounts of grain being dropped at feed time or finding whole grains or large pieces of roughage in the manure should be a clue that it’s time for a trip to the dentist.

What Is A Horse Teeth Float?

A routine float that primarily consists of rasping the molars to an even surface, rounding edges, rasping any long canines and removing wolf teeth is a job for a certified equine dentist. The routine float usually costs around $60 dollars and should be performed annually. Occasionally more than just routine work is needed to get teeth back in shape in which case a good equine dental professional is equipped to bring in power tools and specialized knowledge to return your Flicka to her pearly white grin.

Lastly, because poorly and unevenly worn teeth are not only inefficient, but can be sharp and painful to your horse, teeth are often the first thing a smart horseman will check when dealing with riding and bitting problems. If you do not know when your horse’s teeth were last done, they’re due. Again, a quick mark in your calendar will ensure Charger gets his annual visit to the dental chair, and that you are riding a happy and healthy horse.

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