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18. Teeth and how to tell the age |
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18.1 Horse and donkey teeth |
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The position of teeth in a horse's head
Horses' and donkeys' teeth keep growing during their lives. As the animals graze and chew, the teeth wear against each other.
Cheek teeth
The back teeth are also called 'molars'. Horses and donkeys use these teeth to grind the food before swallowing it.
Canine teeth
These teeth are sometimes called 'tushes'. They are found in the mouths of males, very rarely in mares, in between the front teeth and the cheek teeth.
Wolf teeth
Most mares do not have 'wolf teeth'. If present in the mouths of males, they grow just in front of the top row of cheek teeth.
Some people believe that wolf teeth cause problems, such as interfering with the bit. Therefore, sometimes they are removed, usually when the animal is two or three years old. Other experts do not believe that wolf teeth really interfere with the bit, which lies across the bottom jaw, and so they do not recommend that they be removed.
This is a job for an experienced person, who may use a special extractor tool for the job.
Front teeth
The front teeth are also called 'incisors'. They are used to bite and pluck the grass when an animal is grazing.
There are three pairs of front teeth. The middle front teeth are called 'centrals'. The outside ones are called 'corners'.
18.2 How to tell the age of a horse or donkey by its teeth |
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Horses may live to 40 years old and donkeys to more than 50 years. You can estimate the ages of younger horses and donkeys by looking at the changes in growth and wear of the upper and lower front teeth. Ageing horses is difficult at first, but becomes easier with practice.
Like us, horses and donkeys first grow a set of temporary or 'baby' teeth, and later adult teeth. Unlike us, horses' and donkeys' teeth keep growing during their lives and their teeth wear down as they eat.
We work out the age, first, by which of the front teeth have grown. Later, we estimate the age by how much the front teeth have worn down.
Using the teeth to tell the age up to 4 1/2 years old is accurate. Above this age, the teeth give a guide, but the changes are less accurate indicators of the animal's age.
Horses and ponies
Horses have six top and six bottom front teeth. Foals grow all the temporary set of front teeth in their first year of life.
The adult teeth come up later. The middle (central) pair of adult teeth appears when the animal is 21/2 years old. The next adult front teeth grow through when 31/2 and 41/2 years old. Look for the difference in size of the big adult and small temporary teeth at the age of three or four years.
At five years old, the animal has all its adult teeth. In the next years the age is estimated by the wear of the front teeth. This shows as changing patterns on the biting surface of these teeth. The pattern changes because the tooth is not the same inside all the way down. Therefore, the biting end looks different as the tooth wears down.
If we were to remove a whole front (incisor) tooth from the head of a young horse, it would look like this:
If we were to cut across the same tooth in different places, it would show how it would look on the biting surface as the tooth wears down during the animal's life.
When they first come through, the front teeth have a hollow in the biting surface. This is called the 'cup'. As the horse gets older, this hollow gets more circular and grows to the back of the tooth, and is known as a 'mark'. A dark line is seen on the biting surface, in front of the cup. This is called the 'star'.
Later, the mark grows out and only the star is left on the biting surface.
Telling the age of horses and ponies by the appearance of the teeth
| Age of horse or pony |
What the front or side of the teeth look like |
Appearance of biting surface of front teeth |
Description |
| Three years old |
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First pair of adult teeth has grown and is in wear. |
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| Four years old |
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Second pair of adult teeth is up and in wear. One pair of baby teeth is left. |
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| Five years old |
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Third (corner) pair of adult teeth is up and is wearing down at the front. |
| Six years old |
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The teeth have worn level and all have a central indent called a 'cup'. The corner teeth are now wearing level. |
| Seven years old |
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The cup is less deep in the central pair of front teeth, where it is now called a 'mark'. There is still a good cup in the other front teeth. At seven years, a 'hook' can be seen on the side of the upper corner front teeth. |
| Eight years old |
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A dark line at the front of the teeth (called a 'star') has appeared on each of the central pair of front teeth. |
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| Nine years old |
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Now no more cups, only marks. Stars have appeared on the next teeth. A groove begins to grow down the upper corner front tooth. |
| Ten years old |
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The biting surfaces are more triangular. The star has appeared on the corner front teeth. Stars are becoming more round and nearer the middle of the tooth. Marks are less distinct. The 7 year hook has worn away. |
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| 12 years old |
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The mark has gone from the centrals. Stars are now round. The groove in the upper corner teeth is about 1 cm long. |
| 15 years old |
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Only stars on the teeth. The groove is now half way down the upper corner teeth. |
| 19-20 years old |
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Seen from the side, the teeth have a forward slope. The groove extends down the whole tooth. |
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| 20-25 years old |
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The teeth have an even more forward-pointing angle and the groove is growing out (it disappears at about 30 years old). The tops of the teeth now have a more triangular shape. |
Donkeys
Donkeys also have six top and six bottom front teeth. Ageing by growth of new front teeth is similar to horses. New adult incisors appear at 21/2, 31/2 and 41/2 years old. Ageing donkeys up to five years old is done in the same as horses. After that there are some differences:
• Donkeys' corner front teeth may not be fully in wear until nine or ten years old (compare the horse - six years old).
• The cups can still be seen in some donkeys' lower front teeth until around 20 years old. In horses, the cups disappear by ten years old.
• The groove, which occurs from nine years of age in horses' upper corner front teeth, does not appear in donkeys. Also the hook on the same tooth which is seen in horses is not a reliable guide for ageing donkeys.
18.3 Tooth rasping |
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The back teeth of some horses and donkeys do not wear evenly. Sharp edges can develop on the cheek teeth and can stop the animal eating properly.
A good policy with all horses and donkeys more than 15 years old is to rasp the teeth once or twice per year. It is worth inspecting the cheek teeth of all animals more than ten years old, and rasping them if necessary every few months.
What tooth problems look like
Suspect tooth problems if the animal chews for some time and spits out its mouthful.
Suspect tooth problems if an older horse is thin. A horse with poor teeth does not eat properly.
How to rasp (or 'float') teeth
The tool used is a kind of file on a handle. Ideally, for upper teeth, a rasp with a bend in the handle is used, and for lower teeth a straight
The sharp edges develop on the outside of the top rows of cheek teeth and on the inside (the side nearer the tongue) of the bottom cheek teeth. So the rasp is angled to smooth down these edges of the rows of teeth.
An assistant holds the horse's head. The person doing the rasping normally grasps the horse's tongue and rasps the sharp edges of the teeth.
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