Teething Horses and Bits

[jyuukai]

Just a quick question this time~ My mare will be 3 in April and when we were out trace-clipping her the other day (its going to be almost 90 tomorrow!

) I noticed that she was starting to lose some of her baby teeth!

I haven't had a horse through all of it's teething years and so I wasn't sure what the general opinion was on continuing bit work with them. For the time being I have moved her to her halter as I have been sick anyways and not really willing to trot along behind her haha and we have been doing lots of lunging and in-hand work with it.

Would I be asking for trouble to bit her up while she is actively losing teeth? I don't mind at all staying with halter work for now as we can do plenty of fun de-spooking things and work on some more of her showmanship lessons! Just wasn't sure if it was necessary!

And just for fun, here is our wonderful clip job haha. She got a little tired of me poking around her mouth while her daddy clipped her and started to wiggle around at the end. Oops!

 

[targetsmom]

Ha - that looks a like like the clip job I did on Princess this week which was one of about 4 or 5 I did!

We just went through the teething issue with Dancer, our coming 4 year old. It happened to coincide with so-so weather, so I gave her a few weeks off. I know if my mouth hurts I have a hard time eating and can't imagine how a piece of metal might feel. She was shaking her head to let me know she wasn't happy. After a few weeks off - once the new teeth were coming in well, and I didn't see any blood in her mouth - she got back into work and her progress has been phenomenal!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I too avoided using a bit when Turbo was teething. It causes more problems than it's worth in my opinion and can set them up for bad habits if they learn to associate the bit with oral pain. Why push them? All they learn is that driving is painful and that Mama doesn't listen when they try to tell us something.

This is my first time having a horse through his teething years as well and I hadn't realized they shed another set of teeth between three and four years old. I thought Turbo was done so had quit looking at his mouth and couldn't figure out why he was so unhappy with his new Myler bit and was a little off his hay. Then my brain kicked in and realized that's what he always does when he's losing caps and sure enough- a couple days later there was another tooth missing! I gave him a few days off as soon as I realized what was happening and when I put the bit back in after he'd resumed normal eating all the annoying gnawing and head-dragging had vanished.

Yet another reason I don't consider a driving horse really grown up and ready for work until they're four....

Leia

P.S.- I'm jealous of your weather! We're still having sleet/snow/rain mix here and mud is everywhere. Both boys want their heads clipped as they're itching but it's way too cold to take off any fur.

 

[jyuukai]

Thank you both for your replies! I'm not with her every day anymore to really observer her behavior, but she's very good about me checking her mouth so I will bring a plan for in-hand and for driving work when I visit her from now on and do whichever she seems ready for that day. She has lately been a little annoying/strong/unresponsive to her bit when she gets going so maybe the break will be good for her mentally as well. We can go back to flexing on the halter and confirming her knowledge of voice cues

and of course, a little jumping! She loves going over fences so we can also work on that a bit!

And Leia, don't be too jealous! The heat index was near 90 yesterday, and the same for today, and it's only march! I'm caught between a rock and a hard place with the mare, it's so stinkin hot during the day that she's really suffering with that full coat, but I'm worried that it will cool off suddenly still or we will get a bad rain storm and I won't be able to get her blanket on her in time. By the end of next month though the rest of the coat will be going if she hasn't shed it, I just need to find a fly sheet to keep the sun off her skin until her coat starts to come back in.

But I AM thankful for the weather at the moment as their big summer pasture is recovering really well from their abuse from last year. It shouldn't be too much longer before it's mature enough to put them back on it