116 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[CHAP. 



very much objects, as a rule, to hot grease, and 

 in many cases it will effect a cure. 



466. THE HORSE'S TEETH. The horse's teeth 

 require attending to far more often than is gener- 

 ally supposed. Horses get thin and the owners 

 do not suspect that the teeth require attending to, 

 but continue to give patent medicines which 

 probably do more harm than good. I have seen 

 teeth in horses' mouths that make one wonder 

 how they can eat at all, the condition being 

 merely the result of want of knowledge and often 

 neglect. 



I consider it cruel not to secure a veterinary 

 surgeon to examine a horse's teeth once a year. 

 All horses may not require attention every year, 

 but we never know, and it will be money well 

 spent. If the owner knows how to examine the 

 teeth, of course, he should do so. It is the molars 

 and not the incisors (front teeth) that require 

 floating with a suitable file every year or so, de- 

 pending on the composition of the teeth and on 

 the food. Every horse over eight years of age 

 should have its teeth floated once a year, or 

 oftener ; but horses over five years of age may 

 require this. 



467. Floating consists in taking off the sharp 

 points only, and not in rounding off the edges of 

 the tables. I remember a young vet. who filed 

 a horse's teeth so smooth that the animal died 

 of starvation. Normally the tables of the molar 

 teeth are quite ragged like the grinders in a mill, 

 and unless they are so the horse will not be 

 able to masticate oats, etc. The tables are not 

 in a horizontal plane, but, as shown in P. 103, 

 they incline inwards and upwards. This allows 

 of a better grinding motion when the horse 

 masticates. The upper teeth are farther apart 

 than the lower. Only points that stick right up 

 above the tables should be taken off with the 

 float. Projections into the gums or tongue, 

 which are sometimes found, must be clipped off 

 with molar nippers or cutters. 



Neglected teeth will cause indigestion, because 

 the horse will not be able to masticate his food 

 sufficiently, and consequently there will be a con- 

 siderable waste of food and money. The 

 symptoms of neglected teeth are irritability and 

 awkward carriage of the head, sore tongue and 

 cheeks, ptyalism (slobbering), pulling on the bit, 

 trying to run away, etc. Whenever a horse is off 

 his feed, carries his head to one side, or pulls 

 unnaturally, his teeth must be examined. There 

 may be a piece of wood jammed in between two 

 teeth and the horse has no means of informing 

 its owner. 



468. How TO EXAMINE TEETH. If a speculum 

 is used it is an easy matter to examine the teeth. 

 The hand is then placed into the mouth and each 

 row of molars is examined very carefully in 

 turn ; great care being taken to detect any pieces 

 of wood or other foreign substances that may be 

 wedged in between the teeth. Care must be 



taken to see that the speculum is resting properly 

 on the surface of the incisors, and that it is pro- 

 perly secured and not opened too far. It is an 

 easy matter, after a little practice, to examine the 

 teeth without the use of a speculum or other in- 

 strument to keep the horse's mouth open. 



The right hand and arm are inserted into the 

 mouth through the interdental space ; the horse's 

 tongue is forced gently with the back of the hand 

 in between the horse's left molar teeth. This 

 prevents him closing his mouth and allows the 

 two rows of molar teeth on the horse's right side 

 (the side on which the person will stand) to be 

 inspected. The other hand is then used to 

 examine the left molars by keeping the tongue 

 between the right. A speculum may frighten a 

 nervous horse. 



469. The tooth consist of a crown, with a 

 table on top that is the grinding surface, a neck, 

 fangs, and the roots at the tips of the fangs. The 

 horse has two sets of teeth : temporary, milk, 

 deciduous, total or teeth of the first dentition, 

 and permanent, replacing, or teeth of the second 

 dentition. 



The front teeth are called incisors or nippers. 



The tushes, or tusks, are called canines, and 

 are situated in the interdental space between the 

 incisors and molars, and nearer to the incisors. 



The back teeth are called grinders or molars. 



The full number in a horse is : 



Temporary set, Incisors, six on each jaw 

 Canines 



Molars, three on each 

 side of each jaw 



12 

 



12 

 24 

 12 



Permanent set, Incisors, six on each jaw 

 Canines, one on each 



side of each jaw . 4 

 Molars, six on each side 

 of each jaw . . 24 



40 



Generally a mare has no canine teeth, there- 

 fore has only 36. Several mares in Canada have 

 been known to have canine teeth. 



470. A tooth is composed of dentine, which is 

 similar in composition to bone, and contains 

 76 per cent, of earthy matter. This is covered on 

 its sides with enamel, which is enfolded from the 

 top in the upper molars ; it is very hard, con- 

 taining 96 per cent, earthy or mineral matter, and 

 is an epithelial growth. 



Inside the dentine there is a pulp cavity that 

 extends along a considerable length of the tooth ; 

 in the old tooth it is quite short. There are also 

 cups in the table around which the enamel forms 

 a ridge called the infundibulum. (See P. 102, 

 103.) 



There is a soft yellow material on the sides 



