As a child, I had spent many hours leading donkeys up and down Blackpool sands for a quick ride; gone along to a local riding school in Northenden, Manchester, offering to clean up stables and grooming horses for a quick ride around the paddock. And, although I was desperate to get a pony or horse of my very own, this could never have happen back in the 1950's as my parent's just could not afford to buy me a pony, nor pay for its upkeep and my spending money was hopelessly inadequate for anything but a few sweets now and again. A pony on its own? Perhaps that could have been possible. But it was all the extras that was needed such as its saddlery, riding gear, grooming kit, day and night rugs, bandages, stable equipment, wormers for worm infestation, plus the cost of shoeing by a farrier every six weeks and any vet's bills, plus field and stable rent - that was definitely not on for me then. Mind you, I put my time at the stables to good use and soon set about learning about the horse itself.
For instance, did you know that without good teeth a horse will eventually starve to death? Horse teeth are adapted for plant eating. They are strong, high-crowned and suited to grinding grasses and other harsh vegetation. They have a relatively long digestive tract, most of which is intestine which aids in the digesting of cellulose matter from the vegetation.
Young horses have baby or milk teeth, which they start to lose from about two onwards, to be replaced by permanent teeth. The permanent teeth, numbering 36 to 40, are completely developed by age five to six years. All horses have 12 incisors arranged on the upper and lower jaws. These incisors cut and pull the grass. Stallions and geldings have four canines called Tushes, which are remnants of earlier times, and these are not found in mares. There are also 12 premolars and 12 molars, which grind up the food and swallowed as a bolas.
Horse teeth have what is called high prisms that keep moving out the jaw to replace the suraces worn off in grinding or masticating food. As the upper jaw is wider than the lower jaw, the eating motion that the horse employs, results in very uneven wear. When this happens, sharp edges on the outside of the upper teeth and the inside of the lower teeth can cut the inside of the cheek, or actually cause discomfort with the bit and, in extreme cases, difficulty in eating, especially in very old horses. I know all about this, as my daughter's 13.2h.h. pony, Elorie Queen II, called Lady for short, had to be put down at the age of 34 due to her teeth being worn away. More about our little Lady soon....Therefore, it is always a good policy to check your horse's teeth regularly and if needed, be rasped or filed by a vet who will use a metal 'gag' in order to hold the animal's mouth open. It is a painless proceedure and the horse certainly benefits from such attention once it has been accomplished successfully.
Horse teeth can also indicate approximate age, providing you know what you are looking for. It is fairly easy to determine the age of a youngster up to about the age of about seven years. And by about the age of ten, the teeth are starting to get longer and slope forwards. They produce a groove on the last incisor teeth in the top jaw, called a Galvayne's groove. (This groove is called after the man who first really noted how it indicates the age of a horse. Clever or what?)
Have you ever heard the expression, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth?" Well, what would you do if you were buying a horse? When I went to buy Magic in early May, 1979, I had the vet I had engaged to throughly check her for any signs of unsoundness such as navicular disease, splints or other swellings associated with windgalls, ringbone, bone or bog spavins, especially when Magic was put through her paces by her previous owners. He double checked for any signs of strain and sprain along her legs and back, and for arthritis in her pasterns located directly above her coronets. Also, he looked for the tell-tale rings on the hoof for any signs of laminitus. But there were none. She was pronounced sound directly after he had closely examined her ears, teeth and mouth. And guess what? She had the beginnings of the Galvayne's grooves starting to show on the top edge of her incisors, just below her top gum, so the vet gave her an estimated age of around nine to ten. Over the years, the grooves steadily reached the the bottom of her incisor teeth when she was twenty years old. Well, to be honest with you, Magic was no real "looker" but she was a great "goer." However, I can say here that not once did she ever act her 'aged' age in all the fifteen years I had the priviledge of looking after her... She was, after all, just Magic.