The other night, I watched the post-apocalyptic movie The Postman starring Kevin Costner. In the beginning scenes, Costner's character (the Postman) was walking through an arid desert with a mule as his only company. Costner and his mule scavenge through abandoned stores looking for food and clean water. Clearly, they're a pair who only have each other to rely on to survive this decrepit world. One scene that jumped out at me and made me question all my (admittedly small) knowledge of horse tooth care was when Costner sat down to brush his mule's teeth. Wait? Are horse/mule/donkey owners supposed to brush their equine's teeth? Dogs and cats need their teeth brushed weekly, so why not horses? Luckily for all equine owners, the answer is no, horses do not need their teeth brushed to stay healthy. And I say luckily because if you have ever been bitten by a horse, you know their teeth can do some serious damage, especially to fingers. Humans, dogs, and cats only grow two sets of teeth in their life time, and their permanent ones come in early in life. To preserve their teeth and make them last a lifetime, their teeth are covered in the hard substance called enamel. Unfortunately, enamel can erode and decay when tartar builds up. If you have ever looked at a horse's teeth, they're usually covered in yellow and look disgusting, but why does the tartar not affect the horse's mouth as harshly? Horse teeth are not covered by enamel, but by a substance called cementum, which is highly porous and easily stains. The combination of the lack of space between the teeth and the continuing tooth growth and wear down from eating rough plants, decay doesn't have much chance to set in. However, since horse teeth do continue to grow and wear down, they do need their teeth floated or filed every so often by a veterinarian to smooth rough edges that can bother the horse and affect its food consumption. Veterinarians will also scrape tarter off near the gum line if there's heavy build up. Maybe Costner's character did not know too much about equine dental care, but we can see that he loves his mule and wants to do all he can to keep him healthy in their desperate situation. Every horse person can understand that. You know another cool fact about horse teeth? They tell their age! Come read my other post Outlander--Horse Teeth and Age and learn all about how one can read a horse's teeth to tell its approximate age.
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AuthorI am Amy. I love movies, TV, and horses. I grew up with horses and taught kids how to ride during my summer breaks from school. Now I am a country girl living in a city hoping to someday move back into a rural area and own a horse again. Archives
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