Ageing a horse

[anonmouse]

I know there can be a wide range of estimates in horses ages judging from there teeth. My horse has been estimated from 10 to 20+. Is there anyway except from using teeth to age horses quite accuratly. Sorry if it sound like a silly question

 

[collie]

The teeth are considered the most accurate method of placing an age [allied with his overall condition ]on a horse without spending money. The younger the horse it tends to be more acurate as it the horse gets older it becomes a little more difficult, but i would say that the estimates you have been getting from 10 to 20 plus are a bit on the bizzare end of the scale. There is a whole lot of info available on gauging a horses age from his teeth but most horse vets or experienced horse traders will get you to down to at least a two to three years in most cases. As long as your horse is fit and able for you want him to do dont worry to much about his age.

 

[Shilasdair]

Hi
Ageing by the teeth isn't too difficult once you follow a structure - first work out if he is old (Galvayne's groove, triangular tooth surface, sloping teeth) young (white baby teeth, not all fully through, round tooth surface, straight teeth) or in between (all adult teeth there, but no Galvayne's groove).
Mostly you can age them to a couple of years quite easily. There's a cracking CD Rom which shows you how called 'Teeth and Aging' - work through that and you'll be able to do it (although obviously some horses age faster than others).
S

 

[Tia]

From 10 years and on, it is generally pretty easy to age a horse to within a year or so. Galvayne's groove appears around this time and from it alone (although there are many other ways to tell aswell) you can normally age fairly accurately until the horse is around 20 years old. Then it starts to grow out which gives you an indication from about 20 years old all the way through to 30 years old.

 

[star]

my horse's Galvayne's groove doesn't represent his age at all - it's never matched up in all the time I've had him and I know he is definitely him as I have his birth certificate. I would say from age 0 to 8 it's pretty easy to age them accurately, from then on it becomes more difficult.

 

[kevH]

The best way of gauging the age of your horse is by having him checked by a qualified equine dentist. If they are any good they can age a horse to within a year. You can also tell by the spacing of the ribs but there are not many people in this country who know how to do that, but the teeth are the best way.

 

[puddicat]

"From 10 years and on, it is generally pretty easy to age a horse to within a year or so. "

Absolutely and totally incorrect.

It's a funny old world, I've just come from reading the NL post HRT is cruelly collected where you have go at someone because of the accuracy of their post. To quote you:

"Well if you have researched it then "you will know that it is rubbish that the foals in Canada are slaughtered nowadays."
..and..
"Sorry but I cannot bear when someone asks for FACTS and are given incorrect and sorely out of date "findings".

Well who would have believed it but it appears that you are just as guity of doing the same thing on a subject that is actually quite easy to research and well established now.

For a start variability increases with age. I agree with star, you might get to within a year up to the age of 6 after that, within 5 years up till age 15 ish to be safe and then within 10 years for 15+ and then who cares anyway. There have been lots of studies on this subject and if you want to learn about it here's some of the most interesting and useful ones:

"Is dentition an accurate indication of the age of a horse?" Vet Rec 1994
"An evaluation of the accuracy of ageing horses by their dentition: a matter of experience?" Vet Rec 1995
"An evaluation of the accuracy of ageing horses by their dentition: changes of dental morphology with age." Vet Rec 1995
"Ageing draft and trotter horses by their dentition." Vet Rec 1997
"Ageing Arab horses by their dentition." Vet Rec 1998

 

[puddicat]

It's a good question and "no there isn't, not accurately".

KJH: "You can also tell by the spacing of the ribs but there are not many people in this country who know how to do that"

Ohh I don't think so, nice idea though. I once persuaded someone that ears kept on growing and older horses had bigger ears. I thought they wouldn't take it seriously but unfortunately they didn't! I'm still living that one down.

 

[Tia]

Well I've certainly never had any trouble aging ANY of my horses pre-purchase; and I've been buying for a number of decades now

.

I aged every single one to within a year of their registered papers date of birth when I bought my many horses over here.

Babies are simple to age - when they get older, yes they are still easy to age but as I said in my earlier post; you can generally get to within a year or two - well that's good enough for most as it's what we have to work with.

To be honest I would expect any vet worth their salt to be able to age any horse to within a few years of it's real age....most can.

How many do you age on a regular basis? LOL!! Being "well-read" as seems to be your only forte, doesn't really set you up for life. I do this for a living - wouldn't do to be wrong too many times in my business.

 

[Tia]

Facts are something which does not come into aging a horse - I would have thought you would have known that.....that is why the age is often vague because unless you have a birth certificate then it can never be 100% therefore it can NEVER be a fact.

 

[StrawberryFish]

lol - Just though I would say that I have a horse that is either 10, or 14! I have been given those 2 ages from 5 different sources

I have no real opinion on the subject - you can get a general idea from teeth, but I'm not going to say I understand it

 

[puddicat]

"Being "well-read" as seems to be your only forte"

Why does it seem that? To assume that one has to be *either* well read *or* well experienced would be rather rash in my experience. Or perhaps its because I choose to post established evidence based results rather than my own not-particularly-representative opinions based on my own experience. Or perhaps it's just not an issue for you as to whether or not there's any evidence for what you say.

My mum has a saying "there's none so blind as those that won't see". I never understood it as a kid but I think I get it now. Ask any horse vet to explain the confidence intervals for aging and how they work to you and you might see why you are wrong and the rest of world is right.