Excessive Quidding!

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horseart

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We have recently taken a problem horse for re-hab. He is a 6 yo irish sports horse who arrived with severe mental and pysical problems. He has responded well to physio (bowen therapy) and is progressing well.

He was purchased by his owner as a cruelty case, very thin and had problems eating hay. He had been checked by his vet and was told that this was caused by his teeth coming through! We had him checked and treated by our dentist. His mouth was in a bad way and he had severe ulcers inside his cheeks.

He is much better when ridden and has put on some weight at last, but is still unable to eat hay or haylage and at his worst would chew up an spit out all his hay. I have taken a wheelbarrow full of hay chewed up so much it looks like dung some days. He is out at present as he can eat gass, and he has no problem with hard feed and eats large quantities of alfa. He has had a second dental check and the bowen practitioner has done work on his cheeks and poll. The suggestions are that we get him scoped to see if their is any physical reason for no swallowing, or that is psycological as he thinks it will cause discomfort.

Any suggestions as the goodness is going out of the grass and we have to resolve this before winter!
 
It could be that he has chewed in a wierd way for a long time to avoid pain from sharp edges and hasn't yet realised he doesn't need to yet! But it's more likely something has been missed.

I had a horse for schooling here whose owner had his teeth checked by two different vets as she wasn't happy with the way he ate and he was definitely unhappy in his mouth. He was slightly undershot and when my vet checked him - under sedation - he had two HUGE hooks right at the back that had never been touched!! Once these were removed - problem solved!

In the meantime, feed soaked feed with plenty of Alpha in the mix to make sure he gets sufficientfibre.
 
Is your EDT FULLY BEVA BAEDT qualified. There are plenty of long established (long enough to be convincing) 'tooth-raspers' out there, all fairly good at removing sharp edges, but no use at all for real dental issues.

Ours did quid haylage just after their last full treatment, but only for half a day. As the DET said they would and also they had no problems with feed and grass. They all resolved quickly as the EDT also said they would.

Gras takes no chewing compared to haylage and feed is already in smallish bits so will go down easily in spite of not, perhaps, having been properly ground up.

Haylage is long, hard dry and takes quite a bit of manoeuvring, never mind chewing up. If he has mouth pain this is probably why only haylage is being spat out. Get a second opinion and I'm guessing a sedated horse, an EDT with a the quals, experience, proper speculum and head torch will find the cause of the trouble.

If you are anywhere North of Cheshire and South of Scotland, I think I can give you a name.
 
I would get another proper EDT to check as Janet says some are better than others, my old ISH had (can't remember proper name) but it was a gap in his teeth which caused problems because it was too big and food got stuck but too small to allow it out again. The hole was made bigger and infection treated he was fine after that BUT did need it doing about every 6 months
 
Thanks for all suggestions. I think that it will come to a visit to our local equine vets for some more tests to eliminate all physical causes.

His teeth were done about a month ago under sedation by our regular dentist, who has returned to check that nothing was missed - he has suggested scoping as he cant see any reason for this problem.

It may be just habit as the ulcers have only just healed and he has had this problem for at least 4 months and probably a lot longer!
 
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