Parrot Mouth - would you or wouldn't you?

[MegaBeast]

Would you consider buying a horse with a parrot mouth assuming the following:

- horse is young (5) and it has never affected eating, bitting, or ridden work.
- wanted for competition usage - primarily BE (PN/N hopefully) but allrounder
- needs to be sellable - not the intention but circumstances can change
- currently has teeth done annually by vet
- is perfect in every other way (ie breeding, type, age, potential, handling)

I don't know as yet how severe it is ie whether or not the teeth meet at all. But have been told it's less severe than some!

Would you or wouldn't you buy?

And anyone with experience of owing one or selling one how much of a difference did it make to care and did it put off potential purchasers?

Thank you

 

[j1ffy]

My PRE has a slight parrot mouth (his top teeth are probably a centimetre in front of his bottom teeth). When he was vetted, I asked them to take a look and make sure it wouldn't affect his ability to eat, particularly grass, and they thought he'd be fine. Given how rotund he got when turned out I think they were right!

If I was buying him to show it may have put me off, but for anything else then a slight parrot mouth doesn't bother me.

 

[tinap]

Yes. I bought a pony with a parrot mouth. Although only slight, he does need his teeth doing every 6/7 months but it hasn't affected him in anyway whatsoever & definately not with eating! He competes SJ pretty high level too xx

 

[KatB]

Yep, used to look after an eventer with a parrot mouth, certainly didn't effect him!!

 

[kerilli]

As long as you're not into showing, it's fine. My old boss had a 3* eventer with a terrible parrot mouth.
My Ellie managed to knock her top incisors out the first day she was here (got away from me, galloped back to yard, fell over at flat out gallop on the hard standing) and damaged the buds of her adult teeth badly enough that they'll never grow, so she has just gum at the top and normal teeth at the bottom. She manages absolutely fine, can crop short grass (I don't know how, but she can), maintains weight well. You'd never know unless you looked in her mouth.

 

[Capriole]

We looked at one once who turned out to be pretty badly parrot mouthed. I discounted it immediately but OH did some research first and was keener than I was, but eventually he decided against. The horse was still for sale around 2 years later, so it certainly did effect his saleability.
An experienced and talented horse who was competitive in its sport would be different Im sure, but for a young unproven horse it would be more of a problem I think.

Of course it depends on the level and severity of the problem too.

 

[MegaBeast]

OMG K, poor Ellie! That must have been horrific to see.

Four positives and one negative so far, anyone else?

 

[applecart14]

Maybe get the EDT to visit to assess before vetting. I had one with a parrot mouth. He never put any weight on the whole time we had him and I did wonder if he had a problem grinding his food properly, but he wolfed everything down so not really sure.

I don't think it causes that much of a problem to be honest. I hadn't actually noticed until the EDT pointed it out!!

 

[*Spider*]

It depends how much parrot mouth he/she is.
I was a little concerned about my horse's very very slight parrot mouth and when I had him 5* vetted, he saw no issue and it has never effected him. But as I saw, his is hardly even noticeable!

 

[whizzer]

Mine has a very,very slight parrot mouth. It doesn't affect ridden work & see's dentist at normal intervals. However... he's a terribly poor doer. He's a very slow eater,with a tiny,poor appetite to the point where even at this time of year all he'll eat is grass. He's also very sensitive to high starch levels in food & can't tolerate many foods. How much is down to his teeth I don't know, he is a TB & may just be a poor doer anyway.

 

[kim75]

My current horse pure tb has a parrot mouth about a cm . Had him five stage vetted as was concerned about bitting but vet said would cause no problem as long as teeth were done regularly every 6-7 months as wouldn't wear back teeth . He events very successfully in a neue Schule snaffle , always top 3 after dressage lovely and soft . The only thing I find is he drops hard feed , can't eat very short grass and gets on better with haylage in a large holed net or in a haybar as never eats much out of small holed net , think its too much work and he gets fed up. But no other problems if vets happy don't let it put you off

 

[Nicnac]

I had a schoolmaster lesson on an 18 year old dressage horse with a bad parrot mouth. He'd been competed in the UK and Japan up to top level and hadn't affected him at all.

Kerilli - that's awful. Poor little mite

 

[PapaFrita]

I had a TB with a very pronounced parrot mouth. He was absolutely fine and had actually been a very smart racehorse in his heyday.

 

[madhoss]

I would want to see it first (obviously!) and if not too bad it wouldn't put me off at all! One of mine has a very, very slight overbite (literally a couple of mm) I was gutted when my vet pointed it out because I'd had her vetted and it hadn't been picked up on (couldn't check myself as she was an unhandled youngster at the time). I did some research anyway and rumour has it that her great grandsire Donnerhall had a parrot mouth... Don't know how true it is but if it is true it certainly never did him any harm! Causes my youngster no trouble at all and I'm hoping it's a sign she's a throwback to the man himself!!

 

[TarrSteps]

Would second the idea of a professional opinion. If the horse can chew properly and there is no problem with bit position, contact or the TMJ then I would not discount the horse out of hand.

Yes, I think it would affect resale but then all sorts of things can! I would not buy one specifically for resale with an issue like that but, if the horse does the job and I thought I would be able to maintain or improve that then I woudn't necessarily run for the hills.

 

[measles]

I have had lots of horses with mild parrot mouths over the years and it hasn't affected them in any way. As long as it isn't severe then it wouldn't bother me at all

 

[3bh]

It doesn't really worry me atall. Where i worked in France there was a really nice little chestnut SF that had a parrot mouth you could have seen from a country mile away, it was massive. Didn't affect it atall in bitting and it ate straights & hay like any other horse, I can't comment on grazing as they didn't go out atall but it always looked a picture and didn't seem to take any special management. A couple of the race bred TBs I've had on the yard here have minor overhangs, this seems to be quite common to be honest!

 

[Copperpot]

I had a parrot mouthed horse and he was a buggar to get weight on! He was a very poor doer and the slowest eater ever. Had his teeth done every 6 months too. He never really filled out and always looked poor no matter what I fed him.

 

[MegaBeast]

All seems pretty positive so will go with an open mind. "barge pole" initially sprang to mind but seems could be foolish to avoid. Said horse looks to be well covered currently so not overly concerned about keeping condition on... Exciting times!