parrot mouthed - would you buy

S

showqa

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 February 2008
Messages
827
Visit site
Would you buy a horse with a parrot mouth? If it looked in good condition and so clearly didn't find it difficult to eat sufficiently, and it was happy in its ridden work, do you think that is enough of a gaurantee? If so, should this be reflected in the price? Thanks.
 
I knew a horse with a mild parrot mouth, he was gelded because he passed it onto his foals. He was a lovely riding/competition horse in the end so I would consider a slight parrot mouth if the horse was fab in every other way and grazed easily. I wouldn't breed from it though.
 
Faracat thanks - I'm certainly not in the market for breeding anyway as I don't know enough. Although this is a mare - do like the look of her generally. Cheers.
 
i'd buy one, definitely. knew a horse with a bad parrot mouth which got to Advanced/3*.
i have a mare who bolted as a yearling, knocked all her top front teeth out, and still manages to eat perfectly well. she damaged the buds of the adult teeth too so will never have them come through. she crops grass with her tongue and teeth, doesn't need any special feeding.
as above, i wouldn't breed from one, though.
 
If it was slight, maybe. I agree with faracat re breeding, but that is not your priority.
It can sometimes cause problems with tooth alignment further up the jaw, depending on how severe etc, so would be worth a chat with your vet dentist maybe?
 
I wonder if you spotted the coloured on Wirral/Cheshire horse.

Does look very nice and I dont think the price was bad.
 
My warmblood gelding has an undershot jaw. Its not visible generally, but creates lots of work for the edt.

I would buy another with an undershot jaw. My warmblood is a very good doer, just has special needs with dentistry - 2 visits a year and occassional full sedations to straighten his mouth out. He has had a fractured molar, which of course might be connected.

If you really like the horse, then I would suggest an inspection by an edt as well as vetting.
 
Last edited:
My grand prix horse is parrot mouthed... and he's fab - totally fab wouldn't have him any other way. He's now 28 and sometimes we struggle to keep weight on him but a bit more hard feed and he's fine. It wouldn't put me off another horse and it certainly has never effected his performance...

Blitz
 
no as when i buy a horse it is for life and want one to be proud of enough around without obvious defects , not a snob but not going to buy potential problems.
 
My first horse had a slight parrot mouth - not a problem at all to him. Known a good few horses with parrot mouths since then and i don't consider it a major conformation fault - unless it is extreme.

Not sure what your situation is, but why not ask your vet if it would create any problems for the horse in later life?
 
my previous horse was VERY parrot mouthed. The EDT said it was one of the worst cases he had seen. He was a lanky 16.3 TB typically hard to keep weight on but his mouth didn't affect him at all. I just made sure he had access to good grazing as in not short cropped grass by sheep. But he was fed normal hard feed and he never struggled to eat it. I found that he grazed rather like a cow and kind of tore the grass up rather than snipping it. It didn't affect him in the slightest to ride other than he dribbled a lot lol. I'd buy another one if I liked it as never had any probs with mine. He still only needed dentist once a year and every couple or 3 years had to have a local anaesthetic and have an incisor reduction which basically the dentist would kind of saw down the overhanging incisors as they couldn't grind temselves down naturally.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top