Teething in a 5 1/2 year old

[kiernjo]

Can a horse still be teething or having teething issues at 5 1/2 years? My horse has become increasingly interested in chewing things i.e. the hose, his headcollar, lead rope, crop handle! he is also working a little flat and plays with his bit more often this past week and he put up some resistence to his bridle when tacking up today which is unusual. The vet had a look and could not see anything obvious, and that was about 2 weeks ago, though suggested he be looked at again in november. i am thinking of changing him to a happy mouth bit. Any ideas what could be the issue? He is currently in a standard loosed ring snaffle with a lozenge

 

[LittleWildOne]

Are all 4 tushes fully through ? Wolf teeth ? Rear molars not fully erupted ? I'd get an Equine Dental Technician out to fully check his mouth before trying anything like new bits

 

[mimbulator]

i had a similar problem with my mare so when the dentist came to do her teeth i asked him if there where any problems that could be causing her behaviour.
It turned out that her wolf teeth hadnt developed properly and had grown at a funny angle in the jaw bone so hadnt ended up erupting through the gums. So she just has two hard lumps in her gums where they would have come through.
i was told this was unlikely to be causing her a problem as she didnt seem senstive about him checking them so i changed her eggbutt snaffle to a drop cheek steight bar happy mouth, turns out that it wasnt her teeth that were the problem, she just doesnt like metal bits. I have since but bit wrap around my pelham for showing and she goes beautifully in both bits.
Wont hurt to get your horse fully checked by the dentist. better making sure there are no problems before progressing