Teething Problems

[catembi]

My new horse is 4 and will be 5 at the end of June. My sj coach says that he's teeting & his tushes are coming through.

He is fine schooling in a french link & hacking in a french link gag, but when headed towards a jump in the gag, he twists his head & neck hard to the right & rotates them. Does the same on landing. He's better down a grid but very hard to ride to a single jump as he won't go straight.

Does this sound tooth related? He passed a v thorough 5 stage inc back & teeth. I've had his saddle fitted in the 3 weeks since I bought him & he is totally fine schooling & hacking in all paces. It only seems to be jumping, when I'm trying to steer accurately to one jump, but I'm not a heavy handed rider.

All suggestions appreciated...

 

[kevH]

Lower canines come through at 4 years and the uppers at 4 1/2. As these do not have any influence on the bit or cheeks I don't think that they will be involved.

However this week I worked on a grade A with a similar problem. He was constantly grinding his teeth and when asked to work on the right rein he would toss his head violently. He had some pain as well. The procedure took me 40 mins and today he came 2nd in a 1.15m class. Do you know when your horses teeth were last checked?

 

[catembi]

The vet looked at them 3 weeks ago (Potters Bar Vet College) when the horse was vetted & said they were fine, but that was without a gag to hold his mouth open.

He's got those little spiky teeth coming thru & they're a bit red, one side more than the other. 'Normal' slightly sore red rather than infected red, if you see what I mean. As you say, they're nowhere near the bit.

I think that he's in pain rather than being naughty from the way that he throws his head, & he is v hard to steer to a jump as he won't go forward in a straight line - altho flatwork/hacking there is no prob at all.

He jumped a parallel at 1 m 40 for the photo on Horsemart & he didn't do it at all when I tried him. He was in an eggbutt + flash at the dealer's & I've got him in a french link + cavesson just cos that was my last horse's tack so I thought that would be a good place to start. Might try him in an eggbutt for jumping & see what happens.

Poor little horse - he's such a little angel in all other ways but I did buy him to jump & he's impossible atm!