Young horse grinding teeth

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Doesdressage1

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Just looking for some advice/reassurance. I moved my newly backed horse 4 days ago to a new yard. She is very settled in te field/stable and seems to love it. She is still working well in the school, soft to the contact and forward. Tonight for the first time she started to grind her teeth. Should I be worried? I'm hoping it may be just a sign of some nervousness in a new place or just babyish being resistant to work. She is in a plain caverson noseband and a French link eggbut snaffle. I tried a flash when I was first backing her but she hated it and his rooted to the spot.

Any hints/tips? Should I be worried?
Thanks
 
I also have a relatively young horse mentally (IDx just turned 6 yrs so still in that inbetween adolescent stage). Strangely he has just started teeth grinding. He will grunt and roar (courtesy or a recent tie back op) but only does so during lessons and only does so loudly when he trots past my instructor who sits at one end of the arena (as if to indicate he is tired and has had enough). I always school him the day after a lesson when I can and find on those days he grinds his teeth and also snaps his jaw but only when I ask him to do something new that he has just learnt in the previous lesson. It's as though he is processing the newly learned thing. Once he has mastered it and I pat him and tell him he's a good boy then he doesent do the teeth grinding thing again until the next time we try something new.
For my horse anyway it just means he is concentrating and taking in new information.
One of the other horses on the yard does the same thing and again only when she is asked to try something out of the ordinary.
I wouldn't be too concerned if I were you.
 
It's a sign of stress but only the context and other clues can tell you whether it's 'acceptable' or 'unacceptable' stress. Some horses do it when they are concentrating, others do it when they're in pain. I've seen it in every situation from a horse waiting for dinner to a horse colicking.

Your horse has had a lot of recent change and even if it's all for the better, change is not something horses excel at. If she seems otherwise 100% okay - working well, keeping her weight up etc - then just mark the behaviour and continue on, keep a close eye out for any other signs. If it's something you're open to, you could try riding her bitless for a bit. Even if the behaviour is just a tic, it's quite an annoying one so if you can nip it in the bud, that would be useful.

Do you have a regular instructor? It might be an idea to have someone who knows the horse but doesn't see her every day to cast an eye over the situation, just for your own peace of mind if nothing else.
 
Thank you for your thoughts. She is fine in every other way and even though she is grinding her teeth she is not at all unsettled in her mouth. She is green so not always 100% round and through but her work gets better everyday. That's what makes me thinks its stress or just a protest to work. I don't have a regular instructor as I just moved but my mum (who rides/had horses for years) helps me most days as she's young so I can have her keep an eye on it for me
 
I have a teeth grinder....he grinds when he's concentrating, stressed or tired (finding work hard). He's also a windsucker, and I'm pretty sure the two are connected, in that it's how he releases stress.
 
My 6 year old grinds his teeth has done on and off since 4 , can pin it down to exact things

Only does it in the flat normally you can feel a bit of stress in him, he does it when being asked to do something new or he finds hard, or when he is has had enough.

The older he is getting the less he does it.
 
Have you had her teeth checked? One of my horses grinds his teeth when they're due for a rasp. Only when he's being ridden in an outline though.
 
Mine did it when she came to me as a 5 yr old, she was seen by a physio, dentist and saddle fitter during her first week here then had a couple of days off and that was the end of the grinding.

It happened a couple of times afterwards and was always a sign that something was up. Usually I just called the physio and that was the end of it. I can tell you its not a sign of happiness and contentment!
 
My new and very inexperienced horse does it when she's anxious about something. She's very introverted and lacks confidence and when she does it, it usually means she's feeling anxious about something. She'd never seen a XC jump when I got her and did it a lot the first time I took her schooling for example. The longer I've had her the less she does it. She's a sweet little thing (well not so little at 16.3 lol) and always gives something a go even when she's not sure but chomps a lot when she's anxious. The more experience she gets the less she does it :-)
 
My 6yo haffy does it, I've mostly noticed it when she is in the field or tied up being groomed or something. I think it is just general tension really, I did think it was her teeth but the vet seemed happy with them. She can be quite insecure and is quite babyish mentally.
 
A pony that I rode years ago used to do it when he was not getting his way. Usully when he was frustrated at not being allowed to go faster when out hunting/fun ride/riding in company
 
TarrSteps said:
It's a sign of stress but only the context and other clues can tell you whether it's 'acceptable' or 'unacceptable' stress. Some horses do it when they are concentrating, others do it when they're in pain. I've seen it in every situation from a horse waiting for dinner to a horse colicking.

Your horse has had a lot of recent change and even if it's all for the better, change is not something horses excel at. If she seems otherwise 100% okay - working well, keeping her weight up etc - then just mark the behaviour and continue on, keep a close eye out for any other signs. If it's something you're open to, you could try riding her bitless for a bit. Even if the behaviour is just a tic, it's quite an annoying one so if you can nip it in the bud, that would be useful.
Click to expand...

This.

For such a young horse I'd actually take the teeth grinding quite seriously and be wanting to work out why she has so much tension in her jaw at such an early age.

Maybe a 2nd opinion on the teeth?

Maybe try a change of bit?

Maybe think about exercises that you could do so that she might instead have a gentle chew on the bit and relax her jaw rather than holding her jaw tight and grinding her teeth? This could start with in-hand exercises to ask her to relax her jaw or you might try and look at things like giving her regular breaks and simply giving her a little bit of carrot during the break so that she has a reason to chew and relax her jaw, if it is too difficult for you to get her to do that by using the bit.
 
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