Mastication – the chewing cycle

The horses head is Anisognathic, (a-nee-so-nay-thic).  The top jaw is wider than the lower jaw.

Mastication begins using the lips

and incisors to nip the grass

He grinds the grass between its cheek teeth and uses his tongue and ridges on the upper pallet working the food to the back of the mouth

He does this gradually in a circular (spiral) motion and then swallows.

A horse should be able to eat equally on both sides of its mouth.  For equine dentistry equipment please visit our product pages.

When problems arise within the horses mouth this causes the teeth to not grind against each other (occlude) correctly.

This is known as mal-occlusion.

Mal-occlusion can cause:

• Incorrect table angles of teeth arcades
• Restricted side-to-side action of the lower jaw
• Lacerations to cheeks
• Uneven pressures in the temporomandibular joint (joining the two jaws) causing pain
• Locking up of natural, normal movement within the horses head, creating pain and often problems when ridden.

Most of these painful and performance reducing problems go unnoticed and the horses reactions, due to these problems, is put down to bad behaviour instead of a symptom of discomfort