05/19/2026
The truth:
As an equine dentist for nearly 2 decades (and teaching equine dentistry for 10 years) I see a lot of emaciated horses, such as the one in my previous post. It is reasonable & logical to assume a horse in that condition needs it teeth done, but 99 times out of 100, the teeth are NOT the reason why a horse is in such poor condition.
The emaciated horse in my previous post  is supposedly seven years old. I have no idea because I have not seen the horse in person, but a normal 7yo horse should not look like that.
There are 3 reasons for emaciation ……
1. STARVATION - usually
2. UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITION - sometimes
3. TOOTH PROBLEM - rarely
If the reason for such poor condition is an underlying health issue, a responsible owner would be working closely with a veterinarian providing appropriate care and diet.
Unfortunately, people always assume every time they see an emaciated horse it’s due to teeth and it usually isn’t! I’ve seen horses with teeth as sharp as razor blades who are fat as ticks, showing no signs of discomfort, even though their cheeks and their tongue are sevetely lacerated. 
SO HERE’S SOME GOOD INFORMATION……  people are usually not intentionally starving their horses. Sometimes they don’t know any better. Horses have certain teeth that expire as they age, which means they become hollow in the middle. When a horse approaches age 23 this process is well underway and only worsens with time. It’s not uncommon for a senior horse to be out on a lush green pasture and continually lose weght. People will contribute that to “just getting old”, when in fact the horse likely can’t eat very well and is slowly starving. Some horses do fine on pasture for their entire life but when their teeth start expiring and falling out and they have nothing to chew, grind and forage with, they will spit out wads, which the owner may or may not notice. Hay can be much more difficult to forage because it is often dry and stemmy, making it extremely difficult for senior horses to eat.
I get a lot of calls when winter approaches…. People bring their senior horses up and notice they are quidding hay. They may or may not have been doing the same with the short green grass, but grass is much easier to eat. So when they bring their horses in and watch them eat hay they freak out and think it’s a tooth issue. It technically is a tooth issue but it’s usually a “lack of tooth” issue, not because it needs an emergency float. When you swap to hay in the winter and notice your senior horse is having trouble eating it, try using a hay net, forcing the horse to nibble at it……. Smaller bites are easier to chew. If you stick them in front of a round bale they will often take giant bites, ball it up and spit it out.
I’ve done this for a long looong time and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been called for an urgent float and discovered the reason for the poor condition was a tooth problem that I could actually fix. It’s usually just a matter of diet. Emergency emergency
So, if you have senior Horses, just know they need to be fed a couple of times a day. If you have a seven-year-old horse that looks like the one in my previous post then you are doing something terribly wrong or you have a very sick horse on your hands and you need veterinary intervention.
Nonetheless, get your horses teeth done at least once a year. A well-balanced mouth will ensure your horse can chew and grind properly, therefore reaping all the nutritional benefits from its diet.
One more thing - because I’ve done this for so long, I’ve learned to do a lot less….. over-floating is never a good idea. It might look pretty but it’s not helping in the long run. I teach my students to leave the mouth as natural as possible, reducing protuberances, hooks and sharp points without overdoing it.…. make the horse comfortable and get out!! I’ll do a little bit more on performance horses but I’m not filing the teeth down completely smooth because that is never a good idea. Less is more. Live and learn.
TEETH - FEET - FOOD = FEWER VET BILLS
I will post an update today regarding the horse in the previous post as soon as I hear from the people who are trying to help.
This is my pony Harley….. I got him when he was in his 30s …. My client could not properly care for him and was going to put him down. He lived about 10 more years after we rescued him. You could see improvement in his body condition after one week of being fed. He had zero cheek teeth … He could not eat grass… He could not eat hay…. he would not eat water down food… he received regular feed with rice bran 3x a day. It can be done!!
