Horse teeth
Horses’ teeth are often used to estimate the animal’s age, hence the sayings “long in the tooth” and “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”. At five years of age a horse has between 36 and 44 teeth. All horses have Additionally, a horse may have: A horse’s incisors, premolars, and molars, once fully developed, continue to erupt as the grinding surface is worn down through chewing. A young adult horse will have teeth which are 4.5-5 inches long, but the majority of the crown remaining below the gumline in the dental socket. The rest of the tooth will slowly emerge from the jaw, erupting about 1/8″ each year, as the horse ages. When the animal reaches old age, the crowns of the teeth are very short and the teeth are often lost altogether. Very old horses, if lacking molars, may need to have their fodder ground up and soaked in water to create a soft mush for them to eat in order to obtain adequate nutrition.
