Diet Modifications
Keeping an eye on how your old horse chews his food can help you decide when the time may be right to modify his diet to accommodate dental issues. Dr. Bennett notes that "Horses are easily living into their 20s nowadays. Even if you've kept abreast of dental maintenance throughout your horse's life, he still may need a special diet to allow him to get the maximum nutrition from a source other than pasture forage or hay." All of the major food manufacturers produce pelleted foods formulated specifically for senior horses.
These soft, pelleted diets are easy for elderly horses to chew and can be used as the main food source (if labeled "complete diet"), removing hay from the picture entirely. "Offering hay to older horses with poor dental health can cause even more problems," notes Dr. Bennett. "If a horse swallows enough hay without chewing it well, it can cause an impaction in the intestine, which in itself can be life-threatening."
Make diet changes for your old horse only after consulting with your veterinarian to help you find the best choices.
Gentle Dentistry
As you've seen illustrated here, older horses generally have more fragile mouths than younger horses. You may wonder if you should discontinue having work done on your older horse's teeth in an effort to prolong the life of whatever teeth may remain. Maintaining your old friend's dental health continues to be essential, but you may want to talk with your equine veterinary dentist about his or her use of electric tools versus manual tools.
"Power tools continue to be one of the best innovations in equine dentistry," notes Dr. Bennett. "But they need to be used very carefully in older horses."
In inexperienced hands, it's easy to destroy a tooth using power tools. The practitioner can take off too much tooth or even kill a tooth by overheating it. In an old mouth that may already have loose teeth, malocclusion issues, and periodontal disease, gentle and careful use of electric tools actually can help to prolong the tooth life by making corrections easier to perform and more exact.
"I use my specialized power tools on older horses all the time," notes Dr. Bejar. "I can make corrections more quickly and effectively than I could with hand floats, which translates to less time that the mouth is open, and thus less stress and pain on the joints of the jaw." Ultimately, this will be easier on your old horse.
Those of us who are blessed to know the spirit and soul of an old horse know that we'd do anything to keep them well. By carefully following exam schedules and maintaining your older horse's dental health, you can enjoy your perfect old horse for years to come.
