[3TailsWaggin]

Just passing this along. Learn something everyday!!

Horses' teeth are not completely covered in smooth, hard enamel, like dogs, cats, or humans. Instead, they are largely covered with a material called cementum, which is a little softer and much more porous than enamel. Cementum has a tendency to absorb pigments from the plants that horses eat, causing the yellow to brown and even black staining on their teeth. This is normal in the horse and does not need to be removed.

 

[amazongold]

I did not know that either.

 

[MidwestGirl]

I know they continue to grow and have to be ground down.. called "floating"

 

[3TailsWaggin]

Makes sense though, as horses teeth continue to grow throughout their lives, that's why we have their teeth "floated" periodically.

Just often wondered why my horses teeth looked so brown and discolored. Now I know!!

 

[Henery&Ollie's mom]

Linda, that's interesting! Also, cementum is what covers the root surfaces of human teeth.

 

[FieldofDreamsMiniHorses]

Been reading EQUUS, have we?

I have been getting the magazine since 1980 without any breaks. And still have 90% of them. Plus I managed to get the first 23 issues I was missing....

I love them for references. And to see how things have changed! I still have the issues where Potomic Horse fever was a brand-new, unknown disease... banamine was just released....West Nile was new....

Lucy

 

[3TailsWaggin]

Nope, not Equus. I'm on a horse forum and horse vet site. They post lots of articles about horse stuff. I get emailed articles. It's kinda fun to get this stuff in my email

It's thehorse.com. They send out a horse health newsletter.

 

[FieldofDreamsMiniHorses]

Ah, OK- I used to get those, too.

They just has an article in this month's issue about that...

 

[labby]

Read that recently in one of my horse mags. That's why horse teeth always look so bad.

 

[labby]

Okay, that must be where I read it then. lol I knew it was one of the mags.