DEFORMITIES OF THE HORSE’S MOUTH.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1063, 3 February 1883, Page 3

DEFORMITIES OF THE HORSE’S MOUTH.

Parrot-mouth, a contemporary thinks, may justly be called a deformity of the horse’s month. It consis's therein that the upper front teetii overlap the lower ones, preventing the horse from being able to graze well; the teeth, not being subject to the natural attrition, get long and unsightly. Sometimes the grinders of the lower jaw do not exactly correspond in their opposing surfaces to those of the upper jaw. Where the opposition is defective, the tooth, or a part of the tooth, as a natural consequence grows up above the level of the others ; the horse, then, is very likely to ‘ quid that is, he will gather in his food, make attempts to subject it to the proper action of the grinders (which, however, from this abnormal formation he is prevented from doing); inconvenience, perhaps pain, from the tooth cutting the gum above, the lips or the tongue, is the result, and the animal ceasing from his efforts to masticate, quietly opens his mouth and lets the pellet of food drop out. As a consequence of the defective powers of mastication, loss of condition supervenes, < until the horse so afflicted may be reduced to a mere skeleton. In old horses more especially, the outside edges of the upper grinders, and the inside edges of the lower are apt to get rough, jagged, and sharp, and during mastication they wound the tongue and buccal membrane. They form a fertile cause for ‘ quidding.’ In young horses during the cutting of the back grinders, this affection is also likely to be present. An established ‘ quidder ’ must, of necessity, be an unsound horse ; for, being prevented from properly masticating his food, the loss of condition thereby entailed must incapacitate him, more or less, for the fulfilment of the work he is required to perform. The remedy for this un hie development of the teeth in certain parts is a mechanical one. Where pointed portions project upwards from the grinding surface, a sliding chisel is the best instrument to cut it off with. Where the edges of the teeth are rough, the tooth rasp must be vigorously put into use. Both these operations (although neither is of the most delicate kind) require a certain amount of tact and practice for good results to ensue. The loss of a front tooth, which may follow from external violence, is to be looked upon as a defect, and a horse having tlr's deficiency is not a desirable one. The lips of aged horses are often seen to bang pendulonsly and flabby from the gums. This is due to a loss of nervous power—a partial paralysis; and an animal with this deficiency of tactile and muscular power in the lips cannot gather in hi s food so quickly or so well as he should do. Ho generally, too, slobbers, at the mouth a great deal ; saliva is thus wasted, and the digestive process in that respect more or less crippled.