Parrot mouth? what are the concerns, if any?

[CherylE]

Have found a lovely Tabio (sp) gelding, 16 hands, almost 5 yrs. old. He is quiet and gets along very well with other horses. We just found out he has parrot mouth and needs a wolf tooth removed.....explains his behavior that surprised the woman that raised him (not where we bought him)

can anyone tell me the concerns I should have....he is green broke and I don't want to do anything wrong to upset his good nature from ignorance if there is something I need to be aware of in bitting, etc.

thanx!

[PasoJoy]

I'm thinking it would depend on how severe his parrot-mouth is...if it's not bad it's no big deal, but if it's pretty severe it could interfere with his grazing, and you will also need to keep his front teeth filed...the 'experts' can tell you better than I!

[Terry Wallace]

Parrot mouth can most definitely be a concern...my first question would be...how severe is it? Technically...any bite where the top inscisors overlap the bottom inscisors is a parrot mout....BUT....do the top teeth completely clear the bottom to where the bottom teeth rest on the soft pallet BEHIND the top teeth? or is it so slight that the top teeth (inscisors)still contact the bottom insisors? If it is severe...top teeth do not contact bottom teeth...then you know you MUST have him seen at least once a year for a float. When you have top insciors that overlap the bottom insciors, you also have "unopposed" molars at the very back of the jaw...this causes the lower molars to grow and grow as there is no other "meeting surface" of the top (last) molar to wear them even. This results in you needing to have the rear-most lower molars floated at least yearly. If there is also a "twist" to the parrot mouth...WAVE mouth of the molars may result.

Also....in a gaited horse breed....where you have an upright neck, and breaking at the poll, you will have an off-set jaw on the horse with a parrot mouth, even moreso that a "regular" jaw... so you must make sure the lower back-most molars are seen to regularly, or the jaw will actually "hook" there and put the horse in an uncomfortable postion to gait, as he won't have the ability to let his jaw "fall" into place when bent at the poll.... this may indeed cause head-tossing, and general displeasure with being ridden...

Yes...it is a concern...and has long since been viewed as a heritable fault.
This is why judges look in horse's mouths....to see if there is a "fault" there...

[CherylE]

Thanks, I am calling our vet asap but was shocked when I found out...checked his side teeth but did not think to open his mouth all the way.....thought his lips looked funny but was too impressed with the rest to look further....of course, no one standing with us mentioned it :shock: I hope it's not severe, my daughter and I love what we have seen with him so far.

He is not gaited, a registered Paint, quarter horse. I wondered why he was gelded with such blood lines.....should have sent a red flag.

Oh well, I have my Pasos checked or floated yearly so this would not be a shock to me if he needed dental care each year....my daughter and I both have noticeable overbites :D go figure...at least it does not gross us out....I just want to be sure he doesnt' have pain issues as he is green broke and I know how being uncomfortable can make an issue.....I have the allergy mare (who is doing Super by the way)

I thought I'd wait for he vet to check him, but riding in a headstall does not bother me either, the allergy mare has never been bitted and is a breeze!

Thanks again!

[Terry Wallace]

Cheryl...did you get that horse? Just wondering....

[CherylE]

Yep, I got him. I've been out of state for several days and didn't get to a computer....Had the vet out for floating....she knows the original owner...she could tell from his mouth that he had been floated on a regular schedule, up until this last 5 months. He was not too bad but he does have a serious parrot-mouth. She said to ride him in the snaffle if that's what he'll go in.
The vet said he needed floating every three months :cry: I'm going to try it every four. She said absolutely no less than every 6 months....

His good nature has changed for the worse. He seemed to have trust issues. If only one person went in the stall he was fine, but two or more and he got antsy. She ended up giving him a treat as she quickly inserted the sedative....not to reward bad behavior, but we had tried everything. I was pleased that she didn't rodeo him and make a big issue out of dealing with him.

He is able to graze and is keeping his weight on easily so far. We plan to have the lady that raised him come out and show us what he knows so far. Hope to save time and heartache this way.

My daughter has made it a point to lead him Everywhere and demand that he pay attention to her. She is not having any problems with him whatsoever. Hope it continues, she is completely hooked on him.

I'm sure we'll be on this BB regularly once we start working with him...she is on here now as Mavericks mom. thanks for all the help. Any suggestions that come to mind, please message me.

[Tina Calhoun]

We have a colt that has a serious overlap. Called in Hal Coats our equine dentist who believes it is a condition that can be corrected with proper dental attention. The colt is magnificent and only 12 months old. With Hal's help, he should have a normal bite in due time.

[Paso Matchmaker Extraordinaire]

Keep us posted on how Hal does with your colt. I am curious to know how one fixes that. Hal is a pretty neat guy, and very knowledgable.

[Terry Wallace]

Tina...so will you disclose that the colt was born with the fault? You will geld him I assume (?)... Yes...parrot mouth can often be corrected by dental attention in the first year. However...it is a heritable fault. I would not breed such a horse if he were mine....JMO

BF judges routinely loook into the mouths of breeding stock horses to check to see that the horse does not have parrot mouth OR sow mouth.