veterinary horse,- teeth and worms,

NORTHERNLIGHTS EQUESTRIAN veterinary

TEETH AND WORMS

The horse has three pairs of incisors, three or four pre molars on each side of the jaw depending if wolf teeth are present and a further three molars behind, the pre molars are present first and gradually replaced, the process is not complete until 3 1/2yrs, molars are not replaced and take from 8mnths to 4yrs to appear.

Difficulty in eating are one of the first signs of tooth problems,as is head shaking and pulling when being ridden.

Serious teeth problems can cause swelling of the face and discharge from the nostrils.

Sharp edges occur on the inside of the lower teeth and on the outside of the upper teeth, the cheek may become sore and ulcerated as the edges cut the cheeks, the pain is obvious when turning the horse when bridled.

Extracting teeth is very difficult, usually the tooth has to be taken through a hole in the jaw, a mallet is used to punch the tooth from the jaw.

Wolf teeth

wolf teeth are small pre molars that erupt sometime between 6mthns and 3yrs and lie immediately in front of the cheek teeth they usually cause problems when the horse is first bridled at around 4 to 5yrs, they are often blamed for causing the horse to fight the bridle but look to your bitting and tack first.

Teeth rasping

Most abnormalities of wear occur as a result of the feeding of hard feed, check the teeth twice yearly spring and autumn are good times, best if little restraint is used but some horses may require sedation, the teeth need to be felt by the hand this is best done with a gag in the mouth, large hooks may need to be knocked of with a chisel, sharp edges are removed by rasping, quite a noisy procedure.

Worms

Some internal parasites of the horse and pony

There are three main groups of round worms, the first of these being Ascarids, the main ascarid worm in the horse is parascaris equorum ,it is principally a problem for foals, because with time the horse developes an immunity that prevents further worms developing. The foal picks up infective worm larvae from grazing. During their development the larvae migrate to the lungs and then up the trachea, or windpipe,to the larynx before being swallowed again and becoming adult worms in the intestines.These adults lay eggs which by means of a thick protective coat will survive on pasture ready to hatch and infect next years foals.

Strongyloides westeri is a very tiny worm that affects foals of up to 8mnths it lives in the small intestine and can cause diarrhorea in the young foal the larvae are carried in the dams milk mares have the larvae in their tissues in late pregnancy the larvae migrate to the udder

Strongyles

Strongyles is by far the most commonly found worm living in the horses intestine, various types are found ranging from 1cm to 5cm,they are reddish in colour, the most common is the red worm (strongyles vulgaris ) the small redworm and the larger but no less important strongyles edentatus and Strongyles equinus

Strongyles vulgaris eggs are eaten from the pasture and pass to the small intestine here they burrow through the wall of the intestine and migrate along the tiny arteries to the gut the aota, they cause clots in the arteries so oxygen can not get to the gut this can cause extreme pain and colic, this is common in young animals between 1yr and 4yrs after that they can develop some resistance to these worms. The adult worms harm the walls of the colon, damaging blood vessels and causing haemorrhages this can result in lost condition and sometimes anaemia, eggs remain active over winter on the pasture, when the weather condition is right millions of eggs hatch together.Digestive functions are correspondingly impaired. Eventually the larvae return to the intestines where they become adults this causes further problems because they suck blood from the bowel wall resulting in anaemia.

A smaller worm trichonema does not migrate larvae develop in the intestinal wall , in late winter they immerge en masse this can cause severe diarrhoea that can be fatal.