Determine your pony’s age by his teeth
Telling the age of your pony by his teeth is not too difficult when he’s young. However, it does get a little more difficult as he gets older because other factors start to play a role. For example, different grazing conditions cause different wear patterns on the teeth, and different mouth conformations cause different wear patterns over time.
Your horse’s mouth
Horses have 12 incisors right at the front of their mouths – they are called incisors because they are used for cutting the grass when your pony is grazing. The middle two teeth are the central incisors, the next two are the lateral incisors, and the last two are the corner incisors. Horses also have 12 premolars and 12 molars between their lower and upper jaws.
Horses, especially stallions and geldings (although some mares do get them too), can also grow canine teeth called ‘tushes’ just after the incisors. They can also have wolf teeth, which are tiny teeth that erupt in front of the premolars.
Foal Teeth
Foals get their milk or deciduous teeth soon after birth, and the final milk teeth are through by the time the foal is about nine months old. Milk teeth are paler in colour and shorter and slightly rounder in shape than permanent teeth.
Foal teeth eruption
- At birth, two central incisors.
- At 4-6 weeks, the two lateral incisors.
- At 6-9 months, the corner incisors.
- At one year, all six incisors and four cheek teeth, the three premolars and the first permanent molar.
- At two years, the molars are the best way of judging age as five cheek teeth are present, three temporary premolars and two permanent molars
Permanent teeth
The first permanent teeth begin to come through when the pony is between 2 and 3 years old. By around five years of age, all the permanent teeth are through. The new adult teeth have quite concave surfaces, often called ‘cups’. As horses eat and graze, they wear their teeth so that the chewing surface is no longer cup-shaped but flatter. After the age of eight, the horse develops a ‘dental star’ on the chewing surface of the tooth.
The shape of the teeth also varies as the horse ages. At seven, the teeth have an oval shape; from 9 to 13, they are triangular; and after 13, they become more rounded.
Apart from the cups getting shallower, the dental star appearing, and the shape of the teeth changing as your pony gets older, the angle of the front teeth also gets sharper. When this occurs, the front teeth appear to almost point forwards.
Permanent teeth eruption
- At 2.5 years of age, the central baby incisors are lost, and the first permanent incisors appear.
- At three years, the central incisors start to wear, and the first and second permanent premolars push the baby premolars out. Wolf teeth often appear at this time.
- At 3.5 years of age, the lateral incisors come through; when these teeth are well out and their surface is level, the horse is five years old.
- At six years, the corner incisors start to show wear. The central incisors begin to show a dark line which is the first appearance of the dental star.
- At seven years, the dental star is much better marked in the central teeth. The corner incisors also show a slight hook on the outside due to uneven wear. This hook disappears by 8.5 to 9 years old.
- From eight years onwards, the dental star appears; first on the lateral incisors at 9, and then from 10-12, it is seen on all incisors.
Galvayne’s groove
At about ten years of age, the pony develops a darker grooved line on the corner incisors. It starts at the gum line and grows progressively downwards. By 15 years, the groove is about halfway down the tooth and by the time the pony is in his mid-20s, the groove begins to disappear from the gum line. By 30, the line will be gone entirely.
Determining age
There are four main ways to estimate the age of ponies by the appearance of their teeth:
- If they have permanent teeth
- The disappearance of the cups on the surface of the teeth
- The angle of the front teeth (the sharper the angle, the older the pony)
- The shape of the surface of the teeth
Take-home message
Good dental care for your pony throughout his life helps him maintain healthy teeth for longer, which also helps him hold his condition better.
Did you know?
The saying ‘long in the tooth’ comes from horses. Their permanent teeth grow for most of their lives, so an older horse has longer teeth than a younger horse.
