It is important to consider the dental care of a miniature horse as part of their overall wellbeing regardless of whether you keep them as a companion or a competitive animal.

While a miniature horse may have a body that is quarter the size of a horse, their teeth are still usually the same size as an average horse. This means that a miniature has the same amount and size of teeth that need to fit into a much smaller space – which can lead to malocclusions (misalignment of teeth) and other dental problems such as overcrowding.

Miniature horses may also shed their deciduous teeth later than full size equines. Horses have a total of 24 deciduous teeth, and these generally shed at set times in the young horse’s life, with the eruption of permanent incisors and premolars taking the place of these deciduous teeth.   Because miniatures often retain deciduous teeth longer than they should, this can cause discomfort for the horse and also can affect the eruption and positioning of permanent teeth.

The teeth are an important first step in any horse’s digestion – unless a horse is able to mechanically break down forage enough by grinding it with its teeth, the rest of the digestive tract will be unable to further break the feed down and it will pass through the horse undigested. A horse’s teeth can only grind feed effectively if the lower jaw is able to rotate around the upper jaw freely, without being blocked by malocclusions such as high teeth, ramps, hooks, or excessive ridging on the grinding surfaces of the teeth.

These problems are usually not visible from the outside – and your miniature may even be a bit overweight. However a horse with a good body condition can still have dental problems. Because of all these factors, regular dental care of miniature horses is essential for their comfort and dental functionality.

Younger horses (those under five years old), and especially younger miniatures, should have dental checks every six months, to reduce the likelihood of problems due to retained deciduous teeth. More frequent checks are also recommended in aged horses, while those between the ages of five and 20 are usually put on an annual programme.