Equine mouth

[Karla Koch Dick <karlak@mail.tca.net>]

Well, it is all the fault of this list, and the discussion of bits.  I just had to go and feel around in
the mouth of one of mine.<GG>

Toot, my welsh pony stud, was the guinea pig.  He has smaller teeth and is shorter than anyone else in
the pasture and so got stuck with my explorations.  Facinating!

Firstly, I discovered he likes to have his lips and gums massaged.  Tried to nip once but I swatted him
and he decided to not press the issue.  (SMART pony)  The mouth does feel very different from ours. I
haven't tried feeling how a bit feels in there yet, but am looking forward to seeing how my bits fit any
of my horses.

He also liked having his tongue massaged, but not as much as he liked having his gums done.  I did all
this without a rope or halter or anything on him.  I find Toot will stand better for new things if he
has the option of walking away.  Once he is used to this, then I'll tie him and he'll still be fine.
For some reason this pony thinks that if he is tied up for something new, then something bad is about to
happen.

Then again, I knew a horse that would bust loose when tied, and then stand there and look as if he were
gloating.  He never went anywhere, he just seemed to need to periodically let you know that he only let
you keep him tied because he let you keep him tied.  <G>  This same horse untied knots, opened gates,
and knew how to work light switches, loved my sister and hated me.  He was probably the biggest equine
character I've ever known.

Anyway, I never noticed before, that the bars where the bit rests are not completely flat either.  Toot
has higher and lower spots along the jaw there.  The roof of his mouth felt rippled and cushy; kinda
made me think that it is pretty thin there, like the lips are thicker than the roof of the mouth. I
never considered how the mouth is until this list had so much talk of bits.  Truely interesting.
--
**************************
Karla Dick
mailto:karlak@mail.tca.net
Texas
**************************
Where you can begin the day in a long underwear, a sweater, hat, coat and the heat on,
and end it in shorts with the air conditioner on.
**************************



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=