Horse dental health directly affects their ability to eat, process feed efficiently, and tolerate a bit. Regular dental care is a welfare essential, not an optional luxury.
Horse dental disease causes chronic pain that directly affects the most fundamental welfare activities: eating and working. Horses with painful mouths quid their feed — dropping partially chewed food — losing nutrition in the process. They may avoid eating hard feed, leading to weight loss and nutritional deficiency. Under saddle, bit contact with a sore mouth causes pain responses that are frequently misinterpreted as resistance and corrected with more severe equipment — compounding the welfare problem. Welfare-centred equine management treats annual dental care as a non-negotiable baseline, with earlier intervention when signs appear.