Anybody dealt with this? I had the vet out today to do spring shots, teeth, sheaths, etc. My ‘old’ (I don’t think of 20 as old…) pony mare has had issues eating over the winter, I assumed it was teeth. Not so much dropping food as periodically stopping, wiggling her jaw back and forth, yawning (sort of cow like) and then starting up eating again. I assumed it was a tooth issue. Well, her teeth are excellent. The vet is suspicious of arthritis in her jaw. She has a lot of arthritis in a hip, a stifle, and elsewhere. She is an ex barrel racer I picked up as a companion three years ago.
So, arthritis in the legs I am familiar with. But, jaw? Anybody have any experience? Anything I should be looking out for?
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Arthritis in the TMJ is quite rare in horses. Poll joints, yes, but true OA in the temporomandibular joint, not so much.
More than likely what you’re seeing is soft tissue tension in the masseter muscles and/or hyoid, or (and more likely) transference of discomfort from the hocks/stifles.
I have a gelding with pretty significant TMJ/masseter tension. While the soft tissue tension is now actually pathological, it didn’t start with any actual issue in his jaw or skull, but with his hocks. When he’s moving correct, with good flexion in his hocks and lift in his back, that poll/jaw tension is much, much less. When he’s feeling sore and uncomfortable in his hocks and thus won’t lift his back or the base of his neck, that poll/jaw tension is insurmountable - nothing you do under saddle will change it unless you get him lifting and pushing from behind.
The fact that your mare has “a lot of arthritis” suggests to me this is more of an increase in joint discomfort of known issues than the appearance of TMJ arthritis. As an ex barrel racer, I can’t imagine she had much attention paid to correct movement, balance, etc in her riding career, and she’s probably developed all kinds of braces in her neck and jaw getting pulled around barrels to counteract an discomfort she had in the hocks and stifles. There is quite a bit of good research around the connection between hock pain and issues with bend at the level of the jaw/poll, so between that and my own experience with my gelding, I’ve learned that when issues like this crop up, it’s rarely isolated to the TMJ itself.
Contact Dr. James Carmault (spelling???) at the Saskatoon vet college. He is researching this problem, has info already, and is looking for donation horses for study. There is a facebook page. It is the one positive thing you can do with this bad situation.
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That makes a lot of sense. She isn’t a rideable horse having blown a hind suspensory barrel racing, and has compensatory issues in the hock and hip. The classic ‘cheap companion’ horse that is about to be the expensive one in vet bills Lol!. When she is feeling good which is much of the time, she goes racing around in the classic barrel racing profile: head up, inverted throughout her spine, with a tight jaw and neck line. You can see the tightness in her neck muscles, I hadn’t thought of how that might tie into the jaw. I just went: older, teeth not done since last spring, ergo must be teeth.
I need to pay more attention to the pattern of discomfort when she is eating, I bet it is the days that she is also stiff behind.
I’ve known two horses that got TMJ injections for arthritis in the joints, so it does happen.
I have a horse here that lacks the proper cartilage in his TMJ joint. We manage it by ridding bitless, not given large treats (no hay cubes, big crunchies and his carrots are cut into little disks), he gets regular Chiropractic work, and has been injected in the joint. This has all done a lot to help.
Not saying it doesn’t happen, just that it is pretty uncommon and not nearly as common as arthritis in other joints.
IME, the issue with talking about issues with the TMJ in horses is that they are almost always secondary to another issue and usually develop as a compensation for said primary issue, and the primary issue is not usually dental-related.
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