Horse spit! Nice, wet mouth... but only on one side?

[mvp]

Have any of y’all ever seen a horse’s mouth get wet on just one side?

I’m restarting a very green horse for someone and he’s got a lovely, gloriously relaxed jaw and “lipstick” to go with it… but more on the right than the left. It’s happened more than once. To date, the bit is just about hanging in his mouth and not being used for anything. He’ll do this when he’s working without a bit in his mouth, too. I can tell you more about the rest of his body, which is assymetrical in it’s strength and suppleness.

What do you think?

I’m not concerned nor gung-ho to change any of this as the horse is doing all that’s asked and his relationship with the bit is just fine, very unscrewed up so far. Rather, I’m just curious as I haven’t noticed this before in a horse.

Thank you!

[piedmontfields]

Based on my experience with this and my current horse, I would expect something dental to be going on. It may not be that big of a deal, but apparently the horse is noticing something.

[warriorpony]

I have the exact same thing. My horse is always seriously foamy on the right side and not on the left. I’ve asked my trainer about this and she thought it might have to do with relaxation on each side of the jaw. This theory makes some sense to me because my guy tends to be tighter on the left.

As far as mouth health goes - he’s checked twice a year by my vet, and typically gets floated once a year. Nothing particularly interesting about the conformation of his mouth.

[piedmontfields]

I’ll echo what warriorpony suggested, as the drier side of my mare’s mouth was the harder to connect side. It also turned out to need some special dental work (which was not caught during floats by my regular vet, but was by a dental specialist). I now find that the foam is much more even.

OP, I think the difference could even just be developmental in the horse’s body (a matter of relative straightness). Charles de Kunffy has that phrase “the tongue is the last muscle of the topline.” Essentially, the tongue is part of throughness (and that can affect saliva/foaming).

[mvp]

Thank you all. His teeth have been floated within the last couple of months, but I will look into that again. Sometimes he has a big ol’ loogie/strand of spit and not foam, so I worry that that represents pain of some sort.

Also, it is fascinating the way the tongue connects to the rest of the body, isn’t it?

[eventerchick517]

A previous horse would produce absolute gobs of spit and/or foam when she was anxious. This happened mostly when she was a greenie, but would crop up if she was extra worried about something or in a stressful situation. She never put a foot wrong, but internalized her anxiety and would only show it through excessive salivation.

No magic solution for her, just more exposure and slow progressive work which cleared it up for the most part.

[colorfan]

I experienced this also with my mare, the drier side was her stiffer side, maybe just a co-incidence.

[piedmontfields]

My mare actually has less overall saliva + foam now that some dental issues have been addressed. However, it is more even and consistent. Not science, but interesting nonetheless!

[CanteringCarrot]

I have a horse that foams slightly more on the right side. He isn’t really a one sided horse, but is due for his annual dental exam/float so I’m curious if that has an impact since the dentist comes next week.

[Cat_Tap]

I believe that excessive saliva, not foam, is caused by some irritation in the mouth.

[mvp]

@Cat Tap

I believe that excessive saliva, not foam, is caused by some irritation in the mouth.

He has done both on different days.

I have one more little experiment to do with him and I’ll let you all know what that reveals.

[exvet]

I was getting the same thing with my 4 year old welsh cob. He is shedding teeth which I’ve been keeping an eye on and suspect that this is the reason I’ve been having connection challenges with the one side and not much foam. We’ve been getting nice white foam on both sides for a couple of weeks now and much better true/even connection in both reins and low and behold when I looked, his one cheek tooth is more erupted and I suspect not causing him as much discomfort. There wasn’t anything that could be done until (all of this teeth) had erupted more, I had already removed the cap so it was just a waiting game as I continued to focus on riding him forward and straight into the connection each time I got on him.

[myhorsefaith]

Hmmm interesting and timely…I have one who does this too.

Do any of your horses that do this also hold the bit unevenly in the mouth? Mine is overly foamy on the right, barely anything on the left, though more and more lately there is faint lipstick… He is naturally crooked, bending through the body off the left leg is tough, always wants to push his barrel into my left leg and carry his quarters in. When bridling I noticed that he always has the bit uneven in his mouth, it’s always sucked close to his mouth on the right and the left sticks out more. I can shift the bit in his mouth and he will shift it back.

He just had his teeth done last month and the vet didn’t say anything, but now I think I should have a specialist take a closer look. He gets regular chiro and massage and that is helping in huge ways… but this piece still persists.

[exvet]

Mine doesn’t like to accept weight on the left shoulder and thus the left side is his ‘hard’ side so I suspect that the does hold the bit lighter on that side but the last two weeks has shown that our work on that has been paying off with evidence of better contact. Are the two related (teeth and reluctance to put weight on that side)? I suspect possibly because habits often develop as a result of some stimulus…never hurts to get the teeth checked.

[piedmontfields]

I agree that habit (or expectation of discomfort) can continue a behavior even when there is not a physical problem. myhorsefaith, if you can arrange for a specialist, it seems like it could be useful.

I will also note that due to my horse’s habits I also had to deal with some of my habits! On the hard to connect rein, I used to be too absent (just like my mare). Now I am much more evenly present in both reins and if I pick a rein to be more positive on, it is the formerly hard to connect rein.