Wet mouth and Hay

[GraceLikeRain]

A wet clover mouth is not a new concept for me.

Mid spring I had my mare off property tied to the trailer. She had a ton of alfalfa as a travel treat when I noticed a thin line of drool on one side of her mouth. The hay is pretty stemmy so I didn’t really worry but did have two subsequent vets check her mouth as part of other routine visits. Nothing abnormal noted.

Two weeks ago I caught a bordering on foamy mouth eating her very soft grass hay mix several days in a row. I didn’t see any reluctance when eating but a noticeably wet mouth. She was just shy of a year out from a dental so brought out the equine vet that focuses on dentistry. Sedation, speculum, and she found a few small points but nothing unusual.

Has anyone else encountered this with hay? Are there other questions I should ask?

I don’t want to create an issue where there is one but this wet mouth after a dry mouth when eating hay for a decade strikes me as weird. Three vets have said don’t worry but as a professional worrier I had to at least ask COTH to see if anyone else has experienced this.

[stb]

How old is your horse? I have a 24 y/o gelding with an old tongue injury. His tongue is sort of floppy and big and a bit of it bulges out of the side of his mouth. He has trouble chewing normally. His chewing seems a big disorganized. Anyway, he drools. If you give him a bucket of food it looks like it is soaked food by the time he finishes it. He even drools a bit when he is in cross ties and not eating.

My horse has regulars dental care and has been repeatedly vet checked for his drooling issues. It’s just a result of his tongue dysfunction. Just a thought.

[GraceLikeRain]

13 years old

Vet saw no abnormalities or changes of note to teeth or tongue. No known injuries either.

[MapleFarm]

One of my mares has occasionally drooled after eating hay, which I was worried about but it isn’t consistently present. The other regularly has a bit of foam while eating hay but definitely not drool (light foam). Both get checked regularly by the vet (6-8 months on teeth since they are younger).

I have chalked it up to the gusto with which they eat vet has never found anything noteworthy, and it isn’t correlated with when they get dentals.