Hi! My young mare (age 6) grinds her teeth about 20 minutes into our rides. I’ve owned her two years and this has been an on and off (mostly on) ongoing issue. She recently had her teeth done (by an experienced equine dentist), had a saddle refit, and she’s sound. In the past, she has had low grade ulcers (on scopes) and after treatment the teeth grinding lessened but didn’t completely stop. We’re going to have her vet check her thoroughly, but I think it may be a mental / stress / tension issue rather than physical pain. She goes in a Neue Schule Tranz angle snaffle. I don’t think it’s the bit, because she doesn’t grind at the walk or during warmup. I’ve tried Gumbits and they help, but she still grinds near the end of our 40 minute lesson - the Gumbits just delay it a bit. We do a lot of walk breaks, nothing too strenuous; just training level dressage right now with an excellent and kind trainer (my mare grinds when the trainer rides, too, so it’s not just with me). Any tips on reducing her tension and stress under saddle - or other ideas on what we might check that could be causing her teeth grinding? She has a happy life: lots of hay, turnout, excellent care. She seems relaxed and happy other than halfway through our rides. Note: this is my first post so please be kind - thanks!
Have you scoped to see if the ulcers had actually healed? Some horses need treatment longer than the recommended length of time.
Hi and welcome! We could use a bit more info…when you say young, how young? How long under saddle? Breed? Have you tried other bits/materials?
And my biggest question would be: do you get here out of the arena? Does she enjoy hacking and do you see the grinding then?
“Never breaks a sweat”…with a fit, athletic horse this can be an indication that they’re not getting enough opportunity to “open up”. My mare is a demon who will not relax for focused dressage until she does a few jumps, for example. It’s like idling a Ferrari.
Thanks! I added her age to my post (she’s age 6 and has been under saddle over 18 months, although still green). I do think she might be a bit “ring sour” - winter work is mostly in the indoor. We’ll be adding in more hacking this spring. She will grind in the outdoor, too, though. But she doesn’t usually grind her teeth when hacking around at the walk - she loves to be outside.
Check for impacted wolf teeth?
Teeth grinding is a sign of physical or psychological discomfort in your horse. See https://practicalhorsemanmag.com/training/how-do-i-stop-my-horse-from-grinding-his-teeth-11549/
My young mare used to do this when she got fatigued and / or didn’t understand the answer to a question.
She has since grown out of it, with fitness and with learning how to work through a problem.
If there’s no other sign of discomfort, I’d take it as a sign to start wrapping up the ride, or switch to something she knows for a bit to ease her frustration.
What kind of a frame are you asking her for?
Maybe counterintuitive but I’d try to switch up the bit regardless. You’ll know pretty quickly if the bit makes a difference. Most people are lighter on the hand contact in general when warming up and walking, so I don’t think it necessarily rules out bit related discomfort. Why not start with that?
Are you using your hands to get her head round? 6 is a tricky age maybe not fit enough doesn’t have enough stamina to go past 20 minutes yet.
I would try techniques to relax the horse. Use uberstreichen and long and low breaks inbetween training and get the horse to chew the reins out of your hand. Give a lot of encouragement and sugar (sugar or other treat to get her to chew). Make sure your tack fits and the noseband is loose enough for the horse to chew. Work over cavalletti to get her to stretch more over the back and forward into the hand. You might also try some bodywork (chiropractic, masterson, massage) to release tension in the poll and jaw.
This……
Depending on the horse, 40 minutes of concentrated work is a long time. Do you ever use poles to make flat work more interesting for you both?
It’s been my observation that some horses grind teeth when presented with new work or something they still find difficult.
Same with my Rosie when she was young. Or when she was pissed at me for some reason (like her dinner was taking too long to be delivered).
My experience is teeth grinding is a symptom of physical discomfort - like some other posters said.
In the case of my own horse that developed the habit, it was directly related to his saddle not fitting and causing him pain.
It’s a good idea to take a big step back since the horse is communicating they are unhappy. Cut your rides in half - figure out what the consistent ‘tipping point’ is, and dial back about ten minutes before that. End on a good note for a series of training sessions and if the behavior persists, you know you’ve pushed too far. In the mean time, explore physical possibilities. Since you know this horse has ulcers, I’d explore a physical component. While ulcers can develop as a standalone without physical pain as a cause, my experience is ulcers develop concurrently with physical pain.
This. Take a big step back in terms of duration, and explore whether she is grinding because of pain because of overwork of certain muscle groups. Explore whether she can truly stretch over her topline, especially the little muscles at withers. If she’s holding anywhere, she will get tight, painful, and that may cause her to grind. Sounds nuts, but the best thing I did for my boy was to have my husband walk in front of us with treats to get his neck waaaaay out in front of him. That reset the anxiety and tension in his neck, and after doing that for a few weeks, he was fabulous.
Ulcers can regenerate in as few as 3 days. I would re scope. Teeth grinding is a pain /stress response.
Did the dentist x ray her head too? One of my girls started teeth grinding and it turned out she had a dead tooth. It was only visible by X ray. Once the tooth was extracted the grinding stopped entirely.
That is a great thinking out of the box to get a horse to understand stretching the neck out and opening the throat latch while in motion.
This is a fantastic idea and one I am going to try!
