Horse's Foul Breath

Jessie asked about a foul smell from her horses mouth. She said she feeds alfalfa and sometimes treats and doesn't know what makes her horse smell like that. I cannot ever remember smelling anything foul in a horses mouth. If I did I would be concerned about an soft tissue infection, maybe a cracked tooth. In any event I would not delay in having a Vet look at your horse. Jessie, when is the last time you had a Vet look at your horse's teeth and/or had your horse's teeth floated? I would suggest that routine dental exams are a good idea. Every horse is different so with a dental exam and floating a Vet can not only correct the horse's teeth but give you an idea of a particular horse's potential teeth problems and suggest timelines for periodic exams. I have one horse, an older horse, who needs to have an exam and corrective floating about every 6-8 months. My other horses usually get an exam and floating about every 12-14 months. I have written about the importance of dental exams and floating but since this is a periodic necessity, it doesn't hurt to write about it again. I recently had my Vet, Amy Starr DVM of Paws and Hooves Mobile Vet Clinic, come out to do dental exams and powerfloats on nine horses, as well as draws for annual Coggins tests and giving Spring vaccinations. The horses are mildly sedated, and using a special harness to keep the mouth open, the Vet can quickly reduce the points and waves in the horse's back molars using a power drill with a special rotary bit. You can see from the video below that it is not that invasive to the horse. The Vet Technician is holding the horse's head to keep it from rotating and from the horse from pulling back off the stand. The "smoke" you see coming from the horse's mouth is actually dust from the teeth as they are smoothed out. One of my favorite smells is a horse's breath when he is eating hay. To keep it that way and keep the horses healthy routine dental exams are necessary. Good luck Jessie and safe journey.