Life of a Shetland

[TTF]

My 38 year old shetland pony, was put to sleep a year or so ago because she kept on loosing teeth until she could no longer chew. Do other ponies loose teeth as they grow older, or was mine just a weird case?

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[Lewella]

Some ponies will start to lose teeth in their teens if they don't have proper dental care. My 26 year old stallion still has all of his teeth but they are very short.

One option when they are missing teeth is to feed them senior feed that has water added to it to soften it up. Most senior feeds are designed so that they can be fed that way and reduce the amount of chewing needed to eat them.

 

[hhpminis]

Wow 38, that is really cool.

We have a mule at the end of our road, Zeke, as we all affentionately call him. He has no teeth. He lives on beet pulp and equine senior.

He is an escape artist and often gets out and comes up the road to hang out with the ponies. We always know when he has been around as we find clumps of gummed grass. He still tries to eat it but all he does is gum it up and spit it out. He is quite a character and know one knows for sure how old he is but he is over 40.

 

[Miniv]

38 years is a good long life! And at that age I would have been surprised if he had teeth! Once they get into their twenties, many horses are developing teeth problems and should be on a soft feed - such as moist beet pulp and senior grain.

MA

 

[TTF]

Thanks, she had been on senior feed and soaked hay cubes instead of flakes. We spoiled her with soft stuff!

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