Mystery Unraveled

Well thanks for all of your advice! Today I had the barn owner and her husband try to help me bridle Granite. He was extremely resistant and we did not succeed. Then the husband pried his lips open and he see 2 teeth that are longer because they are about to fall out. The gums are a little irritated because you can see the permanent teeth cutting in behind the baby teeth that are falling out. I did some research and at 2.5 in the fall/winter they are supposed to lose their first set of incisors. We went down to look at Granite's pasture mate who is the exact same age and he is losing 2 teeth also! So crisis averted. It seems that he is in some pain but it is natural and his pasture buddy is going through it too. Poor bubba! I feel horrible that I fought with him so much to try to get his bit in his mouth. So tonight since he is having a hard time getting grass, I (paid extra) put him in a stall with hay tonight. We are in the middle of the perfect ficken storm. Hurricane Ida, a Nor'Easter off of the coast and a low pressure system hovering. It is cold and windy and rainy and schools and businesses are closing. So I am happy to have my boy warm and dry even if it may put me in the poor house. I just wanted to update you all and thank you again for the suggestions.

Anyway below is something I pulled off of one of the websites that seems to sum up the situation pretty well.... sheesh why did I determine that buying a baby horse was a good idea?? Shoulda got one already done with this crap-o-la.

"Back teeth in young horses often cause difficulties when being replaced with permanent teeth

Young horses often suffer more tooth problems than adults, especially when the temporary baby teeth are being replaced with permanent teeth. It is easy to see the horse's front teeth shedding and being replaced with larger ones but not so easy to examine the back teeth-and these are the ones that cause the most problems in the young adult horse.

The temporary back teeth usually push up through the gums sometime during the foal's first month of life. These baby teeth remain in place until they are pushed out by the permanent teeth. Between ages two and four, the horse is in the process of losing those baby teeth (often called caps), and they are normally shed in sets of four. In textbook order, the first set of caps is shed when the horse is about 2 1/2 years of age, the second set at three, and the final set of caps comes off at about 3 1/2 to four years of age.

Tooth problems cause pain and discomfort. An observant horseman usually will become aware of problems when they start and have the horse examined by a veterinarian or equine dentist. Tooth problems in a young horse may cause it to throw its head while being ridden because of pain caused by the bit. Or the horse may resist having a bridle put on it.

Mouth pain can make a horse perform poorly during training. A horse cannot concentrate on its lessons or its athletic endeavors when its main attention is focused on pain in its mouth. Even in the normal youngster, sharp edges may form and cause discomfort."