Preparing Yourself For Horse Ownership (Part 20) – Aging A Horse By Its Teeth

Sep 13, 2023

When a horse is registered, the person registering the horse (typically the breeder) will mark down when the horse was born on the registration papers. This makes a fool proof way to determine the age of a horse, but not all horses are registered or sometimes horses are separated from their registration papers when transferred to new homes, and it can become a bit of mystery how old the horse actually is.

Aging a horse by its teeth may seem unlikely, but it is one of the best methods for determining how old a horse might be. Outside factors such as abnormal teeth wear from things like cribbing or injuries to the mouth like a kick may affect the accuracy of the teeth reading, but overall looking at the teeth is a common practice in determining a horse’s age.

Age is determined by looking at the 12 incisors at the front of the horse’s mouth. A horse has 6 incisors on the top of their mouth and 6 on the bottom. Young horses are the most accurate to age based on the eruption of baby teeth, loss of baby teeth and then the eruption of permanent teeth. The first two teeth to erupt on a horse are the very front two incisors on the top and bottom jaw. These erupt shortly after birth (usually in the first 10 days). At around 4 weeks of age the foal will have 4 incisors on the top and bottom jaw as the next front teeth emerge. When the foal is 9-12 months of age it will have its full set of incisors with 6 on the top jaw and 6 on the bottom jaw.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.