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It’s true: a horse’s teeth get all the glory. They nip, they grind. Horse teeth also may be beset with problems: too sharp, too plentiful, too wavy, too few. Teeth are blessed with special names as well: incisors, molars, wolf, deciduous, permanent.  Always the teeth! The tongue of the horse has proven much less attention-seeking than its neighbors and rarely puts in a subpar performance.

The horse’s tongue lies neatly on the floor of the mouth between the bodies of the jaw. Muscles anchor the tongue to various structures situated in the back of the mouth, including the hyoid bone, soft palate, and pharynx. A membranous sheet rises from the floor of the mouth and affixes to the bottom of the tongue. The tip and top of the tongue are free of attachments, which makes the organ telescopic and incredibly flexible.

For want of another descriptor, the tongue can best be designated as a transporter, as its primary role in digestion involves shifting grass, hay, and grain from the front of the mouth to the back, where incisors grind feeds into minute pieces and prepare them for digestion.

Rarely is the tongue center stage, except when it’s injured, and then it becomes a bit dramatic, due only to its voluminous blood supply. An injury to the tongue is often accompanied by impressive bleeding. Veterinary advice should always be sought when injuries to the tongue occur.

Horses have been known to accidentally bite their tongues, in much the same way as humans do, but by and large, most tongue injuries are caused by improper or wrong-headed bitting. Though severe bits are often to blame, even mild bits can be dangerous when coupled with careless or uneducated riding. One of the primary reasons beginner riders are taught never to tie a horse with reins is due to the likelihood of tongue injury should the horse startle and pull back.

Tongue injuries can cause problems with feeding, only from the standpoint that horses might be reluctant to eat because of pain. “Advances in pain management have helped horses tremendously, so veterinarian-prescribed anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving medication is almost always warranted,” said Kathleen Crandell, Ph.D., longtime nutritionist with Kentucky Equine Research (KER).

“A change in diet is almost inevitable for these horses. Textured and pelleted feeds can be watered down to mashes. Most horses don’t seem to mind this, and the texture will offer some relief to a sore tongue,” said Crandell. If the stems of forage are too prickly, consider feeding well-soaked forage cubes or pellets.

“Adding loose salt to the mash is wise, as the horse will likely be unwilling to use its tongue to lick a salt block. Two ounces per day is sufficient salt for most horses,” she advised. “If the horse backs off the feed, make up a new batch without salt, as even a couple ounces might burn the wound.”

Bridled horses sometimes carry their tongues outside of their mouths when being ridden, a behavior known as tongue-lolling. Some riders attribute this to nervousness or greenness, and there may be merit to that, but many older, content mounts seem to prefer to let their tongues hang from one side or the other. Tongue-lolling is not indicative of an injury, past or present.

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