Young horses need a comprehensive dental check up before going into training for the first time. If they haven't had their teeth rasped before, they will almost certainly be sharp. If you were to introduce a bit to the horse when the teeth are sharp, you are understandably more likely to get a reaction instead of the desired response.

Before starting, the cheek teeth should be floated, (a term used to describe rasping the sharp points off the teeth to create a rounded comfortable edge). Any loose deciduous caps, (baby teeth about to fall off), should be removed. Consideration should be paid to any "wolf teeth" that might be there. Wolf teeth are small vestigial teeth that may appear just in front of the first cheek teeth, exactly where the bit sits, and can be found in approximately 50% of horses, they are equally distributed between males and females. The bit often interferes with the wolf teeth and causes irritation and sometimes a reaction, and because of this they are often removed before starting the horses education. (Please see separate article on wolf teeth coming soon).

Because young horses teeth are changing constantly, and rapidly growing, they are softer than mature horses teeth, and therefore require more frequent examinations and rasping to keep them maintained. Deciduous teeth and developing permanent teeth are softer than adult permanent teeth and may develop sharp enamel points more quickly. Also, there is an extraordinary amount of dental maturation during this period. Twenty-four teeth will be shed and replaced by 36 to 40 adult teeth, so typically, young horses under 6 years of age will require 6 monthly dentals.