A Matched Pair

At the risk of sounding like "crazy horse mom" - I pulled out Piper's other top front tooth today (the one on the right): Now, don't go thinking I was out there with a pair of pliers or anything. I've noticed for the past 3-4 days that it was getting looser and pulling away from the gum. Today all it took was a little tug and that was that.

In case you missed the post on her very first baby tooth, you can read about it here. That was on January 25th and her permanent tooth is already half way in. A lot of people commented on that post that they had no idea horses lost their baby teeth. Being mammals, horses are born with a set of "milk teeth" and then those are replaced by permanent ones. The front middle incisors (on top and bottom) are the first ones they lose and that is at approximately 2 and 1/2 years old (which just so happens to be how old Piper is), the teeth next to those are next to come out at 3 and 1/2 years and the teeth next to those at 4 and 1/2. The premolars and molars (cheek teeth) that are farther back in their mouth start coming out closer to 3 years old.

Losing baby teeth is also referred to as "shedding". As the permanent tooth pushes out the tooth cap the remaining edges can be quite sharp which can irritate the horse's tongue and gum tissue. That is one of the reasons I gave Piper a little help. OK, OK, that and I wanted the teeth for her baby book...

We joked about making a necklace with the first tooth. But now I have a matched set, so what do you think--- earrings????

Calling the Tooth Fairy

I've been checking Piper's mouth daily for months now, expecting that she'll be losing her baby teeth any day. Well, today was the day!

I opened her mouth and there was this tooth, just hanging there by a thread. I reached in and gave it a little tug and out it came. Now THAT is one big baby tooth!My little horse is growing up...Doesn't this remind you of every little kid's first grade school picture?

And what does the horse tooth fairy leave, anyway?