Oral history
Forensic analysis reveals how four long-deceased horses endured the ravages of age at the dawn of modern equine dentistry.
Forensic analysis reveals how four long-deceased horses endured the ravages of age at the dawn of modern equine dentistry.
Of all the kinds of evidence that may be present at a crime scene, teeth often prove to be the most telling. Of course, no crimes have been committed with the horses we have under investigation. The analysis I am making of the remains is, however, wholly in the style now called “forensic”---an area of science that has proven to be fascinating to many people. Because of the complex structure of horse teeth and the many unique changes which may befall them, they can be analyzed to reveal the age, health status and lifestyle of the “decedent.”
I hope you have kept last month’s issue handy so you can refer to the examples and explanations in that article as you work through the actual “forensic analyses” that we’re about to perform here. Under examination are the skulls of four famous horses---of incredible value because these individuals are not anonymous specimens but pillars of historical fact. For the full dossier on each, please refer to “Bones Speak Volumes” (EQUUS 482); here’s a brief summary:
Black Hawk--- Morgan, by Sherman Morgan by Justin Morgan, out of a partThorou ghbred mare. Foaled April 1, 1833, in Durham, New Hampshire; died December 1, 1856, aged 23. The most popular sire of his era, Black Hawk was the first American stallion to command a stud fee of more than $100 and the founder of a major Morgan bloodline.
Ethan Allen--- Morgan, by Black Hawk out of Poll, she by Red Robin by Justin Morgan, and tracing on the distaff side to Bulrush Morgan and Canadian horses. Foaled June 18, 1849, in Ticonderoga, New York; died September 10, 1876, in Lawrence, Kansas, aged 27. A champion at the harness track and the most widely admired horse of the Civil War era, Ethan Allen was, in his own right, the founder of a major Morgan bloodline.
Lexington--- American Thoroughbred, by Boston out of Alice Carneal. Foaled in Kentucky in 1849 or 1850; died July 1, 1875, aged 25. Lexington was the most successful Thoroughbred sire of all time, and his name appears in the pedigrees of 75 percent of living American Thoroughbreds.
Rolf--- Przewalski’s horse (Mongolian Wild Horse) stallion, by Severin out of Rosette. Foaled at the Munich Zoo in Hellabrunn, Germany, on June 6, 1951; died May 7, 1981, at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas, aged 30, a longevity record for his subspecies.
SECRETS TOLD BY TEETH
As we learned in last month’s short course in equine dental anatomy and function, routes for infection multiply with age and the development of malocclusions. As you dive into the particulars for each horse under analysis, you’re going to encounter shocking examples of dental and skull pathology, largely due to the fact that effective dental treatment for horses was almost entirely unknown in this country until late in the 19th century.
Yes, “CSI”-style investigation is fascinating, but the knowledge you gain by studying these famous examples will also, I hope, inspire you to provide regular dental care for the horses in your own backyard.
ROLF
I present Rolf’s case first because it shows problems typically faced by old horses who have never received any dental care. Rolf was, for his entire life, deliberately maintained in as wild and untamed a state as possible, so that he would exhibit behaviors natural to the Przewalski’s horse subspecies. He was not “broke” to halter nor to handle, and he spent his life in zoos in an era before subtle and sophisticated “trick” training was commonly used to make veterinary examination and necessary treatments easier on the animal and safer for zoo personnel. Thus, every time Rolf needed to have his hooves trimmed, he had to be tranquilized with a blowgun dart. Even the simplest dental maintenance would have been out of the question.
During Rolf’s tenure there, the Topeka Zoo maintained off-site pasturage, and when not on exhibit in the main grounds, the stallion was turned out on grass with his herd of mares. Nonetheless, he spent most of the year in a zoo enclosure essentially similar to a dry lot and was fed a mixture of alfalfa, brome and timothy hay, with a little added grain to carry medications and vitamin supplements. I frequently saw Rolf at the Topeka Zoo from 1977 onward and can personally attest that his condition remained good right up to the time of his death at the age of 30 in 1981.
Since there are no good close-up photos of Rolf’s head, I have “reconstructed” his appearance just as if he were a fossil or archaeological specimen dating back to ancient times. Reconstruction of life appearance is a common exercise in museum science as well as in forensic investigation. I have drawn the muscles, nerves and blood vessels on Rolf’s skull (top),
creating a good basis for a portrait. What isn't evident from the outside
is Rolf’s geriatric dentition, with a big “Viking funeral ship” malocclusion creating an inefficient chewing stroke and highly abnormal bite. The anteriormost cheek teeth of the lower jaw on both left and right sides are so overlong that they have not only beaten out their mates in the upper jaw but pounded the gum, creating chronic abscessing which in turn caused the bone of the upper jaw to resorb to a significant extent. Rolf’s superior incisors have also overgrown their mates below to produce an “acquired” overbite and steep incisor table angle; note the horizontal orientation of the lower incisors. The old stallion’s canines have worn down with age but have not been buffed, and their bases are crusted with brown tartar (calculus).