Is there a term for a horse with a pointy upper lip?

[tidy rabbit]

Is there a term for a horse with a pointy upper lip?

Someone called him a parrot mouth but he's not. If he's thinking about stuff, not just standing there asleep/relaxed, his upper lip is very large and pointed. His teeth come together perfectly. I don't know what you'd call his lip... It's not a defect really since when he's relaxed it looks normal. :(

If you look closely you can see in these photos what I'm talking about. The first one shows it all pointy, the second one it looks normal.
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2302642580048495570JqRoPf
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2340510050048495570RwWBxY

[Carrera]

I had a mare that would do that... There is an old wives tale saying that if a horse points it's lip it will be careful over fenced

[rideagoldenpony]

I have a mare like that!

When we showed her as a two year old, a number of judges asked to see her bite -- which is perfect. But she holds her lip that way sometimes. It is very odd. I don't think either of her foals do it though. It DOES look like she could have a parrot mouth, but as I said above, she has a perfect bite.

About a month ago I went to a horse/tack sale and found some tack I had need of. I took a spin through the horses that were waiting to sell and found this very nice, huge gelding. He was a really lovely horse, and I stopped and visited with him a moment. I decided to check his teeth to see if his story and actual age lined up. I could not have been more SHOCKED to discover that he had a SEVERE parrot mouth. You would have NEVER EVER known from looking at him with his lips closed. It was so bad it made me look at it twice, because it was just so NOT apparent from the outside.

[Signature]

I've seen dressage horses do that when they are concentrating reeeaaaally hard on their work, especially the stallion Decoupage - noticed him doing it a ton during the Stallion Expo in 2007 (he seemed like such a good boy and such a trier). Edited to add: Go here http://www.weatherleawarmbloods.com/ and to stallion info, and you'll see several pictures of him doing it!

Our mares do it when we scratch them and they are really into it, we call it "the beak" :winkgrin:

I think it's nothing to worry about and just an expression. :)

[jward72182]

My girl does the same thing! It's almost like a human pursing their lips while thinking.... Here is her "posing" her lip!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/jamiejustin/Haleigh/confo2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/jamiejustin/Picture061.jpg

"See mom... no parrot mouth!"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/jamiejustin/Picture057-1.jpg

I think it's just a horse being expressive and get a kick out of it most of the times :)

[tidy rabbit]

jward that is one cute baby girl! What is she?

[Tasker]

We have a mare who used her top lip as a turn signal during her riding career. If you turned her head to the left, the lip pointed to the left, etc... :lol:

Now her oldest is under saddle and does the same exact thing. It is hysterical! Gotta love the family traits that carry over through the generations!

[Waterwitch]

Well, since horses share the Order Perissodactyla with tapirs and black rhinos, maybe it is a throwback (a lo-ooooooooong one) :cool:

[jward72182]

jward that is one cute baby girl! What is she?

Thank you!!! I secretly drool over your boys on an almost daily basis. :)

She a Belgian Warmblood out of Coronado WW and 100% monster right now!

The first photo was taken at 15 months old. She's already 16.1 and turns 2 in May. I think I'm going to have my hands full, especially with her expressiveness :lol:

[tidy rabbit]

Well, since horses share the Order Perissodactyla with tapirs and black rhinos, maybe it is a throwback (a lo-ooooooooong one) :cool:

Maybe it's because he's a pintosauraus?

jward....

I am so hoping my foal that the stork is bringing me (anytime now HOPEY)looks like your filly! Those are my absolute favorite markings.

[Merle]

I personally think the pointy lip is quite endearing. What cuties you guys have.

[Pancakes]

I've heard it called a "pooky lip" before. :)

[rideagoldenpony]

Here's my girl showing off her pointy lip. :lol:

[SteeleRdr]

Don't know what it's called either, but we had a horse that did it over fences. It was kinda funny.

Here is a pic to demonstrate:
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/twebb/Bud/8259.jpg

To prove it wasn't "normally" that way, here's a head shot. He didn't have a parrot mouth at all, either.
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/twebb/Steele%20barn/pics/bud_head2.jpg

[Cervalo]

My boy has it too. When I went to see him for the first time as a yearling that was one of the first things I looked at. I checked his bite and saw that he was fine. But his pictures had me wondering. I was happy to see those teeth come together well.

You can see it here.
http://snowwhite3890.smugmug.com/gallery/6376474_nuUcb#403330447_hBsKK-X3-LB

Photo by Malia Stoll

[Sabovee]

I have a couple who do that while being ridden - I call it "Working Lip" :)

[tidy rabbit]

"working lip" I love that! :)

I feel better now that you all have shared your lovely horses who also have "working lip".

I was sad to think that people would be thinking he has a parrot mouth when he doesn't. This comment came from someone who knows horses and he/she just jumped to the conclusion that it was a parrot mouth.

[Perfect Pony]

My mare is very "expressive" with her top lip while working. It used to drive me nuts, but then I realized it's better than opening her mouth and chomping. The harder she concentrates the pointier it gets.

On the flip side, when she is relaxed her bottom lip hangs about 2 inches!

She's just a weird one.

[ilikridn]

I have a 2-yr-old filly that is very mouthy and does this with her top lip a lot. She is the most oral horse I've ever been around. Everything goes in her mouth. I had someone see a pic of her and say it looked like she had a parrot mouth as well, but no she doesn't... nice, even bite.

So, for those of you whose horses do this, are they also very oral?

[tidy rabbit]

Mine is EXTREMELY oral. Absolutely everything goes in his mouth. Chews his wraps off. Carries the stud chain between his teeth. Anything he can find to play with or carry around he does. Once he even grabbed the newspaper out of my hand and ran around the pasture with it in his mouth for quite a while, scaring his poor brother to death. Then they stomped the newspaper into the ground. Very funny.

[SteeleRdr]

Mine just liked to stick his tongue out a lot. When we first got him, he'd go around (and hunt) with his tongue sticking out. He finally grew out of it. He also liked to have his tongue played with. He nevre picked up stuff though, just was a very quirky horse. Heckuva jumper though!

[bornfreenowexpensive]

I had a mare that would do that... There is an old wives tale saying that if a horse points it's lip it will be careful over fenced

funny....I have three half siblings (two mares and one gelding). They all do that when really working and thinking. They are also all three very careful jumpers.

Only the gelding is oral..the mares are not.

[JoZ]

I LOVE that look! I call it "prehensile upper lip". It looks to me like the start of an elephant's trunk, and how my horses would love to have it grow enough to get treats off the shelf or out of my pocket!

None of mine have bite issues -- the only horse I ever had with an overbite (not a parrot mouth -- and he grew out of it) didn't have the upper lip action goin' on.

Mine do the lip thing when being scratched mostly. Though I have a yearling who does it when he's intent on something.

[ilikridn]

Mine just liked to stick his tongue out a lot. When we first got him, he'd go around (and hunt) with his tongue sticking out. He finally grew out of it. He also liked to have his tongue played with. He nevre picked up stuff though, just was a very quirky horse. Heckuva jumper though!

Yup, my filly did that. Luckily, she has grown out of it too. She's bred for hunter so I was not happy when she used to do that.

She used to "lick" the pipe rail fence all the time. She'd run her mouth up and down it with her tongue hanging out the side... total goofball!!

[Waterwitch]

Maybe it's because he's a pintosauraus?

Whatever he is, he's ADORABLE :)

[tidy rabbit]

Whatever he is, he's ADORABLE :)

thanks! turns out he's quite the jumping FREAK as well. Must be the lip! I had no idea. Very excited about him now!

[ilikridn]

Does he have big ears too? When my filly was born, her ears looked HUGE! She looked like a donkey to me. My trainer said "that's good... horses with big ears are good jumpers." :lol:

[Bentley]

As far as I can tell, your boy's by Hall of Fame right? According to Decoupage's webpage he's by Art Deco, Hall of Fame's sire.... Perhaps it runs in the family?

I'd love to have one with that lip :-) Just want to smoosh them all the time.

[gbnuk96]

Last summer we noticed via photos that my horse (DD's jumper) points his lip over jumps. :winkgrin:

We thought it was something unique to him - just one more thing we love about him. :D

Now that you mention it, he's a jumper and he's extremely careful. ;)

B

[foxhavenfarm]

Our stallion Artrageous does it over jumps too. I think it's just deep concentration. :lol:
Some examples:
http://foxhavenfarminc.com/images/ArtyatCanterbury2.JPG
http://foxhavenfarminc.com/images/ArtystadiumApril14.JPG

[BearRock]

Here's mine doing it, hehehe.

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs037.snc1/2606_58631224857_506439857_1582788_1689711_n.jpg
http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs037.snc1/2606_58631229857_506439857_1582789_871379_n.jpg

And in terms of being a good jumper...I'm convinced he has rockets in his heels some days. :lol:

[crackerjack]

Mine's a worrywort so the more stressed he gets the longer and pointier the top lip gets. His ears also seem to grow longer and longer with worry!!:yes: