Can a horse break their tongue bone?

Some of these cases are secondary to THO, which may not be possible to prevent. However, if your horse has been diagnosed with THO, without a fracture, or has undergone conservative management for a fracture, extreme care will be taken during dental examination or with procedures like stomach tubing, to prevent excessive force on the tongue. 

What about damage to the tongue itself?

We all know that horses can find unusual ways of injuring most body parts and the tongue is no exception! In some cases, horses may have quite significant damage to their tongue. For example, due to trauma from a dental fracture or a foreign body, such as prickly thorns, and show relatively few symptoms. But usually tongue injuries tend to present as difficulty eating, drooling or bleeding from the mouth. 

One of the most common causes of damage to the tongue is due to the bit or a Chifney, usually if the horse is forcibly restrained. These injuries tend to vary from a mild crush to full or partial amputation. Occasionally, the horse may bite their own tongue during a fall, this is rare, but can be catastrophic. Horses that lose part of their tongue can manage to cope reasonably well with dietary management, but it does depend on how much of a loss they sustain. 

We occasionally get asked about horses who spend lengthy periods of time sucking on their tongue. This is considered a vice and may be linked to medical problems such as gastric ulceration or dental disease, so please speak to your vet who can rule out any possible underlying causes of this behaviour. 

What to do if you are concerned?

If you are concerned that your horse has a problem with their tongue, or eating in general, please contact your vet who will be able to perform a detailed examination to determine if a problem is present. This may also include the use of further imaging such as endoscopy, radiography or CT to fully visualise the structures that may be affected. 

In summary, although there is no bone present in the tongue itself, horses can certainly develop problems with their tongue; including fractures of the stylohyoid bone to which it is attached. Such problems are uncommon but should be investigated promptly