Intraoral radiography for age determination in Purebred Spanish foals

The collaboration between CENRE and the University of Córdoba is set out in a specific agreement for the development of the project “Intraoral radiography as an aid to age determination in Purebred Spanish Horse (PRE) foals”. The collaboration began in 2022, and preliminary results were presented at the European Veterinary Dental Forum 2026, held from 7 to 9 May in Porto. The study is being carried out by the BIO-307 research group, part of the Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery of the Córdoba Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, within the University of Córdoba's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, with Dr Manuel Novales Durán as principal investigator.

Project objective

The aim of the project is to carry out a clinical and radiological study of the mouths of young Purebred Spanish Horse foals, aged approximately between 10–12 months and 30–36 months, in order to obtain information that allows a more objective assessment of age and helps detect possible dental pathologies not visible on conventional oral inspection.

The project focuses in particular on the use of intraoral and extraoral radiography of the teeth — incisors, premolars and molars — as a supporting tool to improve age determination in PRE foals.

State of the science

Determining a horse's age from its dentition is common practice in equine medicine, but it remains technically challenging at certain growth stages. One of the most complex periods lies between 6–9 months, associated with the eruption of the third deciduous incisors, and 30 months, when the first permanent incisors erupt. Within that interval, especially between one year and two and a half years, significant uncertainty can arise in accurately assigning a foal's age.

Age determination from the mouth is particularly complex in young horses between 1 and 4 years old, and especially between one year and two and a half years when only the incisors are examined, since sufficiently significant external variations are not always present at that stage.

Given this, the research team proposes that radiographic study of the dental germs of unerupted incisors can provide a clearer, more reproducible and objective developmental pattern, useful for improving age estimation in Purebred Spanish Horse foals.

Purpose

The purpose of the project is to generate more objective technical criteria to support age determination in PRE foals, particularly at stages where visual assessment of the dentition may prove insufficient.

This information can be highly useful for vets, breeders, associations and sector professionals, since more accurate age determination helps improve husbandry management, animal valuation and participation in competitions or trials for young horses, where it is important for animals to compete in homogeneous age groups.

The study may also help in the early detection of dental pathologies not visible on oral inspection, reinforcing its value from both a technical and a health standpoint.

Preliminary results and knowledge transfer

The project's preliminary results were presented by Dr Carla Manso at the European Veterinary Dental Forum 2026, held in Porto. According to the initial data, the team has managed to subdivide the developmental pattern of the dental germs in animals aged between 5 months and 2.5 years into six distinct groups, with appreciable radiographic differences between them. The group is currently continuing to expand the sample with a view to producing definitive results.