Thursday, July 26, 2007

Maddy gets a float

I am getting close to using a bit on Maddy, so I wanted to get her teeth floated and wolf teeth checked before starting. We had Dr. Alan Blanke from Epona Sporthorses out this morning to do three horses. Queenie the draft mare was up first. She is such a sweet mare, I just love her. If I could afford two horses, she would be mine. Queenie has had a tough week. She got kicked in the shoulder and chipped a flare on her front hoof. Her owner told me it has been an expensive week. I was not sure of Maddy's previous dental history. At her vet check, it was suggested that she get them floated in the Spring. After Queenie woke up, it was Maddy's turn. She was a trooper and did really well with the sedation and got woozy pretty quickly. To anyone who has never seen this procedure, the contraption used to hold the mouth open almost looks medival. You put it on like a halter and it opens up the mouth so the vet has access to the teeth. I assisted by putting my foot on the base of the head support and holding her tongue. The vet uses a dremel tool with all sorts of sanding heads to grind the teeth down. There is lots of noise and debris. I got to wear safety googles. Upon inspection, Dr. Blanke noticed one wolf tooth coming in, so I had that removed. It is a little thing, that he seemed to pop out easily. Not too much blood, but enough to make me feel bad for her:-( We waited with her in the stall for her to wake up. We passed the time by making her beautiful by pulling her mane. The vet told me Maddys teeth had "ramps" as opposed to "waves." I stayed with her for about two hours afterwards and gave her applesauce laced with some Bute. I am told no bit for at least 10 days and no grain for tonight. Total bill was a mere $286...ouch for me!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor Maddy...she looks just like Sunny did during her hoof trimming experience!

Ginger said...

Poor girl! I hope she feels better soon. It's never fun going to the dentist!

Esther Garvi said...

It may look medieval, but I wish they had that kind of gear in Niger: in fact, I wish they had ANY kind of gear!!!

Hope she comes out fine!

EquineSpirit said...

Awww...poor baby! Hope she feels better.

Donna said...

You just reminded me I still haven't seen a bill for Missy's dental adventure. I don't know how you stood there and listened to that sound -- gives me the heebies just reading about it!

Rising Rainbow said...

Yupe, that's the look of a horse on drugs. I know about the ramps thing, I have a young horse who had really bad ramps. He just had his second time to have them worked on and will probably take a couple more at 6 month intervals to correct them entirely. I'm with you on the OUCH!!