Our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor of Blue Mountain Veterinary Hospital in Missoula, came out today to do dentals on our elderly horses -- and do we have a lot of those! We filled the stalls in Lena's Barn and Beauty's Barn with the seniors before Erin arrived, so all she had to do was go from stall to stall to do the exams. Many of these old horses have teeth so worn down that there is nothing left to do for them except make sure they don't have any cracked or loose teeth. (Those that can't chew hay adequately get equine senior grain.) Alayne took this photo of Erin working on blind Blue, while I serve as equine head rest. Blue actually had some teeth left that needed filing down. Most of our elderly horses, though, fell into the category Erin jokingly called "the old gummers." Those are the ones who show more gums than teeth when we open their mouths.
Next week Erin will be back to work on the middle-aged set, so we'll definitely see more teeth then!
and I thought my dentists drill looked scary!
Posted by: Andrew, NZ | May 02, 2008 at 12:36 PM
I love the look of determination on Erin's face. She looks like she's mining for Diamonds.
Posted by: Candace | May 01, 2008 at 08:03 PM