Poor Foxy!
I was working with her this summer and realized she couldn’t turn left very well. I mean, yeah, she could eventually get going in that direction, but her body was stiff and it was difficult. Since she’s willing to do so many other things, I didn’t think she was just refusing for no reason. When I had the vet out a few weeks ago, I had him take a look at her teeth. Yep, teeth.
Turns out she had a “hook” on one of her upper front teeth. That hook “locked” her jaw and prevented the teeth from sliding over each other as she tried to turn her head left. (This photo isn’t of my horse, but the teeth look just the same!)
So Monday, I borrowed a trailer and took her to the vet’s office to get her teeth floated. Oh boy, that hook was relatively minor compared to the other problems. I sure felt like a bad horse mom! She had sharp edges along the molars and had a lot of scars along her cheek. And there were some pretty weird surfaces in the far back that were not comfortable for her. All this time, I thought she would be in good shape, as she’s been living a fairly “natural” life – mostly pasture and grazing, and when she has to be in, she eats from ground level and hardly ever gets rich sugary food. Anyhow, the vet smoothed everything out that should be smooth. She was sore for a couple of days but didn’t seem to miss too much eating! She seems to be feeling pretty good now, so I hope to ride her this weekend and see what we can do. I’ll be using a hackamore, just in case she is a little tender.
So, what’s the report? Did it help? I know we need to get Mona done. She may turn into a fat little piggy horse again, who knows?
I’m sure it helped. She never really quit eating, though Cort was afraid she’d be really sore. I gave her some bute the first day or so to keep the swelling down.
I rode her for half an hour about 2 weeks later, when I knew everything healed and I had some daylight. She was better about bending and occasionally remembered it was “supposed” to hurt, but mostly she was improved. Now I need time (daylight and weather) to do much more, but at least she is not tearing up her cheeks.
Next – Murphy needs his done.