Fiona's Dental Work

Seems like I've been caught with my head in the sand a few times in the past couple of years with my horses.

This time Fiona was the one to give me a giant piece of humble pie.

I usually make sure we have a dental visit every other year unless I have a reason to do it more often.

With Kase's arrival and Mikes schedule being so flexible for me and her pick up, Fi ended up being gone an entire year longer than I expected that pushed out her dental care a year more than my usual.

But for a young healthy mare who was on grass pasture for the entire 18 months she was gone, it didn't seem like that big of a deal.

But I was of course wrong!

I kind of thought I noticed her hip points sticking up more than I though they should/had been.

But her winter hair was on, she always presents her head to be petted, and when I petted her body (which wasn't all that often honestly), she didn't really feel too thin.  I could feel her ribs easily, but with hay in front of her 24-7 I really didn't panic, and figured with the warmer weather coming it wouldn't get any worse.

I was wrong on all accounts.

First, young healthy horses with bad teeth can get under weight.

Even with an easy warmer winter and hay in front of them 24-7, they can get under weight....

And they will.

And mine did.

I called MPEV and made an appointment with Dr. Peter's.  It was a 3 week wait.

Why did I wait?

Because I really like him.  He does a great job, and comes to my house to do it.

(I'm still not too sure about hauling a horse into the vet with Kase in tow.  I'll have to one day, but if I can avoid it, I'm going to.)

He is one of the best in our area as far as dentistry goes, and hauling to WSU wasn't an option.

So we waited.

I started her on beet pulp and alfalfa pellets soaked in water with ReNew Gold on top.

I was more or less feeding her 7lbs of the soaked stuff and 1lb of the ReNew Gold.

Each week I added one cup of the ReNew Gold.

After the vet came I kept her on the same diet until all the beet pulp was gone, stopping adding the ReNew Gold when we got to 6 cups.

(Dr. Peters said it would take her mouth about 10 days to heal.)

The long and the short of it boiled down to a front tooth.

Yeup, a broken/cracked lower front tooth that cause her chewing to be off and then everything to wear oddly/off.

He said that more than likely she bit a rock just right and set everything into motion.

She had some ulceration's in her cheeks, but no other damage, waves, or other issues.

He put in some bit seats and called it good.

We talked a bit about her regaining weight and then about his mounted shooting and rehabbing his good gelding for over a year, and he was off.

Oh, after he gave Kase a handful of M&Ms.

He loves kids...  (0:

And of course Kase was enthralled with all of the "gadgets" that he had and used on Fiona.

Kase was also a little bit concerned about her altered mental status.

Poor kid, so much to learn and understand!  (0:

I just love these pictures.

Not because they are good, but because she was using the wires on the fence to try and get Kase's attention after he had walked away.

She is bright!

It didn't bring Kase back, but I did give her some love and then caught her up and gave her her grain.

She is gaining just fine, but I'm still giving her 3 cups of alfalfa pellets and 6 cups of the ReNew Gold.

The ReNew Gold says to feed 1lb per day for maintenance.  I'll probably start that after this next bag is gone.

I may start the other two on it as well...

but not the Hee-Haws.

I really don't think they need anything extra!  (0:

Well, maybe some minerals.

I keep seeing good things about the Hoffman Minerals, but last time I looked, no one carried them.  

It's not really economical to bring in a couple of bags for myself...

But, I'm going to give it another look see and see if I can find a dealer close.

Once Fi has a bit more weight on her, and shoes.

We'll hit the trails ASAP!  (0: