It was time for Solomon to get his teeth floated again, so out came the vet and the dentist. Heh, the other boarders at the ranch decided that December was the perfect month to do this. :( Well, a happy horse is more important than obligatory gift-giving and conspicuous consumerism anyway.
Solomon had to get a lot of drugs. A shot that was .8, and then a shot that was .4, of whatever non-Ace drug they used. The vet was worried and said "okay, I'm going to take your word on this and give him a big shot, but if he lies down, don't get mad at me, okay? This is on your word." Heh, a while later she gave in and gave him the second shot.
Solomon is a stubborn fighter. He has also gained a lot of independence and status in the past year, so he's a lot less likely to want to automatically obey. I had to work leading out with him a bit too, but he gave in to that pretty easily. I don't blame him for being stubborn- that's what helped him survive the charro circuit.
Anyway, on to the photo spam!
Dr. Stewart is a really sweet man. He does a great job on the horses and is very kind to them.
Solomon, getting his incisors cut so that they will slide together properly.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
THE ORAL SPECULUM! *creepy music*
Sensei in his old Air Force cold weather coat, holding a very drugged horse.
I also took this opportunity to remove Sol's beans. Thankfully the vet gave me a couple gloves to do it with- for some reason all my sheath cleaning supplies are at home! The dentist used to do it for free, but now he won't because a horse almost killed him earlier this year. The vet and the dentist were really worried. "That drug won't stop him from kicking!" I just sang some Barry Manilow and talked my boy through it, much to the entertainment of the onlookers. Found 6 beans too... poor baby! D: He swished his tail a bit but never sucked his boybits up into his body cavity (thank the GODS) and didn't offer even the threat of a kick.
"...wha? Whazzhappenin..."
Holding up his head a little bit so he doesn't faceplant. Don't worry, I was crouched and ready to move in case he seriously went down. He always does this- fights like hell against the drugs, and when the procedure is over, they SERIOUSLY hit.
I have a hoss!
Then it was Charlie Horse's turn. I'd been advising the ranch owners for a while to get his teeth floated, but the small animal vet they usually out said he didn't need it. He was feral and abandoned in a field for at least 5 years, and then taken in by them 3 years ago. They decided to have it done for him if he needed it along with the other horses, heh.
He is missing a lot of teeth and the ones he has are bad, but the vet did what he could to make what he has left actually be able to chew. He needs mash from now on though- he doesn't have enough teeth to really properly chew hay. I'm really proud of the owners for getting this done now. Now they know. It's not their fault- they weren't horse people when they got him, they just rescued him because he lived in the abandoned property across the road, and then they trusted the word of the small animal vet. They've REALLY done good things for him this year though, after a number of conversations we've had. They've put him on senior feed and probiotics, and they have him on a worming rotation. They gave him a betadine scrub, they put a fly mask on him during fly season, and he's getting good care now. Now that they know what he needs, they can also go forward with that, and I think he'll do even better.
Tooth floating still looks like some sort of hellish torture though, lol! Charlie tried really hard to have a major wreck, despite the drugs, but no one was hurt, thankfully.
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