Floating

It's that time of year again, which I personally dread. Floating. Filing horse’s teeth. You see it would be an OK experience if we didn't have issues with sedation or even needles.

Ermi. He can be very dangerous when it comes to needles. But! But he's become such a good boy about it. He used to rear and strike when he would see a needle. Now he stands, panics a bit but behaves, so doing his teeth was actually OK. It is tiring though. Holding a 50kg horse head up is no joke. It's dead weight when they are sedated and I'm sure Sophia and I will feel sore tomorrow.

Whisper. Ah. Whisper. I wanted to kill. It takes a few seconds to sedate a horse but no. He turned it into a 20 minute affair. He wouldn't stand. He ran off. We had to catch him. It's 40°C. It is not fun. We caught him and used a chifney bit but still he would not cooperate. I am very grateful for my vet's patience. So we resorted to holding the tongue and the skin on his shoulder to make him sit still. Not pleasant for us or Whisper, but it had to be done. Even with sedation he gave us trouble but we managed to get his teeth done in the end. I really wish it went more smoothly but it is what it is.

A little bit about floating: so it's the process of removing sharp points on a horse's teeth that can cause painful wounds in their mouths. So if you notice your horse losing weight, dropping food and having difficulty chewing their hay then call a vet in to check their teeth. I do this regularly, roughly every seven months or so.

Oh! Whisper is no longer lame and is back working! Ermi on the other hand is taking it easy. The humidity is causing him to breathe a bit heavy so we keep it light on days like this. A hack, several showers and a bit of bareback riding because he does want to work but I'm very careful when it comes to heat and horse's. It's just not worth the risk.