Neither of my boys has seen the dentist in two years. Once upon a time this would have given me heart palpitations and guilt sweats, but this is normal with this type of equine dentistry (Natural Balance). Peanut is balanced to the point where he basically takes care of his own teeth, and Gene is at the point where his teeth have stopped growing so we want to fiddle around in there as little as possible to give him the most time with the chompers he has left.
Peanut had a couple mild grade 1 (lowest) things going on. Nothing big at all. He got those taken care of, got his incisors re-balanced, and he's good for another 2 years. No big whoop. Plus, it never ceases to amuse me that he takes the same amount of sedation as a mini.
She looked Gene over, checking his body condition. Asked us about his eating, listened to his teeth as she moved his lower jaw against the top, then peeked in. She said that he looks great and that she doesn't want to touch his teeth. If anything changes, if he has any issues, give her a call immediately but otherwise she'll peek in again next time she's around.
Mona wasn't bad, but she adjusted her mouth to this theory of dentistry as opposed to traditional. This means that she did not keep her bite surfaces completely flat, she gave them an angle which gives them a natural resting point and gives the TMJ a break. Traditional dentists sees what they do as sharp, but mine does not as she takes off anything sharp but leaves an angle. Mona's top molars are also short, and she's hoping to see growth in them next time she sees her. She also made the molars bilaterally even (one side bottom was taller than the other) and took off a hook on an incisor which would get in the way of her lower jaw moving back. Mona can go a year before her next float, if not longer.
The fascinating thing about Mona's float was her reaction to her new mouth. After her molars were done and before her incisors, Mona's head started to drop (being a friesian, it has a long way to go). When her neck was straight out, it stopped and the mare completely checked out. She was standing there, but she was mentally no longer with us. This reminded me of Hoppy's first visit, where horses would assume the same position and go completely internal for a bit. Hoppy called it "watching their internal television" as they contemplate the changes that had just been made. Mona stayed this way for a couple of minutes as the three of us (dentist, Anne-Marie, and myself) discussed it. It was really remarkable to watch! Eventually she returned to the world but had a feeling of wonder around her. The dentist then went to work on her incisors, which Mona didn't like, and so she went back to being a mare.
Peanut spent the rest of my time there spitting out all hay and grass that he took into his mouth, but ate cookies without a problem. The dentist said some horses sometimes have this reaction for a day and it's nothing to worry about.
In gimpy shoulder news - I think I may have discovered what's wrong with me! My EMG came back with no pinched nerves and a slight slight case of carpal tunnel, so that's out.
At my appointment with the spine specialist, she pointed out my lousy posture that was apparent even in my MRI. She asked me to think about it as much as I could and correct it, and by gum I am doing it. I am squeezing my shoulder blades together and keeping my chin in. This has caused aching in new places (which was really, really bad right before the EMG last week). However, the aching in the old places has just about ceased. Even the one spot that is always painful is barely grumpy now.
I visited the massage therapist last Thursday, and she confirmed that everything has moved. My old aches and pains ain't what they used to be, and instead my muscles are getting sore from being used in new ways.
You read it here, shoulders BACK, damn it.
In archery news - in my lesson yesterday I moved back to the 20 yard line. It was great and I think I'm making progress! I did not have the kind of results that I had before, but I'm clustering and that's what's important. I just need to learn how to re-aim, plus little mistakes are being exaggerated. With the weak club bow I'm using (Red 18 is my buddy, yo), I get quite an arc on the arrows. I go from aiming below the scoring parts of the target to aiming well above the entire target. it's the "arc" in "archery!"
In drawing news - Jason is off with Athena being framed, the side saddle picture is now joining the show (the current owner was having it set in an antique frame in the same shop and asked for it to be included). So, that one will wear a red dot during the show and hopefully show that there's interest!
Having the side saddle picture inspired me to make another, so here is a very, very in-progress (with a surprisingly lousy scan that looks so much better on my computer - the blog even took out the different colors in the paper). I believe this is Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg.
2 comments:
My horse just saw the dentist too, must be the month for it! Mona's reaction is very interesting, I bet she likes hew "new" teeth.
And the shoulder thing, yes! I had a very bad shoulder for years, my regular Dr. kept saying bursitis, etc. Nothing helped. Went to Physical therapy, they spent time to help me build the muscles up between my shoulder blades, almost no problems since! Good luck, I bet it will improve your archery too. What a fun sport, I'd love to try it.
Thank you very much!
We think Mona likes them too. She certainly grazed with gusto after it was over.
Archery helps my back by making me use the muscles between my shoulder blades (pull the string back with your shoulder blade, not your shoulder), so it would make sense for vice-versa to be true!
It is a fun sport, and easy to try if you have an archery club in the area. :)
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