For the uninitiated, let me state for the record that horse slobber has a unique odor that stays with you when you've had your hands in their mouths. Yes, I'm talking about floating teeth. What is that, you might ask? Well, the way a horse's mouth is, they wear their back teeth unevenly. The upper teeth wear more on the inside than the outside and vice versa for the lower teeth. And so the teeth form sharp edges on the side that recieves less wear. These edges need to be taken off so that the horse's mouth is more comfortable and they don't cut up the inside of their cheeks or tongue. Taking off these edges is called floating the teeth.
Now, I also know the next question that's going to be asked: How is this accomplished? A smart ass would simply say stick a rasp in the horse's mouth and take care of it. Which is almost correct. There's also a sedative and a speculum involved, though. The horse is given a mild sedative to relax them. It doesn't put them out all the way and they can still react if you piss them off. For the vet hospital people, it's a half cc of Domisedan given IV. You then stuff a speculum into their mouth so they don't bite you. This looks like a huge metal and leather contraption with ratchets on each side. There are two metal plates that the front teeth rest on and the ratchets keep the mouth open so you can work on the back teeth. You then stick a long handled rasp into the horse's mouth and file off the sharp edges. And you check your progress by sticking your hand into the horse's mouth and feeling the teeth. Mind you, this whole operation is done blind, since you can't see into the mouth while you're working on it. Of course, the horse isn't completely out and the speculum doesn't open the mouth wide enough to keep the horse from being unable to chew. So while you're working in the mouth, there's the added fun of the horse biting down on the rasp and pinching your fingers as you check your progress. Yep, the lasting perfume of horse spittle gets all over your hands and halfway up to your elbows as you feel blindly around in a horse's mouth, checking for sharp edges and trying not to get gnawed on.
In other matters, Hobbit had a great question about the reason for soleing out a horse's hooves at the end of post #2. In case some of you missed it, she asked if soleing out was like using a pumice stone on your own feet. The answer is actually more complicated than it might appear at first. I had to think about it for a few days to figure out how to explain it, because it's really a form and function answer. And the best way to explain it is with analogy and comparison. Bear with me on this one.
In a human, unless they have exceptionally flat feet, the arch of the foot doesn't touch the ground. This is because the arch is a point of expansion for the foot. When moving at speed, the foot spreads and the arch flexes toward the ground, thus absorbing and dispursing the shock and concussion of impact. This is also why flat footed people often have foot pain, because the whole of the foot impacts the ground and there's no place for the concussion to spread to.
Now to compare this to the equine foot (temporarily ignoring the physiological fact that humans are plantigrades and horses are unguligrades...I'll explain that later). In the horse's foot, the sole is like the arch of the foot. It doesn't touch the ground normally since the horse walks only on the hoof wall and frog of the foot. It also allows for a point of expansion as the horse travels at speed. The sole flexes toward the ground, helping to absorb the concussion of impact. But unlike the human foot, the sole keeps growing. Thus, a farrier has to pare out the dead sole to allow for the live sole to have a place to expand to.
Mind you, this is only one of many reasons why a horse's feet should be taken care of. Another reason is that like human hair and fingernails, the hoof doesn't quit growing. Especially since it's made of the same material as hair and fingernails. If the hoof isn't trimmed or worn away, it'll keep growing out of control. I've seen the result of this. The donkey had to be held down and the excess hoof cut off with a hacksaw before the feet could be worked on. The hooves had turned at right angles during growth and were growing out in front of the feet like skis. And farrier's tools are much more burly than what we'd use on our own feet. I certainly wouldn't want to use a kitchen cleaver to dig out a corn! Let me put it this way: To check the sharpness of our hoof knives, we routinely shave a small section of our arm hair off with it. If it cuts cleanly the first time, it's sharp enough.
Oh, that plantigrade/digitigrade/unguligrade thing. This one's pretty quick to explain. Humans and apes walk on their whole foot. This is called plantigrade. Carnivores and predators tend to be digitigrade, which means they walk on their tiptoes. What would be a human's heel is a predator's hock. Herbivores and prey animals tend to walk on just the very tips of their toes, which is unguligrade. This is equivalent to a ballerina in toe shoes, with just the point of the toes touching the ground. And in fact, all the toes are fused into one huge toe, for added strength in the bony structures. That's a different conversation, though.
Anyway, no new particularly significant injuries to report. Just some bruising, which is really becoming the norm around here. As usual, if there's anything specific anyone wants to know about the fun and havok happening here just post a comment or send me an email. I'll get back to everyone as I can and hopefully enlighten the unwashed masses in the process. *grin*
This is me, signing off.
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