With Hubby’s horse Clio still losing weight and not eating hardly any hay, we finally decided we had to do something, so I got the name of a local large animal vet (Lakeside) and called them about bringing her in to have her teeth examined, since I’m pretty sure that’s what the problem is. Unfortunately, they didn’t really do dentistry, so they gave me the name of a woman in PA, who unfortunately had just been near here a few days ago, so unless we wanted to meet her Friday at 7:30 am, 60 miles away, she couldn’t help, but she did give us the name of a couple other people, one who was even further away, and one that was right in the neighborhood, so I called him, a man named Jeff Horton, and left a message, as well as a couple of texts. By noon I still hadn’t heard back, so we decided to use the day to get more horse feed and a few odds and ends, so we drove down to Painted Post, where at the Tractor Supply we got several bags of Senior feed, plus a bag of alfalfa pellets that we could soak and make it easier for Clio to eat. A quick stop at Home Depot and Walmart, and we were on our way back to camp. Just as I was starting to get dinner ready, I got a text from Jeff, asking if we were in camp, because he had just arrived! I turned off my burners and headed to to his cool little car with a great paint job, met him and took him down to the horses. It didn’t take long for him to impress me, he had a very subdued style, but was very informative once you got him going. He examined Clio and confirmed her teeth were aging, but the 11th tooth in the back was hard to see without really getting into it, so we let him go ahead, and once he got into it (including sedating Clio), he found the trouble, a tooth that was irritating her cheek on the inside on her left side, and another tooth on the right side that was blocking the hay from going down her throat. Using power tools powered by our second generator, he carefully ground down what needed to be ground down, giving her a complete treatment, but being very careful to only take off what was necessary. Meanwhile, several other campers came by, and ended up hiring him to do their horses as well, so he got several hours more work out of it (though he said he’d been going since 5:30 this morning, so I imagine he was pretty tired by the end of the day). I thanked him for coming out, and by the time he left, Clio not only ate her alfalfa pellets and senior feed, she was actually starting to munch on hay!! Hesitant, of course, because she had to convince herself she could eat without it hurting, but within 15 minutes she seemed to be pretty convinced. We’ll know for sure in the morning, if the bag is empty and not covering the ground! What a relief, though, knowing we caught it in time, before it really became ulcerated. Apparently it was raw and irritated, but not critically. Whew! Played with Lola, training her in a few new things the last few days, before heading back to finish dinner, relaxing for the evening, and looking forward to a few rain-free days, at last! Hoping to ride for the next few days, yeah!!
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