Not much has been happening, mostly because of the weather and the holidays. Haven't ridden, but have taken Possum out for some hand walks now and then when possible. The roads are icy, but there have been a few opportunities. Today is Sunday, Feb. 15, and we are at the ends of a big blizzard (that sort of fizzled out up here for us in snow totals.. but it's plenty cold and very windy right now!) I locked Possum in the stall around 7:30 p.m. last night, and he stayed nice and calm overnight until I opened the doors back up around 9 a.m. this morning. Because of the wind, he's hanging out in his usual position.. facing out, munching on the hay that's getting blown around by the fierce wind.
Over the last month and a half, Possum has had his hooves trimmed by Butch, and we also had a visit with Dr. Judd a couple of weeks ago. I had noticed that he wasn't able to chew his hay properly.. he would take a bite, then spit out a cud.. he was cranky and whiny.. I knew something was up with his teeth, but I wasn't totally sure. I gave Ryan a call and she agreed to let me call the vet. When I described what was happening to Dr. Judd over the phone, he told me that what Possum was doing was something called quidding, and that it was teeth related. He scheduled us in for the very next morning, and I was told to give him some bute in a hot mash, and to not bother giving him anymore hay, as it was only irritating him.
The next morning, at 9 a.m. sharp, Dr. Judd rolled in the driveway in his giant truck, braving the windy, snowy conditions that morning. I had already locked Possum up in the stall, and Dr. Judd brought all of his tools into the barn. As he was doing that, he explained what he would be doing. First, in order to look inside Possum's mouth, he would have to sedate him. He gave him the drug in I.V., and it took effect very quickly. Once Possum's head lowered, I took off his halter, and we strapped on the specula.. which is just a gadget that forces his mouth to stay open. Then, we propped Possum's head up on top of the special stand, Dr. Judd and I put on our head lanterns, and peered into Possum's mouth.
Dr. Judd stuck his hands up into Possum's giant, gaping mouth, and felt all along each side, inside and out. He concluded that there was no abscess or broken teeth, and his gums felt fine. What he did find was lots of sharp edges that were most likely the cause of his quidding.. the sharpness on the edges of his teeth were bothering his cheeks and / or tongue, which made chewing hay very uncomfortable and painful for Possum. So, we were in luck. All Possum needed was to have his teeth floated!
I had told Ryan last spring that I thought they needed doing, but apparently they did not take care of that at camp last summer.. And when Dr. Judd was here back in November to treat Possum for his Lyme Disease, he suggested that they would probably need to be done in a few months anyway.
Dr. Judd spent at least a good half hour filing away.. he is a highly specialist equine dentist along with being a D.V.M., so I felt really good about giving Possum the best possible treatment.When Dr. Judd was confident that he had filed all of the sharp edges down, he checked one more time with his hands, and then we lifted Possum's head off of the stand and pulled off the specula and put his halter back on. While Dr. Judd cleaned his tools and packed them back up and brought them back to his truck, we kept an eye on Possum as he came out of his sedation. I had to take the scraps of hay out of the stall, as eating in that condition is unsafe for a horse. I finally ended up just tying him for a while in the stall, so he wouldn't be tempted to nibble. I invited Dr. Judd into the house to warm up his hands and write out the report and the bill, and he gave me instructions on what to watch for in the next 24 hours.
As predicted.. Possum came to just fine, and now he is a happy camper again!
Here's some pics from the last month and a half:
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| New Year's Day 2015 |
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| Hanging out in the barn during a snow storm |
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| Dr. Judd floating Possum's teeth |
