Believe me... Nugget McKuster is a gift horse, given to us by the Great Spirit. And no we didn't look him in the mouth when we bought him. He is a wonderful, handsome thousand pound pet and a gorgeous ride. But there are some Friday afternoons, from time to time that Nugget will go on a binge. This past Friday we found Nugget in the above condition and had to prop him up just a bit.
Yep, that is our Nugget. Please don't tell Kittee you ever saw Nugget in this condition. She is so embarrassed when we have to prop him up...
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Friday morning we had Dr. Sarah Metcalf -equine dentist- pull into the ranch once again. This year Nugget was to show the results of his three year dental plan to correct his overcrowding teeth situtation, short of applying braces.
Dr. Sarah comes fully equipped and ready for a day's work when she get here. This day we were just going to have her work on our geldings. Dr. Sarah keeps a very busy schedule in the Pacific Northwest, with her day's work here and after being on the road for awhile she was ready to head her Idaho home.It has been a joy to have the opportunity to get to know and work with Dr. Sarah over the past three years. It is great to have such a kind, gentle, knowledgeable person to help us with our horses. She brightens our day each time she comes to McKuster Ranch. Again we are thankful for the wonderful horsey folks that have come into our lives.
Below you will see the progression of work she has done on Nugget over the past three years of correcting his dental situation of too many teeth for a horse. If you are interested in seeing the work done with Nugget with more detail visit our dental clinics webpage.
Anyway, here is a quick view of our horses' trip to the dentist office...
A shot of Nugget's smile in 2005 - this condition of too many teeth was on the way of creating tooth decay and a major lost of his lower incisors at an early age.
A shot of Nugget's smile in 2006 - here all of Nugget's lower incisors were shaping up nicely, but he had one more large overlapping tooth to remove.
A shot of Nugget's smile in 2007 - this year his teeth were all beginning to line up nicely, with no more extractions needed. He also has a much sweeter horsey breath than in 2005.
Some of the routine dental work done on most of our geldings, and the mares will get their turn in the spring.
Checking Nugget's records of past work done, maintenance
work to be continued.The upper molar arcade - here you might notice on the outside of this row of teeth there are some points... very sharp points that are to be "floated" smooth. These point do create cheek sore as they are quite sharp.
Mechanical floating - with an adaptive drill, Dr. Sarah grinds the molars to reduce Nugget's likelihood of developing cheek sores and to shape a better chewing surface of his teeth.
Manual floating - same as the mechanical floating but by hand just doing the fine tune work.
This is how you will see most equine vet float a horses teeth.
Finishing touches - to help set Nugget's bite a little closer for better chewing, food consumption.
Yep, it would probably had made no difference in where Nugget calls home, if we had looked this gift horse in the mouth.
After the work is done, everyone has a little difficulty (like a drunk sailor) in walking around so before going to the round pen for a couple of hours of recoup, they get to stand around the hitching rail to start sobering up. Here is Justice in a most relaxed state of mind.
Attached below is a short video (7 seconds) of reducing the canine teeth that gelding will develop. Nugget is now 7 years old and this year his canine teeth showed up.Friday was a beautiful autumn day and after everyone made their dental work recovery, everyone had a jolly ole time just relaxing in the sunshine and munching on alfalfa hay for the rest of the day. No one had to go back to work after making their dentist's office visit.
A day in the life at McKuster Ranch --- Dale
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