A First Time For Everything....

I can safely say that yesterday afternoon, I did something I have never done before.....

I made what I THOUGHT (and told my lovely wife) was a short trip over to talk to Emery, and to give him a couple of straps back that we used to hold some things down on the trip home from the auction.

When I drove in his driveway, the first thing I noticed was an extra buggy by the barn, and one of Emery's Arabian horses standing in the doorway of his old barn. I parked the truck, and went over to see what was going on.

I got to within about 30 feet before Emery saw me, and hollered "DENTIST!"

Lucky for him, he was talking about the horses, not a "people" dentist.

They were just putting the McPherson Mouth Speculum on the horse. I've watched this being done a couple of times, so I knew what to expect, but it is still a nifty operation. If you're not sure what a McPherson Speculum is - it is a ratcheting "spreader" that holds the horse's mouth open so someone can SAFELY work inside the horse's mouth.

It this case, the horse's teeth needed filing down - or "floated". Emery keeps a good watch on his animals, so he could tell when his horses needed dental work done.  It's not real often, but when they start driving odd, or eating funny, it's time to have it done.

The man who came by to do the work, lives about 9 miles away, and does a lot of work around the area. He also does farrier work, along with it.

Well, like I said, I had WATCHED this being done, and knew some of the process and tools, but I had never actually DONE any of it. I watched for awhile, helped hold the horse, and then asked if I could try it. The "dentist" told me to stick my hand in the horse's mouth, along side his, and feel what he was doing. It took all of about 2.385 seconds to feel what the problem was - the horse had some pretty sharp teeth back there!

He told me how to use the float, then let me have a "go" at it. I only used it for about a minute, but I could tell - and I FELT afterwords - that it was doing some good. I was impressed by the fact that this horse walked TOWARD me while I was doing it, instead of away. It was as if he KNEW he'd feel better after his teeth were done.

At any rate, I had my minute of fun, then turned it back over to the expert. I did feel around in the horse's mouth a bit after that, just to see the difference in his teeth.

I'm sure glad I stopped by at the right time, otherwise I would have always wondered how it was done, and what the inside of a horse's mouth felt like! It seems like I learn something new, every time I visit one of my Amish neighbors.

Gonna have to visit more often....