Floating A Horse

I was going to wait to post about this but since I brought it up in the last post, I'll go ahead. It's been bugging me anyway.

Long time ago (better than 'back in the day', eh?) I never had a horse floated, except for one filly, or heard of anyone doing so. Nowadays, there is a whole industry built around a horses' teeth.

There for a while, someone could go to a weekend clinic and then on Monday, hang out a shingle proclaiming themselves a horse dentist. Scary in my book! Then the vets got a bit ticked off that they were losing money to the so-called 'horse dentists' and things got tightened up. Rules were made.

Here's some articles about how to float a horse's teeth: http://www.ehow.com/how_2321918_float-horse-teeth.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art and http://www.frontrangefrenzy.com/horsecare/floatingteeth.html I'll let these articles explain how you float and then I'll get to why this has come about.

Used to be, horses were fed mainly off of a pasture, whether they were feral or kept up domestically. Hay/grass was the staple feed. Then people used them and the horse needed more engergy/fat or whatever to stay strong. So feeds were developed. Grains were used and even extruded feeds, like a dog food looking stuff. Horse's teeth kept growing but weren't worn down by the grass (which in all liklihood had sand grains in it) and became uneven.

With uneven teeth come all sorts of problems. The horse can't break down his feed and utilyze (sp??) it or even training problems. I heard of a story where a champion jumper was up for sale for next to nothing due to training problems. The potential buyer stuck her fingers up alongside the molars and came away with blood. The molars were so sharp they were cutting the horse! She bought him, brought him home, had his teeth floated and now he's a Grand Prix jumper! No training problems at all.

So, now, I'm more of a fan of floating than I've been in the past. Oh, about the filly that I mentioned above, she was dropping feed all over the place and I suggested to the owner about floating. It was done but she still dropped feed. We never did figure out what her problem was but she kept her weight and nothing ever changed about her. So, while floating is probably a good idea overall but sometimes it isn't the cure-all either. It is something to use if all else fails or if in a general checkup.

Ride safe, everyone!!