This Is Your Horse on Drugs

In this picture, poor Maggie is staggering. Why, you may ask? Because the vet came today to administer her annual shots and I suggested that maybe her teeth needed floating. Several things conspired to make this a less than pleasant visit...
First, allow me to introduce the uninitiated into the mysteries of horse dental practice, called "floating". Horses teeth, housed in a seriously long and strong jaw, wear unevenly and cause the horse to chew their food poorly and not be able to digest all that nice hay and grass and grain thoroughly. They also suffer from cuts to the inside of their mouths from sharp points that form on their teeth. It makes the bit of a bridle feel less than comfortable, too. So the vet brings files and rasps and pries the horses jaw open, pull their tongue to one side and file away. It sounds sort of awful and it's not for the feint of heart to witness, but it is "good" for them in the long run. (It is, quite simply, one of the many reasons that horses in the wild live much shorter lives than domesticated horses.) But some horses want none of it. Mine proved to be one of these.

My typically low-key horse decided that the attentions of a vet- who didn't exactly introduce himself in a warm and fuzzy manner- were most unwelcome. And I will add the worst thing was that they sent a different vet than the one who usually comes and whom I requested, so this guy was a stranger to her and me. Maggie put on quite the display of Black Stallion-like antics, rearing and striking the air with her front hooves and circling frantically at the end of her lead line and generally becoming very agitated. The vet kept saying to me, "Just hold her really tight." I was like, "Yeah, sure" as I was pulled into the air. And mind you, this was to just administer the shots, not even float her teeth! He finally got the needle into her and she probably thought the worst was behind her but no! This lunatic was trying to grab her nose and look into her mouth! Now she was REALLY upset.
I confess I didn't really know what to do as Maggie was wound up and possibly dangerous (as horses tend to be while terrified), so when the vet offered two scenarios, I was torn. One was that he leave and return at some future date, when we'd probably encounter the same situation all over again (and he'd charge me another $100 for a house call), or two that he drug her. I admit to not liking the idea one bit, but realized that she needed her teeth done and she was utterly distressed; why put her through that again?

 So she got another needle- no easy feat that! and in like two minutes her head was drooping and she was sedated enough to float. The vet's assistant and I had to hold Maggie's head up so that he could proceed and let me assure you that a horse's head is really heavy. But it got done...
I feel badly in hindsight that poor Maggie had such a hard time. I know from past vet visits that she's not wild about "procedures", but I also think this vet was not a charming guy. Put bluntly, I didn't like him much. On the other hand, there are only a couple of horse vets in the area. Next time, I'll make sure it's his partner that comes out!
He did have one interesting thing to say though. When he was feeling Maggie's throat, trying to locate a vein, he felt this peculiar dent that Maggie has on her neck. Typically, it's under her mane so that you don't see it. He said, "Oh, she has The Prophet's Thumb". You can google this to see the whole story, but legend has it that the Prophet Muhammadselected five mares that had proven especially loyal to him and he "blessed" them with this indent (his thumbprint). Supposedly, the horses thus marked are especially swift and intelligent and just plain special. My Maggie! They're also supposed to have good luck, but I guess her luck ran out today.
And here's Jules, being jealous of the attention that Maggie got. He didn't realize he was the lucky one, stuck in the house but not requiring the services of a veterinarian!