I just got back from the barn. The equine dentist came to float Penny's teeth this morning. This has to be done once a year. Horses have teeth that continue to push up from inside their jaw. They grind them down when they chew hay, grass, or their grain. Eventually, when a horse gets very old, the teeth are all used up and just wear down more and more. Nowadays, with excellent veterinary care, horses are living longer, and they outlive their teeth. This is the case of a horse at the barn named Willy who is over 30 years old. But the dentist said Penny's teeth are in amazing shape for a horse her age -- 23 -- so that won't be a problem for many years. The dentist comes to grind down rough, uneven surfaces that can develop and cut the sides of a horse's mouth. The teeth, tops and bottoms, never meet exactly evenly, so in the course of the grinding action of chewing food, a horse wears one side of the tooth and the other sticks up in a point. Those points have to be taken care of so the horse can continue to be comfortable eating.
To get a horse to cooperate with dental work can be tricky, so they give the horse a shot of a sedative. This makes Penny wobbly standing, but still, when the equine dentist starts to work, Penny wakes up and feebly resists. After it's over, she is still groggy, so I put her in a stall. I had to remove armloads of hay so she wouldn't eat any before she totally woke up. A horse can get careless about chewing and choke while they are still groggy, so you don't feed them till they're alert again. The sedative makes Penny break out in a sweat when she's waking up so I hosed her off. It's a really hot day, and the dentist said that was a good idea to bring her temperature down. I think it also made her completely alert faster, too. Or maybe it just seemed that way because I was busy washing her instead of standing around waiting for her to wake up. On hot days like this, Penny always appreciates a bath. I accidentally sprayed some water on myself in the process, and I wasn't too unhappy about that, either. It felt good.
While I was waiting for Penny to wake up enough to give her a bath, the barn owner came to the barn. I showed her my progress with her horses, what I've been doing with the carrots. Flame was more cautious about the carrot bag beside his face and wasn't too keen on letting me pet him. I think it was because the barn owner was there, and maybe he thought we'd catch him and ride him. So it was good for her to be there while I just petted them and fed them carrots. I did this while Penny was reviving in the stall before her bath.
Just a little while ago, it rained for a few minutes, but it's still just as hot and humid as before. I'm getting sick of the heat, but what can I expect in July?