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The Equine Practice, Inc September E-Letter

The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.There are two parts to this month's E-Letter.  The first part may be a little painful as you hear about two horses subjected to the trauma of today's new style equine dentistry.  The second part towards the end offers a solution.  Here is a hint - $95 for a horse float offered by The Equine Practice, Inc.  Read on....

    Many of you have heard from me that I turned off my TV.  That's right!  I found out about Michael Jackson two days after he died.  But even with no news in my life I have understood that the economy has an effect on everyone.  But no one has told the horse!  He keeps eating and growing hoof and tooth.

    The reports of abandoned horses or someone sneaking in at night to butcher a horse in the owner's back yard have made spectacular news stories.  Rescue operations have sprung up like weeds everywhere.  But again, the horse keeps eating and growing hoof and tooth.

    Fewer horse owners are calling me as well as all the other professionals that I talk to.  No surprise here in Florida.  It's too hot to do anything and it is normally a slow time of year.  But something has kept gnawing at me and that is this.  Are people just not floating their horse's teeth or are they using someone less expensive?

    Horse owners are actually doing both.  I don't have time for the stories about the horses that waited longer than they should. I can summarize them by saying that they are all eating better now and gaining their weight back.

    Yesterday, one owner who owns a 22 year old horse called me asking forgiveness.  She said, "I am so sorry Geoff but I thought with my pocketbook last June and not with what you have told me in the past." (Keep reading for the $95 part)

    She went on to say that she had received an offer from a local veterinary office offering dental care from a veterinarian who had been asked to come into the area as a blitz campaign for dentistry.  Even I received one of the offers in my inbox!  The picture showed a heavily sedated horse with it's head hanging in the background.  It's mouth was jacked wide open.  The veterinarian had, well this is my interpretation, a look of glee as he presented for the camera a tooth that he had extracted.  The picture was so horrible that several of my clients sent me the same e-mail offer complaining of the horror this man was presenting.

    I have seen these things before and knew that my profession has embraced this severe lack of horsemanship or, as I call it, the auto mechanic's approach to horses.  But I have presented my case against it to all my clients and felt secure knowing that they would not cross over to the dark side.

    I was wrong.  The cost for this terrorist attack on the horse was $120.  And my client said she could save $60.  Please keep in mind that this is a 22 year old horse showing no dental problems that has had routine dental care for years.

    My client has promised to write in her own words what happened and the time line along with it.  She wants the world to know the evilness in over drugging and hanging the head.  But in a nutshell, the horse was suspended for 1 hour while he did his thing.  This owner asked him to stop 10 times.  After the last plea, he turned to her and said, "I haven't lost one yet."

    Don't worry folks, the horse is still alive.  And as long as he has 2 grams of bute morning and night, he can lower his head to eat grass.  The water consumption is down about 50% too.  A vet exam showed that he could no longer flex his neck in one direction and there is no way you can approach his head to open the mouth now.

    And to think that I have been able to open his mouth and float every tooth to the last one without drugs for many years.

    It is time for me to let the world know that these procedures are no longer acceptable.  The courage of my client to report this and to add her name to it  is commendable.  But she isn't the only one.  Wait, there's more!

    Last week there was a report of a compounding error in the drug yohimbine.  This drug is commonly used to UN-sedate the over-sedated horse.  It is reported that 4 horses have died from this compounded drug.  This is bad enough, but the question arises - why on earth is a horse given so much drug that it needs another drug to reverse the first?  Yet this is SOP for the new auto mechanic dentists.  One vet in the forum says he "uses yohimbine like water."

    I posted the yohimbine story on my blog last Sunday and I was quickly responded to by an owner from North Carolina that his 10 year old Morgan was one of the horses that had died.  He confirmed it was the yohimbine from this compounding manufacturer.  Another tragedy.  He is also writing me a detailed story to post.

    So my question is this, just how much are you saving?  But wait, you say, I don't have the money.  OK OK, I hear you.  Listen, I can't physically do every horse.  BUT I HAVE SOME GREAT NEWS! (this is part 2)

    I am fighting back with you. If I believe that my way of floating horse teeth is the best way, why not teach it and get some other strong horsemen out there doing it the right way.  I have found another man who is a 3rd generation horseman and dentist who wants to apprentice with me and help everyone out in the area.  His uncle wrote in 1984 an exceptional book called "Sound Mouth - Sound Horse, The Gager Method Of Equine Dental Care".  The philosophy behind the approach to dentistry is similar to mine.  This is what Brandon Gager brings to The Equine Practice.

    For the next several months, Brandon will travel with me perfecting his floating skills.  In between this, he will be making himself available to a limited local Florida area to float your horse for only $95.  You will receive the same level of care and completeness I offer to you now.  Click the link to find out the areas we are starting with. If you are in the select areas, download the poster and place it where other people can find out about this.

    After he completes his apprenticeship, I will take on more apprentices and they will also learn horsemanship skills, people skills, work ethic, integrity, and equine dental skills you have come to expect of me.  

My goal is to bring Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ to every part of the world so that horse owners will no longer be forced to submit their horses to the tragedies I hear every week.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.