Chrome's Dental Work

Warning:  If you are squeamish about blood do not look at these pictures.  I didn't include any gruesome ones, but there is some blood.

The trip to the vet to get Chrome's teeth done was . . . eventful as usual.  I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I have a little trailer anxiety (okay a lot), so once I get him on the trailer I want to GO!  No waiting around.  It makes me crazy.  So while my husband hooked up to the trailer, checked the lights, checked the tires, etc. I brushed Chrome off.  Once my husband was ready we loaded up and left.  Not even ten minutes down the road a neighbor called and said Faran was out!!  I had considered putting him in the round pen because he gets upset when Chrome leaves, but so far he hasn't shown any inclination to get out.  So we turned around and went back home (way to waste half an hour!!!!) and he wasn't even out!!!!!!!  I don't know what our neighbor was thinking, but he was safely in the pasture so we locked him in the round pen just to be safe and left again.  Chrome was fine during all of this, even when Faran was neighing to him.

 

 

 When we got there the dentist wasn't there yet, but I was expecting that because I had been warned by a friend.  The receptionist called him and we waited while Chrome grazed.  He really didn't sweat a lot this time so hopefully he's getting more comfortable on the trailer.

 

 Chrome is such a chill boy.  :D

 Once the dentist arrived we went inside.  The receptionist who raised the garage door into the equine facilities was short I guess and didn't raise the door that high, so we both ducked (more than necessary lol) and my husband got a photo.  Our expressions are hilarious.  :D

 

 Then we spent some time exploring the facilities.

 

 So does he look Friesian or Arabian here?  I think he looks gorgeous!!  

The gray around his face accentuates his features (and makes him look old??).  

 He's so handsome.

 Checking out the drain.

 

 Waiting to go into the stocks.

Chrome was very reluctant to go into the stocks.  I guess considering the last time he was in one he had his swollen, painful hock probed (when he had a puncture wound) at the vet, so I can't really blame him.  I eventually backed him into them. 

 He kept his muzzle on my shoulder the whole time he was waiting on and getting his injection.

At this point my camera broke!!!  It said lens error or something so my husband used his cell phone to get the rest of the pictures.  Luckily once we got home and I messed with my camera, it is now working.  I have no idea what that was all about unless it just got bumped.  It's three years old and been through several falls (me falling or dropping it), so I guess I'm not really surprised.

All doped up and sleepy.

 Checking out the chompers.

 I helped put the speculum on (it was too small for him so he had to add leather to the headstall hehehe).

 And then he put the sling on to hold his head up.

 There is blood on his tongue because he had already pulled one of the front baby teeth/caps.

My husband couldn't really get a picture of his teeth with the cell phone and no light. I was surprised he actually had some really jagged points!  I didn't realize they could get that bad by the time a horse is three (everyone get your yearlings done!!!  It will save you having to get teeth pulled!).  Okay, they weren't that bad, just worse than I expected.  I got to feel them though which was cool.  :)  And they are all better now.  :D

This was after he rinsed his mouth out.  

It looks like Chrome is hung over and just puked (I'm joking of course I know horse's can't puke).  LOL!

 One of the vet tech's (who is not a horse person!) had a kitten and wanted her to meet Chrome.  I let her since he was sedated.  You can tell he was aware enough to look at it though.  Makes me wonder how much they are aware of when their teeth are being worked on . . . hopefully he will forget soon.

 Getting his gums injected so that his wolf teeth can be removed.  That was the only part that grossed me out.  He had to actually shove this tool up into the gums around the wolf tooth and then snapped it off.  Yuck!

 His two wolf teeth next to a quarter.  They are so tiny!

 After the extractions were done he floated his teeth.  Yeah he used a power drill.  I looked for months and just can not find someone in my area who uses a hand float.  :(  He did a good job though I think. 

 

Chrome's teeth.

I didn't get any pictures once we got home.  I was a little worried because Zeppelin was acting really weird toward him.  Every time he's been to the vet (especially after sedation) Zep has acted semi-aggressively toward him.  I didn't separate them this time, but watched them closely.  Zep chased Chrome (yes I was shocked too!!!) around a little and then they started grazing.  I think Zeppelin's hormones are kicking in . . . I really need to get him gelded (and get his hooves done while he's sedated), but money is so tight right now with my husband in school and only me working.  That's not even counting the $500 of work my dang car is getting done right now.  :(  We will figure it out though.

So anyway, Chrome did fantastic!! I'm happy with the job the dentist did.  I really had fun helping him.  It reminded me of working at the vet clinic a few years ago.  I miss that soooo much!!  Anyway I'll update tomorrow.  :D

Open Wide

I almost forgot!!  My equine dentist finally called me back and we scheduled Chrome to get his baby teeth pulled.  He gets it done . . . TOMORROW!!!  Now I'm nervous!  I'm glad I remembered though.  :D  I'll post picture/video/update tomorrow when we get home.  Keep your fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.

We got our brush hog working! Video.

Even in a dorky picture he's still adorable!  Look at that tongue!

Just wanted to share a video with you of my husband brush hogging the pasture.  I don't remember if I mentioned that a brush hog came with the tractor we bought, but it was broken.  He fixed it and now we can keep the pasture cut.  Being able to cut the pasture as needed is going to save us a ton of money and help us get ahead of the weeds (there are blackberry patches, thorn trees and briars that we want to kill out).  Here's the video.



 

Here are some more pictures of my adorable Chrome!

 

 

 Playing peek-a-boo around the tree!

Only 20 days to go until I get to ride Chrome!!

The Uncatchable 257

 See her brand (and name with the embryo transfer company)?

Many equine bloggers followed Andrea and Gogo on their blog Eventing-A-Gogo, but for those who didn't or for those of you who may not know she has another blog called Project Runaway: The Uncatchable 257 about a beautiful bay mare of unknown origin who is being used as a mishandled uterus.  All they know about her is that she had come from an embryo transfer program, and was carrying the foal of a recently deceased mare.  The good news is that now that she's had her foal she is up for sale for $1000.

If she's not bought, she will continue to be used as an embryo transfer mare.  The only time they handle the mares is to give vaccinations and perform other medical procedures.  She was extremely mistrustful of humans and Andrea gained her trust!  Now Andrea wants to give her the ultimate gift . . . a forever home.  At the urgings of her readers she has asked for donations for help in the purchase of "Bay Girl".  If you would like to help see this post (http://uncatchablenumber257.blogspot.com/2012/04/bay-girls-origins.html?showComment=1335403991175#c6282157816083708584) to donate.  I also encourage you to read about all of their progress together here (http://uncatchablenumber257.blogspot.com)!

Hobby Horse Blog Hop #9

Here are the rules: Answer one or all of the prompts. Link back to Living a Dream's post. Visit other blogs. And don't forget to ask a question of everyone else!

1. Tell us a bit about your feelings or experiences regarding musicals. Do you like them? Have you been in one? What recollections might you have about musicals? I like watching musicals (only seen them on T.V., never in person), but I've never been in one because I can't sing lol.

2. Tell about a near miss or a fall (horseback related) that was simply stupid. Stupid on my part or the horse's?  LOL.  I've been riding since I was five so there are plenty to choose from, but my mind is blank on what caused most of them.  There is one that was caused by a horse's irrational fear, but was probably caused by a humans poor or lack of training.  I was riding a horse for a friend and it was going really well.  He was a fun horse to ride.  Suddenly I reached up with my right hand to brush my hair back and he started spinning in circles.  I was caught completely off guard and fell under his feet, but luckily he didn't step on me.  The best I could come up with is that he was trained completely one sided and wasn't used to things moving on his right side or perhaps he had been hit in the face before with someone's right hand.  Either way it was sad for him and scary for me.  In fact he was the first horse who ever scared me (I was a teenager, around sixteen or seventeen I think) because of his unpredictability and I never rode him again.  :(  I still love on him from the ground though. 

3. What song (or part of a song) defines an event in your week? Um I have no idea!!  I'm no good at remembering song names, singers or lyrics off the top of my head and I'm too tired to try to find something lol.

Now my question . . .

You know how little girls sometimes think of names for their future kids?  Do you do that with future pets?  If so, what is the name you have picked out or your next horse or dog (or whatever kind of pet lol)?

Chrome's Monthly Progress Report

Date: 4-19-12
Age: 2 Years & 11 Months (35 Months)
Height: 15.1¾hh (technically 13/16 so a little over three quarters)
Height Gain: He gained a quarter of an inch! Maybe he can make it to 15.2hh by the time he's three (which is a month away yay!!!)!
Weight: His heart girth measurement is 70 and his length measurement is 72, so according to the Equine Weight Calculator he weighs 1069lbs.
Weight Gain: He's gained thirty pounds! I knew he would because of the spring grass. They aren't even getting any hay, oats or beet pulp. Just grass and Enrich 32. Fatty needs some exercise lol.

Progress: Um, I haven't done anything with him except brush him, feed him, scratch his itchies and hug him. Oops. :D

Goals: I HAVE to do his hooves. I would also like to work on the mounting block and do some clicker training. I also want to do his exercises and stretches again. We shall see how that goes. I've been so busy with work, preparing for the yard sale and getting the gardens planted that I just haven't felt like doing anything. Heck I worked for ten hours straight in the yard on Monday! He's lucky he even got fed (just kidding) lol.

The exciting part is there is exactly one month to go before I get to ride him!!!!!! My friend's schedule changed so his party is back on for the nineteenth. I'm so happy.

4-19-2010

This is the best picture I could find from April 2010.

4-19-2011

Not one of the best conformation shots I've ever gotten lol!

4-19-2012

My husband was using a bag of dog treats trying to get ears forward. Wasn't working lol.

Here are some more pictures. We were having a lot of trouble getting lively, pretty pictures. I think Chrome has grown bored of this whole routine lol. He's been doing this every month for most of his life, so now he just stands there with this bored, unhappy look on his face until I get done with pictures. I really need to teach him an ears forward cue and how to ground tie reliably to get better pictures lol. I still think he's adorable regardless of how bad the pictures are. He looks really butt high and awkward in some of them. I think he's definitely in a growth spurt!

The lighting was off in this one, but too cute not to include.

The bloopers . . .

Actually this one was pretty good. He was sniffing some balloons that blew into the yard the other day.

He does NOT look impressed lol.

A little behind the vertical? Hehe. He was sniffing the balloons here again.

Well, that's all for today!