Equine Services

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Vaccination Packages
These packages include a set of vaccinations and a wellness exam that your horse needs yearly:

Package A is recommended for horses that are not traveling to shows or trail rides (backyard horses); horses that are staying on location and are not in contact with a lot of outside horses.

Package B is recommended for traveling horses. Horses that are in rodeos, shows, trail rides and are moving off the farm and coming back.

Dentistry with upscale pneumatic equine dental equipment - Unlike human teeth, a horse’s teeth continue to grow throughout their lifetime. Horses chew their food with a lateral grinding motion. This motion can leave points on the outside of the upper molars and the inside of the lower molars. These sharp points can cause soft tissue damage to the inside of the horse’s cheeks. This damage can result in an uncomfortable horse reducing feed intake and performance. The goal of equine dentistry is to reduce the points to the level where the horse retains optimum shearing and grinding efficiency, but has no soft tissue damage or pain.

Floating a horse’s teeth has come a long way since the days of hand floating. Today’s pneumatic dental equipment is the latest in equine dentistry. Our dental floats have carbide cutting tips that work off of an air compressor to provide exact grinding of points and a 10 degree angle of the chewing surface. The horse is sedated and remains standing during the procedure. A leather halter with a large metal nose ring is fitted onto the horse so we are able to position the horse’s head while they are sedated.

Once the dental halter is on the horse, then a mouth speculum is placed in the horse’s mouth to hold the horse’s mouth open during the dental procedure. The mouth is rinsed with warm water to remove any feed debris remaining in the horse’s mouth.

The dental takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes to perform. During this time the points on the upper and lower molars are taken off and a bit seat is placed on the second upper and lower premolar teeth. A bit seat is the rounding of the second upper and lower premolar teeth. This rounding of the tooth prevents the bit from pinching the tongue between the tooth and bit. Also at this time any wolf teeth that are retained may be removed. A wolf tooth is a smaller tooth in front of the premolar teeth. By removing the wolf tooth it gives the mouth more room for the bit and also prevents pinching of the bit and tongue.

The finished surface of the upper molars. Note the smoother surface and the rounded edge of the 2nd premolar tooth for the bit seat. No wolf teeth were present in this horse.

Most horses should have their first dental exam at 2 years of age to check for points and wolf teeth. After that it should be a yearly exam. As a horse ages its teeth become harder and the points usually develop faster as a horse ages. Some signs of Dental Disease include:

1. Dropping of grain and unchewed grain left in feed box.
2. Excessive salivation with bit and fighting the bit.
3. Weight loss and poor condition.