Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466 
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Post by Terry on Jan 18, 2015 16:03:42 GMT
I used to have an equine dentist who came to my barn to power float my horses. He always did a wonderful job. He had a stand that the horse's head rested on, and an assistant that held the horse during the procedure, so all I had to do was watch. A vet had to come with him to administer the tranq and, unfortunately my vet's office didn't want to cooperate since they did teeth, too, so we always had to round up another nearby vet to come out with the dentist. It eventually became too much of a hassle, so I just started having my vet's office do my horses' teeth.
Now when my vet comes out to do the power floats, she has a sling type thing that holds the horse's head, with a rope that she tosses up over the rafters in the barn and then ties off to keep it in place, and I hold the horse. Zena's floats always go very smoothly. The vet sedates her, floats her teeth, and we walk her back into her stall when we're done, where she can safely wait for the tranq to wear off, which rarely takes long, maybe an hour at most. Sis is always more difficult. Sis freaks out about getting her teeth floated and, even sedated she pulls back and tries to run away, so the vet always has to give her more sedative than normal (and she still fights it). Usually the vet will give her a normal amount of sedative at first, and then once she gets started and Sis starts struggling, then she gives her a little more sedative. This last time was scary, though. She gave her all the sedative right off the bat, and I could barely keep Sis standing. Her knees kept buckling, and she kept wanting to go down. I really had to struggle to keep Sis up, but once the vet started the float, Sis perked right up and immediately started struggling to get away. Once it's all done, it usually takes both me and the vet to get Sis into her stall because she's very wobbly. Once she's in her stall, then she's fine and she stays in there until the sedative wears off. I hate teeth floating day. It's always very stressful.
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mistersmom
Junior Member
Abita Springs, LA
Posts: 3,749
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Post by mistersmom on Jan 18, 2015 16:44:15 GMT
See my vet doesn't use anything to keep the horses head up. Sometimes he will have his assistant be sort of a stand and rest the horse's head on his shoulders but usually he just gets down on the ground and does the power float from there. I've heard that those stands and tying the horses head up can cause problems in the horse's neck and/or poll.
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Post by carshon on Jan 18, 2015 17:26:55 GMT
Equus has a great article on beet pulp this month
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Post by diamondgirl on Jan 18, 2015 17:30:16 GMT
It was the same way with Stormy, as it was with Sis. He was just supposed to lower his head, but his knees buckled, and he dropped like a rock. He was able to get back up, but he couldn't keep his balance. His legs would get crossed and he would start to fall. I was so afraid he would get hurt.
She didn't have anything to help hold his head up, so her helper and I had to keep his nose off the ground. It was crazy I got my foot stepped on, and had no way to get him off, because he was so out of it, I couldn't move him. I felt something pop, and it is a little black and blue, but not really swollen anymore, so I am sure it's fine.
Right now I am so stiff, and sore, from our wrestling match, and I am sure he must be stiff, and sore too. His legs were sprawled way out to the side at times, then crossed at others. He would even end up with his hooves rolled over and standing on the fronts of his ankles at times. He has to be hurting.
The other thing that scared me was his breathing. He seemed to be having so much trouble, but the vet said that was normal. I guess it might be hard to breath with your nose mashed into the dirt.
I am stuck with a dilemma. The other vet will float teeth, but the horse has to be brought to them. That would be ok for Stormy and Chief, but Diamond is so reactive, I am afraid of someone getting hurt.
I would like to build something here, to get this done as easy as possible. I was thinking about two posts and a sling. I could use a heavy duty come along to make adjustments for height. There is an old cattle chute already here, that was used for working cattle. It actually has an old pulley system on it. I would have to re-build the sides, but the posts are hedge, and they never get rotten. I want to leave the old chute, simply for the historic value of it, but if I could use it too, that would be great. I don't want to take any chances of them going down, and maybe getting stuck in something, so I will have to think this through. I just think if I could work with them, and not have this as a scary place, maybe we could have a workable, safe, and historic, option to trying to manually hold up a horse, so they can have their dental work done.
I'll try to get a picture of what I am talking about. |
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Post by lorddaxter on Jan 18, 2015 17:41:03 GMT
See my vet doesn't use anything to keep the horses head up. Sometimes he will have his assistant be sort of a stand and rest the horse's head on his shoulders but usually he just gets down on the ground and does the power float from there. I've heard that those stands and tying the horses head up can cause problems in the horse's neck and/or poll. The last vet I used did this, she was recommended by the horse osteopath who said tying the heads up causes a lot of damage |
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Post by diamondgirl on Jan 18, 2015 18:56:33 GMT
I suppose it would have been a lot easier, if Stormy wouldn't have been falling over all the time. This morning the swelling on his cheek is much better, but his upper lip is still swollen. Poor thing. He almost looks like he has an overbite. I finally got him talked into letting me look in his mouth. He has a cut on the inside of his upper lip. At one time he fell nose first onto the ground. I think he must have driven his teeth into his lip when he did that.
There just has to be a better way than this. I guess this whole problem could be the fact that he was over sedated.
I will need to have Chief and Diamond done this spring. I am just going to have her come here. That way they will be more calm, and can wake up slowly in a place where they feel safe. I never want to haul a sleepy horse again. He didn't get hurt, but it could have been bad. Especially if he would have gone down in the trailer. It was a cruel lesson, and we won't be doing that again.
I know you never want to haul a sleepy horse, but it was getting dark and cold, and I wanted to get him home before it got completely dark, so I could have my daughter drive close behind the trailer and keep a close eye on him. Plus I wanted to drive very slowly, and she kept the other cars off my back side. |
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Post by horselady on Jan 18, 2015 20:02:14 GMT
Hay cubes are great to keep around just in case you need to feed them something extra like perhaps now. and i just soak in hot water and let sit for a long time. i use a 3 gallon water bucket and put some handfulls in there and as much water to cause them to float. i make the batch the morning before i feed so they are soaking for hours. and at night i let the batch soak for morning feed. this just works for me. ( this is all trial and error and consider it a learning experience. yes you can give a mid day meal or again late at night instead of 3 meals closer together and than a long time between meals. allow him to eat the hay and you will notice if he is getting better. also did the vet give a tetnaus shot?? he will and should have gotten one. Hope he is feeling better as every day goes by. and carrots are a good treat.
My vet uses nothing except a mouth guard to keep the mouth open and goes at it. all done within 10-15 minutes and that is from the first exam . shots. and walking to a stall. apparently your vet was more thinking of her daughter and kinda lost track of her job at hand.
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Post by Shelly on Jan 19, 2015 4:36:51 GMT
OH wow I didn't realize you didn't have him done at home! That probably didn't help his situation at all with all the extra stress of being away. I hope he is feeling better!! Poor boy, I would definitely wait until the vet can come out to you for the others.
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Post by horselover4life on Jan 19, 2015 19:33:52 GMT
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Post by diamondgirl on Jan 19, 2015 22:45:22 GMT
Stormy seems to be feeling better, and is eating a lot faster than he was. He should be up to date on his tetanus. I leave it up to the vet, but I remember him recommending tetanus.
Thank you for the picture of the stocks. I will try to get a picture of what I already have. If fact I will just run out ant do that right now and get back on in a little bit.  |
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Post by horselover4life on Jan 19, 2015 23:15:43 GMT
Even without a photo....if you have them "good for you"!
Much safer for you to handle Stormy under stressful conditions of vet or farrier, injury or illness protected by them...or any of your horses for that matter 
Maybe a alteration of adding the front section as that link showed to secure the head at a particular level if needed such as for dental work once sedation has been achieved.
Just a thought...
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Post by diamondgirl on Jan 20, 2015 1:44:32 GMT
Here is a picture of what I already have. It will require a lot of work, and all new lumber, but I would like to leave it up, because it was a part of the farm before it became run down.
This will give me a project to work on. Sometimes when I look as the big picture, I get so overwhelmed I can't even get started, but if I have a goal, maybe that will give me a place to start, and I will get going again.
When cattle were being raised here this was used to medicate and load the cattle. It is in bad shape, but I want to clean it up. I have had to remove so much of the history of this farm because it was in shambles. Sadly this was what was left of the welding shed. 
And once upon a time this was a big useful barn. 
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Post by diamondgirl on Jan 20, 2015 1:52:26 GMT
I am working on things. I have carefully removing the old barn wood, and stacking it in the garage. Some day I want to use it in the den.
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Post by horselover4life on Jan 20, 2015 1:55:44 GMT
Will need some renovation for sure.
It makes me think cow not horse though with the walk under overhead bars...
Because of the length of the entire thing maybe more like a cow loading chute to get the cows on to the truck heading for the sale....
If there are gate divisions then you definitely would have cow stocks!
Certainly has a history and worth keeping if possible.
Down here by me they use what you have with the end being elevated to load easier onto the shipping trucks.
They do have these though out on some of the larger ranges where they round-up, brand and give inoculations to the livestock as they run them through....and for the boys they do snip-snip then turn them loose with the herd not worrying anymore about hormones getting in the way of a peaceful herd as they get older.
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Post by horselover4life on Jan 20, 2015 1:57:28 GMT
The pictures of your place show a lifetime of work being done....priceless.
I too would want to preserve as much as possible same as you....
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Post by diamondgirl on Jan 20, 2015 4:09:36 GMT
It does have an elevated chute at the end. I a trying to get a picture to load. It no longer has a floor, but I do want to leave the sides, with the old wood. It has all had Thompsons water seal, but even that can't stop time. I can't tell you how much it thrills me, to hear from folks who have the same idea about preserving what you can, that I do. A couple of people have offered to help me set the whole thing on fire to get it off the land. Here I am sad that I don't have the ability to rebuild what has been lost to neglect.
Here it is. 
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