After Dustry’s dental work he needed a few days off for his gums to heal and any swelling to disperse. 4-5 days R&R were prescribed so he was in for an easy time over xmas. Dustry however had other plans! He is a total workaholic and if you give him more than a few days off he seems to have a talent for getting into trouble. On Dec 23rd after just 2 days off he managed to knock his whole door (including weave grill) off its hinges! He must have done this in the early evening, and then once loose on the yard proceeded straight to the internal block to pester the horses in there all night and steal their haynets! For 3 days over xmas he had to camp out in one of these empty internal boxes until the shops were open again for me to go and buy super big bolts to fix his door! Whilst in his ‘holiday home’ the mischief continued as he managed to bite one neighbour and rip another’s stable rug – Naughty Dustry!

Finally back in his own box, time off was over and now back in work he feels better than ever. He just loves to work, and I swear when I tacked him up again after his mini break there was a little smile on his face! We are off for a lesson tomorrow, and hoping that now *fingers crossed* all his dental issues have been resolved we can really crack on with his jumping education and get out and about competing, with our new year’s aim being to be competing at BE by the end of this season.

Good luck to everyone with your horsey new year plans, here’s to a MEGA 2012! *raises a glass* *hic*

Today I took Dustry to have his dental work, and what was suspected additional bone spurs or wolf teeth turned out to be wolf teeth! A year and a half ago Dustry had bone spurs (probably caused during his racing days by harsh use of a chifney) removed from his upper jaw (click here to read that blog entry) and every 6 months he has his teeth checked and rasped, this time the EDT detected something where the bones spurs used to be which needed further investigation. Today we drove to renowned EDT and dental expert Bob Livock to have them removed. On inspection it seems that the initial bone spurs had prevented his wolf teeth from dropping down and through the gum, and it has taken all this time (a year and a half) for them to come out! After a sedative and painkiller from the vet Bob removed the wolf teeth and also 2 small baby teeth from his lower jaw which should have fallen out of their own accord by now, but hadn’t. I was surprised by how small the wolf teeth were (approx 0.5cm long) but also when I felt inside his mouth prior to them being removed how flexible they were when you touched them!

Because the treatment was less intrusive than his previous bone spur removal he will only need to have a few days off to recover, as the small holes should heal quickly. Hopefully this will be the end of the invasive dental treatment he will need and everything should just be routine rasping from now on. It’s so crucial to have regular dental check ups for your horse. For more info on wolf teeth and what they are click here

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have your horse’s teeth regularly checked. As a rule I have my horses’ teeth checked and treated every 6 months (every 12 months when they are older/retired) On Dustry’s first dentist check they discovered that he had bone spurs on his upper jaw, these were removed and once the gums were healed he was brought back into work. He had another 6 month check today and sadly it seems either the initial bone spurs were holding back wolf teeth which are now trying to come down, or there were more bones spurs behind the initial ones. So off to the dentist again asap to get his toothy pegs top notch.

On the bright side the weather is awful atm so the perfect time to give him a few weeks off to recover, and I’m sure he will be more comfortable after the treatment, although there has been no sign of any discomfort from him but I’m sure he will be happier, and I definitely will be knowing his teeth are perfect. If like me the inside of a horse’s mouth is a bit of a mystery to you I have added in this diagram.

As you know I’m a keen money saver and am always trawling the web to find the best deal, because you can save so much money if you do a little ’savvy shopping’. One of my online faves for good horsey deals and offers is the Equine.co.uk facebook page. Atm they have a great discount code GFE50 which gives you 50% OFF Turf Legends clothing. Turf Legends (as the name might give it away!) do racing inspired clothing and replica racing colours shirts. I love these 2, Rooster Booster and Red Rum coloured shirts!

These are a great gift idea for a racing enthusiast or equestrian fashion fanatic, and with 50% off a total bargain too!

In order to try and ‘correct’ Dustry’s thoroughbred conformation (thin neck, natural tendency to try and balance by hollowing his neck) I have to always keep in mind when working him ‘fat neck, bouncy neck’ when I look down, between my reins I need to be able to see a big fat bouncy muscle pumping in his neck, over time this will grow and grow until he has much more top line than at present. Today in my lesson after a week of working really hard in the dark evenings after work to get ‘fat neck, bouncy neck’ there was a marked improvement in his performance. My instructor Amanda Brewer is returning to her home coluntry of Australia for a Christmas break so until the new year ‘fat neck, bouncy neck’ is my mantra to follow, I’m hoping that when she gets back she will notice a difference in his shape….the challenge is on!

My recent Mountain Horse delivery arrived just in time as it seems the temperature has really dropped in the past few days. I was snug as a red bug on a brown horse today in my new red breeches, and red gilet, which looked very festive!

Other home work we have to work on is trot poles, and canter poles on a circle. Dustry gets very hyped about poles/jumps and so I plan to try and do a bit of pole work in every session because I think once it becomes familiar it won’t be quite as exciting! He seems to be finding life very exciting all round atm as when I go to catch him he seems to feel it’s necessary to do several laps of his field in gallop, culminating in a very dramatic sliding stop or theatrical rear at my feet, and then proffering his head towards the head collar, and leading in like a lamb…..he’s gone a little mad…I think maybe he’s overexcited about xmas!