DO look a gift horse in the mouth, you never know what you might find!

Chloe_GHE

Chloe_GHE

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June is officially the unluckiest month and it has culminated with this...

Dustry was all booked in for a lesson with my instructor Amanda Brewer and I was really looking fwd to it. He has been going really sweetly in the school and out hacking he's just so brave it's fab, like riding a little nf pony you can go through crops, over banks, down ditches etc he doesn't care he just loves the adventure :) and schooling wise he is coming on but I need some help getting him to take the contact and not just drop behind the bit, hence the lesson.

Before the lesson he had the dentist and unfortunately he found bone spurs in his mouth! :( I had no idea about these until that day as no horse I have ever owned before has ever had them. Put simply they are little fractures in the jaw caused by bit damage, the little bit that fractures off then calcifies back to the jaw, making a bump just where the bit touches! The more the bit hits it the bigger it gets and the more painful as a result! Luckily his were quite small and easily removed, but it does correspond with his tendency to drop behind the contact, and past reports from his racing days that he would occasionally rear, he's never reared with me so I put this down to some heavy handed lads socking him in the gob! :(

Poor little scrap I can't believe he is such a sweetie so affectionate and so willing when in the past he has been treated badly enough for his jaw to be damaged. His spurs were on the top jaw and my EDT thought that that indicated heavy handedness with a chiffney. :(

Good news is we got a next day app with Bob Livock who is FAB and he is now minus 2 bone spurs and good as new. 3 weeks poss more to recover then I will bit him and see how he goes. I'm having to syringe out his mouth with salty water which can't be nice but he's standing like an angel.

So I just want to pass on what I found out to you guys if your horse rears, drops behind the contact, leans into the bit, is heavy down one rein, doesn't want to accept the bit etc it might be worth looking your gift horse in the mouth to check for bone spurs too!

It makes me really sad to watch the racing now, at Ascot the other day one tb going down to the start was really fussy in his head, his neck was built all upside down, and the jockey was having to hold onto a neck strap to keep his hands steady as the horse was so sensitive and reacting to the bit :( that can't be right, can it?...

Also it reinforces to me that tbs are so misunderstood I have quite a few years hands on experience with them but have only just come across this condition so I wonder how many suffer on with sore, damaged mouths and instead of getting the correct care and treatment get branded crazy, naughty and just bullied into submission :( :(

If you are feeling gory there are pics of his bone spurs on my blog here http://www.gifthorseeventing.co.uk/2010/06/always-look-your-gift-horse-in-the-mouth.html
a link to a really good article explaining bone spurs further, and some pics of Soap and Dustry chilling on their 'sick leave'

Ribena and strawberry lip balm to all, sorry slim pickings today! might have a bit of chewing gum at the bottom of my bag, hang on *rustles about in bag to have a look* nope, soz :)
 
Ouch, nasty things and very painful. Glad you found them. Apparently they are commonly caused by chiffney misuse. Hope he keeps standing still for the saline washes!!!!
 
JDChaser said:
Not really. But thanks for your assessment of all people involved in looking after racehorses. :rolleyes:
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JDChaser please don't take offence at my post, I'm not saying everyone in racing is heavy handed and all the horses have teeth issues. I just wanted to highlight something that I was totally unaware of (bone spurs and how they are caused) and believe it is helpful to pass this info onto fellow horse owners.

I'm not taking a pop at racing, racing professionals or the industry hey I love racing I watch it, I live in the heart of racing country and I mop up the failed racers so I'm a big fan. I'm also a big fan of passing on knowledge and new discoveries so that's what I'm doing by posting about my experience. Bone spurs can easily be caused by misinformed use of bits in any equestrian sphere, this is not a racing industry witch hunt, friends?.... :)
 
It certainly sounded that way but I'm sure i'm being sensitive. I get sick of reading threads on this forum slagging off the way racehorses are treated and looked after, when I work from 6 in the morning until 6 at night every day looking after my charges better than I look after myself, as do all my colleagues and every other racing groom I know. I can assure you that at my yard at least (where we have minimum 100 horses a season) that they have constant monitoring of their health both physical, mental and dental. They wouldn't be winning or even running if anything was in the slightest bit wrong. None of us are heavy-handed or whip-happy... These horses are our best friends as we spend SO much time looking after them and ensuring they can get the best out of their career as possible.
 
JDChaser said:
It certainly sounded that way but I'm sure i'm being sensitive. I get sick of reading threads on this forum slagging off the way racehorses are treated and looked after, when I work from 6 in the morning until 6 at night every day looking after my charges better than I look after myself, as do all my colleagues and every other racing groom I know. I can assure you that at my yard at least (where we have minimum 100 horses a season) that they have constant monitoring of their health both physical, mental and dental. They wouldn't be winning or even running if anything was in the slightest bit wrong. None of us are heavy-handed or whip-happy... These horses are our best friends as we spend SO much time looking after them and ensuring they can get the best out of their career as possible.
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Sorry if it came across like that maybe the horse at Ascott example made it seem like a racing slating post, but if that horse had been in a show ring or out hacking behaving the same way then I would have thought the same, I guess what I was trying to say was that now I know about bone spurs when a horse acts like that it makes me think that they could be the issue, and having been oblivious to them myself it worries me that many other owners may be too...

I understand the time and effort that goes into working in racing and I don't mean to belittle that, I think as an industry it has a pretty bad rep amongst the avg horse owner but that's down to lack of knowledge. Like any big industry though there is good and bad and it seems at some stage my lad has been on the end of some of the bad, but that's not to discredit all the good he has benefited from which has turned him into the nicest little 4 yr old I have ever known :)
 
OK cool, sorry I used you as the scapegoat!! RE the horse at Ascot - there's a bit of a difference between an extremely fit and switched on racehorse cantering to post at Ascot, surrounded by that atmosphere, other cantering horses knowing it's about to run a race and a show horse who has been trained to walk, trot, canter etc sedately and to stand still amongst a line of other standing horses! So I think some head-tossing and evading can be forgiven on the way to post!
 
JDChaser said:
OK cool, sorry I used you as the scapegoat!! RE the horse at Ascot - there's a bit of a difference between an extremely fit and switched on racehorse cantering to post at Ascot, surrounded by that atmosphere, other cantering horses knowing it's about to run a race and a show horse who has been trained to walk, trot, canter etc sedately and to stand still amongst a line of other standing horses! So I think some head-tossing and evading can be forgiven on the way to post!
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Totally agree with this, it's a bit like someone saying (which I know you wouldn't, Chloe) because a horse rears and spins in the start box at Badminton it is in pain or badly schooled ;) Also, sounds very thoughtful of them to have put on a neckstrap for jockey to use rather than having to haul on its mouth...

Re the bone spurs, I had a little event horse who had one of these. I bought him as PN and my dentist discovered it shortly after - he wasn't great in the contact either ;) Bob Livock sorted it very easily under local anaesthetic and sedative. Horse went on to go Advanced :) FWIW nobody ever referred to them being as a result of mistreatment in my case - I know full history and horse was bred at small stud in Cornwall and produced to PN by fairly competent girl. Perhaps sometimes they just happen!
 
Sorry to hear about your poor boy - but how lucky that you caught them when they're only small.

I do hope I'm not going to add fuel to the fire here, but I visited Doncaster races a few weeks ago and was amazed to see how some of the grooms (mostly men I have to say) were socking some of the horses in the mouth when leading them in a chiffney. I was honestly surprised as I've never seen it before..

I'm sure it is not representative of racing grooms as a whole and I'm certainly not suggesting that. My Mum worked at a racing yard until she fell pregnant with me and even she was surprised. It must be a small minority (as with most things I suppose).

I do hope your boy gets better soon and starts working a little more happier with the contact for you :)
 
TableDancer said:
Totally agree with this, it's a bit like someone saying (which I know you wouldn't, Chloe) because a horse rears and spins in the start box at Badminton it is in pain or badly schooled ;) Also, sounds very thoughtful of them to have put on a neckstrap for jockey to use rather than having to haul on its mouth...

Re the bone spurs, I had a little event horse who had one of these. I bought him as PN and my dentist discovered it shortly after - he wasn't great in the contact either ;) Bob Livock sorted it very easily under local anaesthetic and sedative. Horse went on to go Advanced :) FWIW nobody ever referred to them being as a result of mistreatment in my case - I know full history and horse was bred at small stud in Cornwall and produced to PN by fairly competent girl. Perhaps sometimes they just happen!
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Yeah I guess there is scope for them to occur without human intervention, maybe as a foal if he gets kicked in the field or falls flat on his face it could cause the little fracture?...

Well after your success story I will be entering him up for an advanced in a few months time ;)
 
I am a little concerned as this sounds like a surgical procedure being performed by a lay person. Is he cutting the gum? If so he is breaking the law.
 
Dragon22 said:
I am a little concerned as this sounds like a surgical procedure being performed by a lay person. Is he cutting the gum? If so he is breaking the law.
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Don't worry the vet was there at all times to dope/anaesthetise and supervise the procedure. They do clinics together as a lot of horses need sedating to have their teeth done.
 
I just wished to say thankyou very much for posting this.
I have never heard of it before but now aware.
I do hope your horse recovers soon. It sounds a real sweetheart.
They put up with so much pain without us knowing sometimes.
If i had not had the dentist out yesterday i would have been worrying andgetting them checked for peace of mind.

It's amazeing how much there is to learn no matter my age:D
 
Bob Livock may or may not be a qualified veterinary surgeon, however his name does not appear on the register of current practicing members and therefore is not entitled to practice in the UK. If he is cutting the gum and removing bony overgrowths he is performing an act of veterinary surgery and is breaking the law. A veterinary surgeon who sedates a horse for him or "supervises" this sort of procedure is breaking the law and breaking the RCVS guide to professional conduct.

The pdf link below explains the differences but the surgical removal of mandibular periostitis, to which I assume you are referring would in the UK be considered a"category 3" procedure.

http://www.beva.org.uk/_uploads/documents/EquineDentalprocedures.pdf
 
CotswoldSJ said:
Out of interest why the month off? Or would bitless be very scary?
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Well just to recover and also because I don't have a bitless bridle/hackamore to ride him in and also as he's only 4 so a few weeks off won't make any difference as he's not entered up for anything, if it was Soap i probs would try to sort a bitless solution to keep him in work, but D can have a little rest to recover :)
 
Poor little lad, it makes you wonder, it really does how many more horses are thought of as 'difficult' or 'fussy' in their mouths, just have painful mouths for whatever reason. I know I cringe sometimes when I think of what my horse must have gone through before I got him. He was ex riding school and RDA and was used by beginners because he is pretty affable most of the time, plus at 14.3hh, mw cob he was used by lets just say the 'well covered' beginners as well. I bought him 6 years ago aged 11 and his mouth was non existent. It still is, but then again I dont really do much in the way of schooling and need a pelham to stop him out hunting and when we go out for a gallop. I do feel for him, he must have been pulled around a fair amount. I am not overly fussed whether he has a soft mouth or not (not because I am mega clumsy, I'm not the best rider in the world, but I try and keep it as sympathetic as I can), he is a happy hacker/hunter and is ridden on a pretty loose rein most of the time. Yes its dam lazy, yes I cant be fussed to school that much, and yes its fun and he is happy, and thats all that matters to me.

Hope he gets well soon and July is nearly hear - it cant get much worse.
 
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