Monday, June 09, 2008


Equine Margaritas

Just got back from the barn watching the vet float our horse Teddy’s teeth. Since horses’ teeth never stop growing, every so often they need to have them filed down so that they can chew just right. Teddy’s teeth had “points.” It was time for some equine dentistry.

It was quite an operation! First, Dr. Black gave our 20-year-old gelding a shot with a sedative. We watched his head drop down, down, down, but he stayed standing. Then, the vet strapped Teddy into a weird harness with a roll-bar, and put a special bit in his mouth that looked like an open bear trap and kept his mouth open. Open wide! Dr. Black wrapped a rope around the frame of the stall door for leverage, to keep Teddy’s head raised up.

Then he strapped on rubber gloves, stuck what looked like a long drill bit into Teddy’s mouth, and began grinding away at the points. They call it ‘floating” the teeth because vets used to use hand rasps, but it seemed more like “grinding” to me.

But it didn’t hurt him at all. It was comical: Teddy just stood there, drugged, while the vet stood in all different postures to get all the angles. It sounded and smelled just like the dentist’s office.

Then the vet took all the contraptions off and left, and Teddy continued to stand there in his stall, dopey, motionless, his head hanging low . . . but smiling, because it was over.

I swear, he looked like he’d had one too many margaritas.

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PRAYER REQUEST: The loss of a child . . . is there anything more difficult for us, Lord? We lift up John and Debra, who just lost their son Logan to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Sweet Jesus, tend to their heartbreak and communicate with them of Your love and caring. Be there for the grieving grandparents as well. If the autopsy report should show a connection to mercury in the vaccinations the baby might have had, we pray that that fact will come out, and that the medical community will do something about it, to spare other families this terrible tragedy. Thank You for this family’s strong faith. Reward them with peace and hope. Draw their family and friends even closer around them. Let them see that a lot of good will come out of this loss, since You are good, all the time. (Jeremiah 33:3)

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