30th March - The dentist and chiropractor pay a visit

Everyone who visits the yard falls in love with the stables and with Zano – I feel very lucky to have found such a loveable horse and such an amazing place to keep him!

Zano’s first admirer this week was Leigh, the equine dentist. She immediately found some really sharp points on Zano’s back teeth (his molars) and the sharp teeth had started to cut the insides of his cheeks! No wonder he hadn’t wanted to have his bit put in his mouth!

Horses’ teeth need checking every 9-12 months, and Zano’s last dental visit had been 9 months ago. He’s got quite big teeth, though (as well as big, strong hooves!), so I think Leigh might need to come back and check him every 7-8 months. Zano was very well behaved, once again, while Leigh filed down the sharp bits and had a good feel around to make sure there weren’t any other problems. She even let me put my hand in so that I could feel the sharp bits and then again after she’d rasped them. It felt really weird – horses’ mouths are sooo long – their tongues are HUGE! When she finished, Leigh said that, now his teeth weren’t sharp, Zano would be able to chew his feed better, so should start to put on weight. Phew!

Zano being lunged - he wasn't always this quiet!

Next up it was Stephen, the chiropractor, who works on the skeletal structure (basically, his bones!). He saw Zano walk and trot, and turn tight circles. Then he gave him a full examination and found that he had really sore ribs, just where the saddle goes! We looked at the saddle and decided that it wasn’t the ideal one for him and was possibly what was making him feel a bit uncomfortable. So – next person to call – the saddler! In the meantime, I started lunging him to get him exercised.