A Visit from the Tooth Fairy.

Its about 30 degrees at 8:45am here in beautiful North Carolina. The fresh coat of powdery snow is glistening on the ground and the steam is rising from my Starbucks venti black coffee. My Ariats are flying somewhere over the US at this point, so I'm wearing cheap Ugg-esque snow boots as I trudge out through the pasture to wrangle my big grey munchkin snuggled in his fluffy navy-blue jacket. Granite quietly chews on his round bale of hay in his run-in shed as I approach to put his halter on and drag, uh, I mean lead him-- from his shoulder, through the pasture and toward the barn. We get inside and close the garage doors that are on either side of the barn. A stand-alone heater struggles to raise the temperature of the cold and still barn. Granite chews on his lead, and then me, and then attempts to chew the electric cord plugged into the wall. I give up with this little game of 'chew everything' and secure him in the washstall on cross ties.

Suddenly the hounds begin to howl, I mean the Australian cattle dogs begin barking. The vet has arrived. This is Hottie McVettster to whom I referred here.  Ahhh, and for your information he is 32 (totally acceptable) but apparently dating the vet tech-- blah! He kindly (read: condescendingly) asks if we are on the "economic crisis plan", meaning that we are not on a health plan through the vet hospital, but are paying for things as needed. I replied that we only needed two shots this spring, but probably needed a teeth float since big man is turning 3 and will begin undersaddle within the next month or two. Mr. Hot Vet gives Granite his shots, for which Granite stands like a bona-fide champion. Then begins the mad rush of shuffling 12 other horses in and out of the barn for shots, wormer, and coggins tests. The poor vet tech had to draw the Paints' "pictures" on their coggins'... hahaaha, that almost made up for her dating Mr. Hot Vet. Those states that just take photos of the horses for the coggins sheets, have the right idea.

When that was all wrapped up, they set up the "dentist stall" and Granite was volunteered to start off because I was taking comp time off of work to be there for the whole process (does anyone else find it important to be there for vet visits if at all possible? no one else at the barn seemed to consider it worth their time). They gave my boy a sedative and then we brought him across the aisle to the "dentists' stall". They jacked his head up and began their work. Granite had 2 caps come off (one with the help of some pliers). 

So now I have some souvenirs, I'm not sure how I feel about this. Its kind of creepy, but at the same time, I'm not sure I want to throw away his baby teeth? I mean, I saved his first lock of hair...

Granite was great but his little mouth was bleeding from the caps that popped off. When they were all finished, I took him back to the empty stall while the next two horses were getting their teeth done. He was so pathetic. He was resting his head on the stall window. He was drooling blood and sweating profusely from the sedation. I held his head for quite some time so he wouldn't be resting his weight on the stall window.

He absolutely broke my heart although I knew he was ok. The vet was there the whole time, so if it hadn't have been ok, then he would have stepped in. I have worked with horses almost all of my life. This isn't my first ride around the block. But, with this horse, things seem so different.

Has anyone seen this horrible plush pillow?

well, it doesnt look that unlike, my baby boy on drugs...

Notice his poor open mouth, if you could only see the blood dripping from it. Oh, My, God... just take my heart out and break it Mr. Hot Vet... sheesh!

I finally convinced myself to go to work about an hour after he got his teeth done. He had started to hold his head up a little. I switched him from a blanket to a cooler to try to combat the sweat and the freezing temps issue. I was concerned the whole time I was at work, but the lovely BO wrote me a facebook comment that he had "sobered" up and he had dried and was outside and had resumed munching on his hay. Although I trust her, I had to go out after work and brush off any dried sweat and tell my sweet boy how much I love him...

The only good news? I came out $70 under budget and directly deposited the rest into the "training Granite fund". YAY! I have enough for about 20 rides saved up. Not too shabby, just keep saving, just keep saving...

My parting thought tonight? Lets hope Granite doesn't have a visit from the tooth fairy again for quite some time. Mommy doesn't think she could take much more of it.