Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Today was our autumn ‘herd health and dental day," where all the horses and one mule get their fall vaccinations and a dental exam.  Our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor of Blue Mountain Veterinary Hospital in Missoula, brought the clinic’s new equine vet, Dr. Angela Langer, out to the ranch to help.  Angela just graduated from vet school this year; she did her first three years at Ross University and her fourth year at Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine.  This is her first week at Blue Mountain, so we were delighted to welcome her to the ranch.

Angela had the hard work today — all the dentals!  In fact, she floated teeth on twelve of our equines, including Roy the old mule (speaking of mules), who you see in the photo above.  "Floating" means filing down jagged edges and sharp points, to make sure the teeth align properly and comfortably.  Even though vets these days use power tools — notice the DeWalt in Angela’s hand — it’s very physically demanding.  So twelve equines in one day is a lot of work!

While Angela was doing the dentals in our medical room in Beauty’s Barn, Erin and I walked through the pastures to vaccinate all the horses who weren’t already waiting at the barn to get their teeth done.  In this photo Erin is with blind Bridger, who she calls ‘Mr. Handsome Bridger.’  Erin had removed Bridger’s right eye several weeks ago because it had become chronically painful and inflamed, and this was the first time she’d seen him since then. 

It was a beautiful fall day, blue sky and sunshine, and Erin and I had a wonderful time walking from pasture to pasture, visiting with the horses.  Meanwhile, back in the medical room … Angela was still grinding away!