Sharpe and Don Dee Get their Teeth Floated: Sharp Edges Removed to Prevent Mouth Injury and Improve Competition Performance

Summary: Floating the side teeth is insufficient for performace. Only after the razor blade edges on the back edges of the rear lower teeth are removed, can the horse's pain-free oral comfort and performance potential be achieved.

Sharpe, my daughter Karen's, United States Event Association event horse has had serious performance problems over the last several years in USEA events, which only became worse with time. As much as he seemed to want to please, he could not flex at the poll and always wanted to hollow out. He dangerously wanted to star gaze in jumping. Sharpe was a good boy and jumped without refusing at every fence for seven years, but he became increasingly difficult. He totally defied his trainers in dressage, and none could ride him better than Karen who has extremely careful hands. His behavior was bad to say the least. If we asked his trainers what was the problem, they suggested more training to solve his problems. But how much training was necessary to get him to remember his lessons from the previous day? He seemed to forget everything overnight and needed to be retrained from the beginning each day. Progress was impossible. Another trainer suggested that Sharpe's main problem was that he was a thoroughbred and that they couldn't remember their lessons or perform well in dressage, and we needed to buy an expensive Oldenberg horse if my daughter was going to be successful. His farrier wanted to put expensive, special shoes on him.

We were ready to have Sharpe retrained to sell him and buy another horse. But, as luck would have it, veterinarian Carol-Lynn Meisner DVM, of Austin, Texas, recommended that we have Sharpe's teeth "performance floated" to see if there were any dental issues that affected his performance. We told Dr. Meisner that we had Sharpe's teeth floated regularly and that his teeth were not likely the problem. Wisely, Dr. Meisner asked what we meant by "regularly". Our answer didn't satisfy her and she remained firm in her recommendation, "Get his teeth performance floated by Dr. Clay Stubbs." We had never seen any improvement in Sharpe's performance when we had his teeth floated in the past, so why bother? Why was Dr. Stubbs' work special?

Floating teeth had nothing to do with competition performance, certainly not in dressage or jumping! RIGHT? As we were to learn, we could not have been further from the truth if we had tried. Very briefly, removing all of the sharp edges in a horse's mouth is key to performance. The key word is "ALL"! Never before had Sharpe (who is 12 years old) had "ALL" of his teeth floated, and neither have the vast majority of other horses - regardless of how often they have had their teeth floated, and regardless of how much money the owners spent. This is the lesson we learned the hard way, and want to share our experience with others so that they will not suffer as we have suffered.

Not to get ahead of myself, on the advice of Mark Doig at Unicorn Stables in Austin, Texas, ALSO to "get it done correctly by Dr. Stubbs", we contacted of Johnson City, Texas (home town of U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson). What did Meisner and Doig know that we didn't? Dr. Stubbs was available that afternoon and as I was to find out upon doing a bit of research on him, he happened to be one of the nation's foremost experts in equine dentistry. I was determined to find a simple solution to Sharpe's performance problems. If an equine dentist could solve Sharpe's performance and behavior problems, wonderful!

We took Sharpe to Johnson City and Dr. Stubbs did a performance float on Sharpe's teeth. He said that Sharpe had huge razor blade edges on the back side of his back lower teeth. Dr. Stubbs explained these razor blade edges were nearly a centimeter in height and were cutting Sharpe's tongue every time he tried to flex at the poll. He was in severe pain every time he tried to flex and go round, and simply could not perform! His behavior problem turned out to be a dental problem. Wonderful! Now we had a clear explanation for his miserable behavior problems and lack of performance for the last few years,that was fixed in an instant. Now, Karen could have her horse back, and they could start to rebuild their USEA eventing career.

We were also so impressed with Sharpe's general attitude and ground manners after he was properly floated (didn't startle at every little thing and seemed relaxed around people), that we wondered if Don Dee, his full brother, would benefit from having all of his teeth floated too.

How to Properly Float Teeth

This is Don Dee, my horse. Even though Don Dee is my favorite horse, he hasn't been ridden in 5 years. He is my 17-hand, size zero shoe navicular disease research horse. Consequently, he, a full brother to Sharpe, is a beloved pasture bum and companion.

Dr. Stubbs could float Don Dee's teeth on April 2, 2003. when the time came, I loaded him in the trailer and took him to Johnson City. I remembered to bring my camera, and the rest of this pictorial essay is intended to present information that you can use to learn if your horse has been properly floated in the past, and what you must do to get his performance up to his God-given abilities.

Briefly, if your veterinarian or dental technician uses a flat file or rasp to float your horse's teeth, you will not see any difference in performance because the back teeth (the ones that affect performance and behavior the most) can not be floated with a file, and require specialized power dental equipment, which is where Dr. Stubbs comes into the picture.

To do proper floating, one must use stocks, or risk grave personal injury. Dr. Stubbs makes and sells to veterinarians and horse owners nation-wide these portable stocks for equine dentistry. He says "They have saved him". What? He means that equine dentistry can be hazardous to the veterinarian's well being without the horse being properly secured in stocks. Without his portable stocks, he could not go to customer's barns and do precision work safely. His portable stocks have rubber-matted steel floors and are totally portable. Notice that there are 9 yellow hoses on the left side of the stocks. These hoses lead to each of 9 different cutting heads, which are needed to handle each of the tooth configurations found in the horse. His portable stock is hauled behind trucks like any other utility or trailer.

Dr. Stubbs holds equine dentistry clinics all over the United States. He does the entire equine dentistry program. He has been invited to so many different barns and clinics in the last 12 years, that he has floated over 13,000 horses' teeth. This number is probably more than any other equine dentist during the same time. He says that he is not working fast to get that many horses floated, because his equipment makes equine dental work very easy and very fast. In a clinic, where horses have been pre-screened for dental soundness, he can properly float 6 horse per hour if pressured for time. Veterinarians that he trains sees enormous potential for profit in his program. Consequently, he has no trouble selling his equipment.

Obviously, Dr. Stubbs has the attention of many happy owners and is making substantial inroads in retraining other veterinarians to float all of the horse's teeth. For veterinarians to successfully bring performance up to 100 percent in their clients' horses, they need some of Dr. Stubbs' patented equine dentistry tools. These tools allow the veterinarian to properly float the back edges of the back lower teeth, something that no veterinarian can do with a flat file or rotating tool. Why not? The distance between the back edge of the back teeth and the end of the oral cavity is about 1/16 inch. Consequently, no file or rasp can get on top of these teeth to cut them, and rotating dental tools cut the horse's gum and oral tissue severely, thus making such work too bloody and invasive for most people and horses to tolerate.

After giving Don Dee a thorough dental checkup and sedating him, Dr. Stubbs floated all of Don Dee's teeth, not just the easy ones that any veterinarian can do. Don Dee had no dental issues needing attention except for floating. Notice that Don dee is blindfolded and that his head is carefully held in position to allow successful dental work. The tool that Dr. Stubbs is using (and invented) on Don Dee has an angled cutting end that oscillates back and forth 6000 times per minute. His invention sailed thought the U.S. Patent Office in record time because no previous equine dentistry tool had ever been developed to float the back teeth. Even though this tool is sharp enough to cut the back teeth into a shape that will not cut or injure the tongue, the tool's vibratory stroke is so short that it does not cut or damage soft oral tissues. Dr. Stubbs held the cutting edge in his hand to demonstrate that it would not cut soft tissue. He did say that it would do nasty things to knuckles! Consequently, even though it is impossible to see the rear teeth, the tool can be used to safely, effectively and efficiently do what no other equine dentistry tool has ever before been able to do. Only after the razor blade edges on the back edges of the rear lower teeth are removed, can the horse's pain-free oral comfort and performance potential be achieved. Dr. Stubbs reversed the sedation and Don Dee felt no worse for his experience.

What else is required for a quality float job on a horse? How about the sides and front teeth? Yes, I will address those issues soon. But for the moment, the issue of performance is so highly dependent upon the condition of the rear teeth that more explanation is needed. When the bit, particularly a snaffle bit, is pressed into service and the horse is asked to go round and flex at the poll, there is a powerful influence on the tongue by the bit. The bit forces the tongue downward and backward into the rear of the horse's mouth. However, the hyoid bone (shown by the blue arrow) regulates the movement of the rear part of the tongue. The hyoid bone is hinged from a point immediately below the ear canal at the top of the horse's head. The hinging action allows the hyoid bone and the tongue in which it is located to ONLY swing fore and aft in an arc determined by the length of the hyoid bone, from it's hinge point immediately below the ears. Consequently, the tongue is trapped by the bit and is forced into contact with the rear teeth.

Because the teeth grow at the rate of 1/8 inch per year, in a few years the rear teeth have the potential to become very sharp and cut or injure the rear of the tongue, far from where the bit is located. Time is the greatest factor in producing razor blade edged rear teeth. Razor sharp edges can and do form on horses that are not ridden as well as horses that are ridden. In other words riding the horse is not a factor in the development of razor blade edged teeth. Don Dee also had severe lacerations on the insides of his cheeks from sharp molars, even though he has not been ridden in about 5 years. Consider having razor sharp teeth and a metal bit in your mouth and having anyone move the bit. Can you imagine the pain that these steeds endure to allow us pleasure? To me, not cutting these teeth back to allow the horse oral comfort is inhumane and should be stopped at every point where there is a rule book.

Dr. Stubbs showed me back views of the skull that showed these sharp piercing teeth to have punctured the skull!

The blue arrows show where front fangs and rear razor blade corners on lower teeth must be removed. NOTE: On the front and back teeth in this graphic, there is a black line drawn on the teeth showing to where they need to be floated. The only way possible to remove the rear razor blade edges properly is with a vibrating tool having sufficient stroke to work, but too short to cause oral soft tissue injury.

The left graphic shows the front fangs, the back lower teeth razor blade edges and the serrated molar teeth. Look at the shadow of the molar teeth and you will see that the tips are dangerous to cheek tissues. Normally, these tips are removed with a file or rasp. Such provides a moderately effective way to handle cheek irritation and injury. Sharpe and Don Dee had severe lacerations to both sides of their cheeks from teeth that were about like these, even though both horses had been regularly floated. Simply grazing or chewing food shortens teeth and exposes new jagged corners from the serration part of each molar tooth. In a month after normal floating, these serrated edges will have returned to re-injure the horses cheeks. Similarly the inside sharp edges of the molars irritate, cut and injury the horse's tongue. Floating with a file or rasp results in a one-month effective treatment, but those razor edges come back quickly after that first month.

Floating the sides of the outside upper molars and the insides of the lower molars prevents molars from cutting horse's mouth for up to 6 months or longer. If the sides are not cut back to where Dr. Stubbs is pointing, the molars will, as they normally grow, produce oral pain from their sharp edges within a short time. This picture also shows how front teeth appear when fangs of upper front molars have been removed.

Is proper equine dentistry expensive? Not if one considers the consequences of not getting it done. Not having the back razor blade edges removed will always degrade the horse's performance, reflecting only his ability to handle oral pain. If he is sensitive to pain, he can not perform. If he is insensitive to pain, he is probably too dull to be very competitive. It is only your horse's career and your enjoyment that are affected by negligence in equine dentistry.

Back to Sharpe

What about Sharpe? Doesn't he have a really lovable face? He is a very pleasant and honest horse now that he is not in pain from razor-sharp teeth. How is he doing now that his teeth are correctly floated? Without pain, he is learning, and learning very quickly. He is freer and vastly easier to ride.

Sharpe has always gone in a snaffle of one kind or another. We decided to see if the snaffle was causing problems, with the theory that the joint may protrude upward and interfere with the roof of his mouth. I turned my hand so that I could feel the roof of his mouth, and it felt like there had been some roughness perhaps from injury, but I doubt it. We had an old Kimberwicke bit and it fit him, so we tried it. He immediately played with it and began to salivate. Under saddle he salivated with that bit more than any jointed type (including a Myler bit). He could go round with ease and stayed there, playing with his bit as he worked. With the added change from a snaffle to the Kimberwicke bit, Sharpe is now learning to go forward with ease. He is now a horse happy to be working.

Lately Karen has been so busy as a student at The University, she has not been able to ride Sharpe more than about twice a month. Even so, now that his teeth do not give him any trouble, he is happy to be an event horse and very willing to go immediately round, even in his hated regulation snaffle, and stay round. If you have a high speed Internet connection, you may enjoy seeing how well he can go in this 2 minute (30MB) movie, even if they are really out of condition.

Dr. Clayton Stubbs

If you would like to explore your horse's mouth to determine if he is in need of corrective work you can contact Dr. Clay Stubbs at the Stubbs Equine Dental Clinic, 2928 Flat Creek Road, Johnson City, TX 78636 or phone him at 1-830-868-7544 (fax 1-830-868-9368). You can e-mail him at . If he can not help you due to distance or time constraints, then his staff can direct you to a veterinarian or dental technician that he has trained and trusts to do a quality job that will last for a long time without recurrence of oral pain. What is the down side? The horse will have a difficult time figuring out how to eat hay for 24 hours. Cheek and tongue tissue recovery from sharp teeth requires 2 to 3 weeks after floating, but 90% of the horse's mouth irritation will be absent in 24 hours. Only at that time and later can the horse's performance be adequately determined. Lots of trainers buy "problem" horses, have their teeth perfectly floated and turn them for ten times what they paid. Lesson learned?

The bottom line is simple. If you want your horse to best utilize all that expensive hay, grain, and supplements you toss into his feeder each day, perform better, prevent unnecessary pain and subsequent behavior problems, not to mention adding a good many productive years to his life, invest in quality preventative dental care. The cost of a good dental program will be recouped in lower feed bills, better fitness and performance, and overall lifespan of your horse.

Links to Dr. Stubbs pages on google.com are here.

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