Contagious TMD?

This is Thai last fall wearing the dental speculum. The horse is sedated and the speculum is put on them to hold their mouth open while the vet floats the teeth. Horse teeth are continuously erupting, and so must be filed regularly to maintain even grind and smooth edges.
This is Dr. Landis floating Thai's teeth. The speculum props the horse's mouth open so the vet doesn't get bit while inside the mouth with a long float (a horse's arcade of teeth go all the way to the back of their cheeks). "Float" is the British word for "file".


I had a new insight this week into how well horses reflect their rider's issues. While I'm teaching riding lessons it is obvious to see which rider is tense through her shoulders, because that rider's horse won't stretch out into a longer stride, which requires the horse to move ITS shoulders. Similarly, if the horse is sore in its lower back, after I'm done riding it MY lower back hurts. It's all body mechanics, horse and rider feed off each other and mirror each other's tension.

I had an interesting experience this week with the vet. I have TMD (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) which gives me difficulty with my jaw. I have trouble chewing and am very sore in the morning because I clench my teeth in my sleep. I have a splint I wear when I sleep that helps considerably. Well, the vet was out at our barn this week to vaccinate horses and do dentals. Cecil has been quidding (chewing up some hay and then spitting it out so you have wads of partially chewed hay in the stall) so I had the vet do a dental on him. Horses, especially young ones like Cecil, need to have their teeth floated, or filed, regularly to make sure they can chew their food effectively. In the process of Cecil's dental we discovered that HE has TMD as well. For a horse it's a bit more complicated because you can't just tell them to sleep with a splint and take an ibuprofen when it hurts. But how's that for a horse mimicking its rider's issues?