Rural Heritage August/September 2025

to calm, and her head began to droop. In no time that hoof was done, the rope was dropped, and Menno stepped to the other side. “You got her?” he asked nervously. “Mmmhmm” I grunted through gritted teeth. I could feel the slight trickle of blood on my chin and taste the metallic tang in my mouth, but I didn't let go. Menno quickly shifted the hobble to the other side and lifted the next hoof. The old mare tensed but she never bothered to kick. Menno hurried on with the job while I continued to bite that ear and growl a bit as the mare leaned her head in the crook of my arm. Menno finished, and I turned loose of the ear, pulled off the blindfold and stepped back as the mare shook her head and snorted. She was mad plumb through, but she had four good hooves now. I spit and wiped my mouth, “What d'ye think about that now? I reckon ye just need to whisper some sweet nothings in that ear to calm her down's all.” Menno didn't seem too sure, “I don't think I'd want to do that again without a set of stocks. I don't know how good your teeth are, and you might slip and get me kicked!” I asked him what he thought about the mares, other than that they were a little cantankerous. He said they

One more trip to the blacksmith shop and a whole lot of pleading and begging got Menno to come back with his long handled floats and speculum, the thing that holds the horse's mouth open so the back teeth can be reached. Once again, I caught the mares and I put the speculum into the first mare's mouth. As Menno adjusted his head lamp onto the front of his straw hat, I commented on how the mares had to have tooth trouble with all that slobbered feed. Menno didn't say much other than to ask me to hold her head up so he could get in there and assess the situation. He leaned closer, focused the light and peered back into the deep maw of the big mare. I watched his face as he adjusted the light, then his bottom jaw dropped. Quick as a wink, he grinned, and said “Are you trying to pull a joke on me!? Look in here!” He took his hat off and swapped it with mine. I tipped the front of the too-small straw hat down to bring the light into focus on what should have been the mares molars. Now it was my turn to stand slack jawed. The mare had three molars in her head and none that touched. No wonder she was starting to slobber feed and lose weight. There weren't any teeth! …continued on page 73

looked good, but must have a little age on them to get stove up like that. I agreed, but we both thought for a mare to fight like that, they couldn't be too old. It didn't take long to think different. I noticed the mares didn't seem to be too keen on their hay. I fed some with coarse Johnson grass stems, and it seemed you could hear those mares a skreakin' and a squawkin' on that grass for miles. Then I noticed the oats streaming out both sides of their mouths. I figured a good float would put them to rights. A float is a dental tool for horses. Their teeth constantly grow until they finally fall out. They have to be filed down to make even surfaces to grind against each other.

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