The two diagnoses that had been arrived at were: 1) gastric ulcers and 2) liver problems.  Both of these problems could certainly have caused the symptoms seen recently with Big John.  But, as one of my early mentors, Dr. Paul Wetzel of Erie, PA used to tell me, “The simplest diagnosis is usually the best.”  Considering this advice, and considering the fact that horses use their teeth twelve to sixteen hours every day for grinding up some pretty tough material, it was not surprising when I discovered the most likely cause of BJ’s problem as soon as I had him sedated, applied the speculum and looked at the back of his mouth.

       Behind the upper and lower rows of teeth, at the very posterior part of the mouth, in the sensitive soft pink mucous membrane tissue there, were the obvious signs of the culprits in the PO’d Big John case:  two bloody, gaping holes showed the effect of sharp points on the upper eleven’s are commonly the source of the discomfort which causes behavior problems in horses.  These points are commonly missed when routine float jobs—the ten minute “finger-float”, “two floats and a bucket, no speculum” type job too often performed by us veterinarians, is done.  This horse had received a routine dental float by one of the vets within the last four months.

      The reason for this deficiency is that 1) dental float jobs done without the benefit of a full-mouth speculum cannot allow thorough evaluation of the conditions in horses’ mouths and 2) neither of the two floats commonly used in the “two floats and a bucket, no speculum” method can reach the points on the upper elevens.

       This horse also had a compromised set of molar tables, so that his feed-grinding efficiency was decreased and his frustration level was greatly increased because of the over-long incisors (front teeth).  I did the corrective work, hoping that I would get lucky and that it would be the answer to all of Big John’s recent problems.

       It was.  I called Bob a few days later.  He said it was amazing that we were able to cure gastric ulcers and /or liver problems in an hour and a half, and that Big John was now eating “like a horse,” behaving like a gentleman as before, going well in the bridle, and would be allowed to keep his testicles.