Tally came into my life a little more than a year ago, and when I first had the dentist out to float her teeth he mentioned that she still had a wolf tooth on the right side of her mouth. At 8 years old, that is a bit unusual – they are generally removed when horses are young as they can interfere with the placement of the bit in the mouth. Hers was impacted – the gum was still over it – so my dentist didn’t want to try to remove it and said she might be OK keeping it, or I may notice that it starts to bother her.

All was well until this spring, when she started to tilt her head and seemed unhappy with my right rein half-halts. I discussed it with my vet during Tally’s annual health exam (part of her ColiCare requirement) and we decided it should come out. It was not quite as easy as we had hoped, but my vet persevered and the wolf tooth came out. A week of R&R for Tally and she was back in action, better than ever – and my right half-halt is now effective without bothering her! Glad we decided to take care of the issue before show season starts, and I’m grateful for my vet’s guidance and expertise. I’m looking forward to seeing Tally progress this summer. We’re starting the season at Beginner Novice in a few weeks, can’t wait!

About Jennifer Bagley

Jen as a rider: Apparently I've been obsessed with horses since I was born, and I used to beg for pony rides on a regular basis. I started showing in 4-H, progressed to equitation and jumpers in high school and rode on the IHSA team in college where I also discovered the joys of eventing! After graduating I learned how to sit while working for a dressage trainer and now am a committed low-level eventer in the ever-elusive quest to put together three solid phases. Jen as a SmartPaker: As the Director of Web Merchandising, I get to work with a super talented bunch of designers, developers, buyers, and marketers to help you find just what you need (and a few things you didn't know you needed!) on our website. All about Intrinsic: Intrinsic, or "Trin," is a very sweet and snuggly dark bay 16.2 hand TB gelding born in 2013 who race trained but never raced. He loves hacking out with friends and is learning about dressage and eventing. He loves carrots but has no interest in apples, and makes very funny faces when he eats anything peppermint flavored!