Horse Dentistry Bill Pushed by Floaters, Lawmakers

Horse owners and equine dentists are fighting to keep an age old practice legal. The people who work on horse teeth, also known as "floaters," now face criminal charges for their profession.

Tuesday, February 16th 2010, 6:00 pm

By: News 9


By Jennifer Pierce, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Horse owners and equine dentists are fighting to keep an age old practice legal. The people who work on horse teeth, also known as "floaters," now face criminal charges for their profession.

Supporters of equine dentistry rallied at the state capitol Tuesday to send some lawmakers and veterinarians a message and try to compromise on a new bill.

Equine dentistry is a job very few people are willing to do, or as horse owner Steve Boling said can do right. That's why he only trusts one person to do the work.

"I wouldn't have a vet that I would even recommend doing horses teeth. We've always had independent people do it from the word go," said Boling.

Some floaters use sedative drugs and power tools to file horse teeth though. That's why Representative Denney, who is also a veterinarian, wants to keep the practice among vets.

"We have people out there doing equine dentistry and using drugs. That's a big issue to me, they have not been trained to properly handle drugs," said Rep. Lee Denney, who is against horse floater bill.

But she faces a growing opposition.

"We feel like the issue we're dealing with today is about property rights. We think your animals, your horses, are your property and you have the right to choose who works on those," said Rep. Don Armes, who supports equine dentistry.

 

Some in the packed capitol committee room had been practicing horse dentistry for years.

That's why it came as a shock when a rodeo champ and part-time floater was criminally charged for doing his job in 2009.

"You wonder if you take that serious because all your owners want you there, obviously because they want the best care for their horse they can get," said Bob Griswold, a horse teeth floater.

That's why he wants lawmakers to put the profession back in the hands of floaters.

"So we can take care of horses and all the people that need horses worked on," Griswold said.

Representative Armes authored the bill that supports horse dentistry. He said he is working with Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics to include language in the bill about the use of drugs on horses.

The man arrested for working on the horse said the felony charge was dropped and he pled guilty to a lesser charge. He has since had his record expunged.

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