Poor Baby!

Baby Madge had a rough day yesterday--she was drugged, stabbed, and now she's missing two teeth! No, she didn't go on a trip to South America. The friendly neighborhood vet came round for her first dental visit.

I was very proud of my little girl. Madge stood quietly as the vet gave her a shot of tranquilizer. Her eyes drooped as her nose dropped slowly to the ground. "Is there anything cuter than a dopey baby?" I though, as she looked at me with doughy eyes.

The vet skillfully floated her molars and pulled her two wolf teeth.* Then, I learned how to properly administer a vaccination. There's no better time to learn how to give you mule a shot than when she's is happily hopped up on drugs.

The best part? I got to keep the teeth!

Okay, before you call me crazy, let me tell you a story. Mules have opened up a whole new chapter of my family history. After I bought Maxine, relatives started telling me about their history with mules.

Just days before he passed away, I showed my great uncle a photo of me and Maxine. His eyes lit up and he told me stories about driving mules in the plum fields near Salem, Oregon. It was my last visit with him and the one I'll remember most.

When my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, the story he always asked me to tell was the one about how I found Maxine--the mule that no one else wanted.

A few years ago, my mom gave me a small wooden barrel. Inside, I found a large mule tooth wrapped in ancient tin foil, accompanied by this note:

"This tooth belonged to Kit, our young mare that we had when we lived in Molalla on a farm. It was her baby tooth. I found it in her box that she ate oats out of in 1916. That's when we lived there, called Russelville."

Nearly a century later, I get to add a new tooth and note to the barrel.

*For my non-equine friends: Wolf teeth are small premolars. Like wisdom teeth in humans, wolf teeth are unnecessary and can interfere with the bit (sometimes causing pain), so many owners have the teeth removed.

Photo: Madge is ready for her dental work.