This is an update to enrollment as of March 2024.
Melissa and I have enjoyed giving hands-on training to students willing to enroll, study the material, and travel to Florida. However, many people have either not been willing to travel to Florida or have been unwilling to enroll due to legal considerations of performing dentistry on horses in their state without being a veterinarian. To be blunt, my veterinary colleagues have not taken to this horsemanship approach, even though most horse owners do not want their horses medicated or restrained in any way.
Melissa and I put every bit of mental energy into teaching Horsemanship Dentistry to students and are exhausted after five days. The attrition rate in subsequent years is high for those who have come for training. We are shocked at this because our passion for helping horses with their dental needs drives us daily, and we cannot understand why, after the investment, so many graduates leave. Melissa has over 20,000 floats, and I have over 80,000 floats recorded. But we warn students that this is hard work, and some discover what “hard work” really means.
I am keeping the online coursework available to everyone worldwide through this site. The information is the accumulation of over four decades of floating teeth in horses while all I had when I started was about 1 hour of training from my mentor, zero schools, and only one current book at the time written by a lay dentist.
However, my goal in 2024 is to update this material to add more visuals so that ANYONE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD can learn this and then practice it independently. In addition, students who complete this coursework successfully will be enrolled in my other website, TheHorsesAdvocate.com, where they can join a private group within the membership just for graduates. Here, we can ask questions and even set up live online meetings.
I often spend more time talking people out of enrolling because even with their knowledge that they intend to practice horse dentistry in a state where they are not allowed to work, most people eventually either quit or are forced out by pressure from veterinarians in their area. This latter thought is disgusting to me as they allow most other aspects of veterinary care to go on with unlicensed individuals, yet these vets continue to promote their dentistry techniques and unproven theories. They could hire these unlicensed Horsemanship Dentists and add them to their practice, but they don’t.
NOTE: If you are a veterinarian interested in adding this to your practice (either yourself or a non-veterinarian / tech employee), please contact me for more information.
The bottom line is that Horsemanship Dentistry is based on decades and tens of thousands of horses and should be taught to anyone worldwide. There are ZERO randomized, controlled studies regarding the techniques or theories of equine dentistry. As of the 2021 AAEP meeting, there are only “how to” sessions. There is no money for dentistry research on horses. All we have is observational studies, yet the loudest voices in the profession are afraid to ask for dissenting views. Cognitive dissonance is scary.
More importantly, many areas of the world do not have access to medications or expensive equipment, and in these areas, equids are still used in everyday life. This also includes the United States, especially now that the AAEP has acknowledged a shrinking equine veterinarian population. At the last visit, 1.4% of all graduating veterinarians went into an equine practice, and 50% left horse practice within five years. The attrition rate of older horse vets exceeds the repopulation rate. Soon, horse owners in rural areas everywhere will not have access to an equine veterinarian. I predicted this five years ago in my article in The International Equine Veterinarian titled, “Houston, We Have A Problem.”
UPDATE March 3, 2024: I have just lowered the price for the coursework, shifting the balance to the hands-on training. The prices below are adjusted for this. I hope this allows anyone the opportunity to get the coursework.
THE BOTTOM LINE (4 steps)
1) If you are unsure and want to try out the 1st Module of this school, you can do this below.
2) Enroll in the online Coursework Bundle (Modules 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5). Or, purchase each module one at a time (CAUTION – They can only be entered in order, so purchase Module 1, then 2, then 3, then 4, and finally, Module 5)
| The Coursework Bundle (includes Modules 1 through 5) | $500 | Enroll |
| Module 1 (The Essentials of Equine Dentistry) | $47 | Enroll |
| Module 2 (The Fundamentals Of Equine Dentistry – Part 1) | $113.25 | Enroll |
| Module 3 (The Fundamentals Of Equine Dentistry – Part 2) | $113.25 | Enroll |
| Module 4 (Using Horsemanship In Equine Dentistry) | $113.25 | Enroll |
| Module 5 (The Process Of Horsemanship Dentistry™) | $113.25 | Enroll |
3) After completing the coursework (Modules 1 through 5), you can then purchase enrollment in the hands-on training (Module 6). After completing Module 6 and 100 floats at home, you can return to Florida to test your abilities against the instructors’ expectations (Module 7). Please call/email me, and I will send you an active link for these additional modules.
| Module 6 – Hands on training | $7598 | Call |
| Module 7 – Certification in Horsemanship Dentistry (1 to 3 days in FL) | $949 | Call |
4) You can enroll in Modules 1 through 6 or 1 through 7 using bundles to save money. These can only be purchased after a phone call with Dr Tucker to be sure you are clear that this is something you really want to do and can also get to Florida to spend a week in training.
| The Graduate Bundle (includes Modules 1 through 6) | $7898 | Call |
| The Certification Bundle (includes Modules 1 through 7) | $8647 | Call |
Thank you for reading through this. If you have any questions before enrolling, please text me to schedule a talk. 772-285-3866
Geoff Tucker, DVM, aka “Doc T”