Print edition: 
It was a dilemma for some horse-lovers attending EquiFest of Kansas on Saturday afternoon: Either pick up some tips from two of the best barrel racing trainers in the country or attend a workshop on dental care for horses.
At least two dozen people showed up to hear Ed McArty talk about horse teeth.
“Every horse has 36 teeth – six molars, top and bottom,” he began. “That’s 24 of ’em. And six incisors, top and bottom. That’s the other 12.”
Equifest, now in its 15th year, offers a variety of equestrian events designed for horse owners and enthusiasts. The events include demonstations, seminars and workshops, such as the one on caring for a horse’s teeth.
Male horses also have two small “wolf” teeth that are usually extracted when the horse is gelded, McArty said.
Horses, like humans, lose their baby teeth – 24 of them by the time they turn 5, said McArty, who is from Linwood in northeast Kansas. Unlike humans, he said, a horse will wear off an eighth of an inch of each of its grinding teeth every year. That’s why the teeth need to be “floated” on occasion.
“Floating is simply filing off the sharp edges,” McArty said.
For those who opted for the barrel racing tips, the instructions offered by Sharon Camarillo of Lockeford, Calif., and her daughter, Storme Camarillo of St. Louis, were almost as puzzling to those not familiar with the language.
“Barrel racers, if you don’t know what a diagonal is, you need to,” Sharon Camarillo told the crowd through a wireless microphone as she offered riding tips from atop one of her horses as it strode across the arena.
Although she gave no further explanation, it was apparent that the term had to do with the position of the horse’s legs as it is maneuvered through a cloverleaf pattern around the three barrels that were set up in the arena.
Among those attending that session was Victoria Bradley of Bonner Springs, who started barrel racing seven years ago at the age of 17. She said she’s now training two barrel-racing horses and hoped to go home with some fresh ideas.
Bradley said the sport of barrel racing involves a lot more than speed.
“You can’t just get on a horse and go as fast as you can,” she said “There’s a lot of fine-tuning and training that goes into it. The more time you spend on practice and training, the better your runs are going to be.”
For a good rider, she said, the runs are often in the 16-second range.
“You spend months and years of training to be in the arena for as short a period of time as possible,” she said.
