The technicalities of defining veterinary medicine were tested in February in the Alberta, Canada, Court of Appeal when three appeal court justices ruled that a farrier was not guilty of illegally practicing veterinary medicine when he floated horses’ teeth as a service to horse owners.

According to reports in The Western Producer, an agricultural news publication for Western Canada, farrier Louis Pequin was found innocent in a previous trial, the verdict of which was appealed to the higher court by the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association. The higher court upheld the previous judgment. Notation was made that the province’s veterinary practice act does not specifically define floating horses’ teeth as veterinary medicine.

Pequin has been floating teeth since 1985, according to reports. The judge noted that until recent years, veterinarians had encouraged farriers in Alberta to provide routine dental care to horses, as long as medical and surgical procedures were not involved. Pequin claimed to practice under those guidelines.

Care of the horse’s mouth and jaws is an expanding area of equine veterinary medicine in the United States, Canada, and other countries. Both routine and surgical services are offered by an increasing number of equine veterinary practices in North America. So-called “performance dentistry” includes factors relating to the horse’s use of his mouth while being ridden or driven, and the correction of mouth-related problems that might hinder optimum performance