The Horseman’s Dentist
Elisabeth Copeland
It is a brisk winter day in late February. Mike Mullin is up at 4 am to prepare for galloping at Fair Hill. Always the prepared Mike’s routine dictates how early he must rise. At 58 he must stick to a strict regime to stay limber to gallop. He does yoga every morning to be ready to ride the fresh young thoroughbreds with expert hands.
Mike Mullin has been in the horse industry since before he could walk. His father was a racehorse trainer. Mike was rider at a very early age and had jockey goals as a young man. He has been a jockey, trainer and horse dentist. He is well known all over the mid Atlantic for his skill and expertise in starting young horses. He has a knack for developing the on-es that no one else had luck with and against all odds getting them to run successfully. These days he is focusing only on training his own barn with Elisabeth Copeland, his partner. Together they have few young racing prospects. Their barn is centered on the total horse from breeding to racing to ultimately retraining and offering their horses to second careers. They take a more conservative approach sometimes waiting to bring horses along to give them more time to develop and grow. It is a labor of love Mike and Elisabeth are both NJ transplants and made Maryland their home base. The allure of Fair Hill spoke to both of them with the unlimited training options to develop versatile and athletic horses. They work as a team with Elisabeth handling the day to day care on the farm and Mike's very busy dental schedule and Mike being the Trainer/ slash exercise rider slash horse dentist. The roles shift a bit when it comes to rehab and retraining where Elisabeth takes over.
Their partnership has allowed both to develop their skill set and work together to champion each other's strengths. As far as dentistry Mike is a wizard. He uses hand tools and uses his wonderful horsemanship to work with even the most challenging horses. He is a soft spoken easy going man that horses tend to melt like butter when he handles them. Feel free to reach out if you are interested in equine dentistry. Elisabeth handles the bookings 908-461-1492.