Miranda Adkins | So Salem

Mary Ann Taylor (left) and Carole Morehart sit with the creations that were headed to Japan.

Cathy Benson | So Salem

Look at those smiles! Dental tech Stephanie Surprenant, Mac the horse and Dr. Tanya Hatchett.

The Salem artist who created Jeff Dunham's "Peanut" returned from a ventriloquist's convention in Osaka, Japan, April 2. There she lectured to around 50 Japanese students on puppetmaking, with her daughter accompanying her.

Mary Ann Taylor, her daughter Melissa, and part-time assistant Carol Morehart work out of Taylor's garage-turned-workshop where Taylor created her first puppets. It now holds MAT Puppets -- a business known to ventriloquists and puppet-crafters around the world.

Her husband, Wayne, did ventriloquism as a hobby more than 15 years ago, and Taylor got the idea to start making puppets from a convention they visited. Virna Finley had some of her fine foam puppets on display.

Even though Wayne Taylor is no longer doing ventriloquism, the demand for Mary Ann Taylor's puppets is strong and growing. Virna Finley, a popular and sought-after maker of foam puppets that helped to inspire the style of Matpuppets, has had a direct effect on Taylor's business.

"I took several workshops from her, and now that she's retired, it's consuming me," she said. She has a bachelor's degree in home economics and a minor in art, and she'd always been the crafty type, she said. She hopes to one day pass the business to her daughter, Melissa Taylor, who has a bachelor's in art from James Madison University.

Before heading over to the far East, Taylor carefully packed the eight dolls -- fashioned after elderly people with real wire-rimmed glasses, hats, earrings, and little outfits.

Although she returned without them because they were all sold at the convention, Tazuka -- her colleague that invited her and gave the Taylors a tour of Osaka -- ordered more.

"They get so that they seem like real people after a while," she said.

The little people MAT Puppets makes are shipped everywhere around the world -- from Argentina to Japan to Europe. "It's gotten so that when we [Mary Ann and Wayne] go to the post office they ask "who's this one and where are they going?," she said.

Salem veterinarian betters equine dental health

Stephanie Surprenant, EqDT (equine dental technician) of Buchanan has a business card for Pro Floats that features a photo of her brushing a horse's teeth. It is very cute, humorous really. But there is much more serious care going on for the animal than a comic photo op. Without a good set of teeth, a horse can suffer a variety of ailments that can cause critical declines in health.

Recently, Surprenant and Salem veterinarian Dr. Tanya Hatchett of Clover Creek Animal Health Clinic were in Bedford County treating an 11-year-old show horse and stud named "Mac" who had become seriously malnourished because his teeth had sharp edges and a catch.

Surprenant had been a vet assistant for seven years at an equine clinic in Daleville prior to going to the American School of Equine Dentistry. She has been an Equine Dental Technician for the past two and half years. She and Hatchett work together all over the area.

At Bedford's Triple MMM Farm, the duo worked diligently to file away Mac's rough edges and give him back his grind. Surprenant used a huge drill with a grinder on the end. In horse circles this procedure is referred to as "floating" the teeth. Hatchett had sedated Mac and he was standing, neck outstretched, looking like he had run 100 miles. He was fitted with a mouth brace and Surprenant with her head lamp flaring blue into Mac's mouth steadily ground away his rough edges. It sounded just like a human dentist office, except louder. Hatchett held onto his mouth while Surprenant plied her patient with the drill.

Mac awakened a bit so Hatchett had to give him some calming medication while Surprenant surveyed his bite. He required a great deal of work.

"Every horse should have a once per year exam," said Surprenant.

Hatchett added, "It is better to practice preventative care than have us come out for a visit like this one, which can be expensive."