Benefits of extended rest (Road to Tevis #67)

Fantazia is going to test the benefits of an extended rest period. (You can read about her lameness in my last blog post, Figuring out Fantazia’s lameness.) This morning (Friday March 25, 2022), my farrier came to take off Fantazia’s shoes. (Yes, he also trimmed her hooves!) He had seen the xrays of her feet and talked with my vet. They’ve been working together to fix lameness for years. My farrier has been shoeing Fantazia since I got her (first shoes on July 2020). We took radiographs last April, so they could compare images.

Above: Fantazia’s going to be barefoot for the foreseeable future. On the left, you can see that problematic right foot.

Read about bringing Fantazia back into condition here: Bringing a horse back into work after a long break.

Basically, nothing has changed inside her feet over the last 12 months. She’s been shod a long time and her hooves could use a break, but other than that, she’s fine. No thrush. No problems with angles, etc. Yes, the right fore is a little clubby and the left is a bit low. Yes, they’d like to see more sole, but that’s the way she is. Up till the Fire Mountain ride in January, she’s been 100% sound. At Fire Mountain, she was a little bit off on the first day, mid-ride, but she finished 50, stood for BC (As on gait), and completed 55 miles the next day, with all As on gait.

If you read Figuring out Fantazia’s lameness, you’ll know that we blocked it to below the fetlock. Radiographs and ultrasound clean. Coffin joints injected (known issue for over a year). Two weeks rest, and yes she’s improved but she’s not 100%. The video below was taken yesterday, two weeks post-injection.

My farrier looked at her this morning and gave her a 2 out of 10, where 1 = sound and 10 = three-legged lame. She showed a very slight limp about 20% of the time. He doesn’t believe he can fix it with trimming and shoes (neither does my vet). And when he says shoes, he includes composites, pads, wedges, you name it. Maybe we can make her more comfortable so I could do a few more rides, but…

Making her more comfortable isn’t a solution

And continuing to use her could make things worse, if she has a soft tissue injury. I know that is what my vet suspects. But since she’s going to be breed in about a month anyway, and I have a limited budget, I’m not springing for an MRI. Whatever soft tissue injury an MRI would reveal is going to need months of rest anyway. So we’ll just jump straight to the rest. The benefits of extended rest include curing most injuries.

Of the many many suggestions I received when I shared my last post on the AERC page (you can see the comment thread here), rest was my favorite. In my own experience, rest has served in almost every case of unidentified lameness.

Above: Fantazia this morning (March 25, 2022) after having her shoes taken off. She’s fat and sassy. Probably already starting to feel the benefits of extended rest. (well, she’s also in heat!)

So what the plan for Fantazia?

She’s been in heat for a few days, so I’ll be taking her to the vet in about three weeks. We’re going to cover her with frozen semen from my mother’s Morgan stallion, Carlyle Command. I’ll be posting about my decision to breed at some point, and those of you who disagree can tell me why that’s a bad decision then.

If she takes, she’ll be expecting a foal next March.

This doesn’t mean I have given up hope of ever doing another endurance ride with her!

Though I might ride her once she is no longer lame, I probably won’t do more than mosey about the place until she’s had 6 months of lamenes-free rest. By that time she may well be too heavy with foal to do much anyway.

Once she has foaled, I will start conditioning her gradually (provided she’s been sound for at least 6 months). If she is sound after a month or so, I’ll have her reshod and get serious. I won’t aim for 100 miles, but I’d be willing to bet Fantazia will be more than capable of doing a few 50s a year.

We’ve competed for two years now. That’s 8 more to make a decade.

What about Tevis?

Fantazia won’t be doing Tevis. I’ve known that since last July. But her baby might, or I might find another horse that is capable. I don’t want to buy a horse, because I don’t want to fall into the horse-collecting-trap. Fortunately, when I posted that I was looking for a horse to lease, I received numerous offers. Most were horses who require lots of training. I love to train my own horses, but at the moment, I want one I can do endurance with sooner rather than later.

I’ve found a couple of horses I am super-interested in leasing. I’m going to do look at them in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I’ll be introducing the one that comes home with me soon!

I doubt I’ll be doing Tevis this year, but at least I should be able to keep riding endurance. Depending on the horse I get, I’ll need 2-6 months. But diesel is scary-expensive now anyway. Silver lining!