The Road to the Tevis Cup, Post #2: Fantazia’s first three weeks

Fantazia’s first three weeks with me were all about figuring out what she could and would eat and how to make sure she drank. I rode most days and we gradually became reacquainted. (My next post will be about our history together, which began nearly eight years ago.)

(See The Road to the Tevis Cup, Post #1: Introducing Fantazia)

The eating problem

Fantazia’s response to stress is to stop eating. In this, she is just like her sister Lady, so I was well-prepared to deal with the issue. Before I picked her up, Jenna had given Fantazia AbPrazole Plus to help prevent ulcers. I gave her Ulcergard, another product that treats and prevents ulcers, for the next four days.

She still wouldn’t eat at first, unless she was grazing, which I doubt. She mainly stood under her roof and looked anxious. The next day at breakfast, she had barely touched the flake of alfalfa I had put in her feeder when we got home. That same day I went to the feed store for Ultium Gastric Care, a Purina product that contains Outlast. Outlast is a supplement designed to prevent ulcers in horses by helping maintain pH balance. It can be fed separately as top-dressing (more on that later, when I do a feed post).

Fantazia loves Ultium and has been eating four pounds a day, split into two feedings and supplemented with a cup of Natural Glo rice bran. She gradually started eating the alfalfa, and now she gets about nine pounds a day. She gets about a pound of oats when I ride for at least an hour. I also hand-walk her to green grass (mainly St Augustine grass) 20-45 minutes most days. She’s on 4-5 acres with the grass typical of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in summer. When it’s gone I’ll give her grass hay.

The drinking problem

Fortunately, her pasture has a large irrigation ditch running through it, and it is only dry for a month or so each year. Hopefully by then, she will have learned to use the automatic waterers in her shelter. At first she would neither use them nor walk up the hill to the ditch, so I put buckets out for her.

For the first week, I would lead her up the hill to the ditch. She would drink because she’d be thirsty after working. Once I had a routine established, I turned her loose at the bottom of the hill and watched as she walked herself up to drink. Then I took the buckets away one at a time. Now she drinks in the ditch… I have to admit a stream of flowing water is more appetizing than the little automatic basins.

Soundness check

I had been assured that Fantazia had been sound ever since Jenna first bought her. She certainly looked sound when I picked her up. Her legs were beautifully clean, and she trotted out evenly when we got home–after nearly five hours in the trailer!

Nevertheless, the first thing I did the next morning was a thorough lameness check. I felt all four legs for heat, unevenness, and blemished. Then I tested each by both stretching and viewing how she relaxed into various positions. I checked her for flexibility at the poll… I put her in the round pen and trotted (very briefly) both ways. The only thing I didn’t do were flexion tests. At some point I will blog about how a non-vet can do a basic lameness check!

For the moment, I’ll say that everything looked good for Fantazia from the ground. I then rode her for about 30 minutes. I walked her through my favorite warm-up exercise (we need to work on it), and then trotted and cantered enough to know she was a bit stiff, but not lame.

The next day I rode a bit longer, and as she relaxed, I noticed some stiffness in the right shoulder. She was also more reluctant to stretch the right foreleg and to relax it through the shoulder. I always stretch my horses before riding. Now I will also make sure she is relaxing through the shoulders and neck every day. Eventually she’ll get a veterinary once-over and possibly chiro treatment.

Riding

I rode 5-6 days a week during Fantazia’s first three weeks. I hand-walked when I did not ride. Mostly, the hand-walking was just to a nice patch of green grass where she could graze. The idea was relaxation, weight gain, and bonding, with some training in for good measure.

I live with my boyfriend, who is a cutting horse person. His primary indoor arena is a big circle, 140 feet across (circumference = 440 feet). He waters and drags it most days, especially when we ride together. It was perfect for a refresher course with an unshod horse. We also rode in a rectangular outdoor ring with a sandy path between the weeds that have been allowed to grow.

After the first day, I’d ride for 60-120 minutes: 15-20 minutes of trotting, 2-6 minutes of canter. The rest was walking, leg-yielding, stopping, backing, side-passing, turns on haunches, and so forth. I do a lot of standing still with young or new horses too. That’s how they digest new information.

Those riding times include walking outside the arena once we were done with basic lessons/reminders. I’d ride to the mail box to pick up the mail. We’re still working on doing this without shying and snorting. Fantazia does great carrying the mail back up the long (nearly half mile) driveway. I can even read the newspaper and tote large plastic packages. The only thing that still occasions a spook and a snort is throwing the mail into the hay cart.

I realized right away that Fantazia sees a lot more monsters in the main circular ring than anywhere else. They lurk on the other side of the six foot steel wall. They appear in the markings on the same wall. Every chance tractor tire track or unexpected swirl of the drag results in a snort, shy, screeching halt, or all three.

And then there was the manure fork incident. I’ll cover that in a separate post on training gaffes.

Fantazia is great outside of the arena

Fortunately, given that we are going to be riding trails, Fantazia rarely spooks outside the arena. Because she was unshod, we stayed on the property the first three weeks. That was all right. The climb up the hill to the highest point was a decent workout for a horse coming back after a long break. There are rocks and the ditch and steep inclines. We had plenty to do while waiting for the farrier.

Next up: The Road to the Tevis Cup, Post #3: When I met Fantazia