A little Qantas Update

Qantas has now been on rehab since the 5th of August 2021 after he came out the field hopping lame, barely being able to walk. It wasn’t long after his pleasure ride at Cirencester, where his improvement in behaviour had given me so much hope and excitement for the rest of the season.

It turns out that maybe his behaviour over the last year was potentially him trying to tell us he was in pain. I did everything I could when his behaviour went haywire to check that it wasn’t pain: Physio, Farrier, Vet, Saddle, Bridle, Feed, Rest, Different training……the list goes on. But everything came back as sound and fit.

Luckily due to staying in Wales to avoid mud fever and sarcoid surgery Qantas was only ridden for about 8-10 weeks over the last year so I don’t feel too bad about the likelihood that we were missing something. His behaviour one day would be exemplary, he was lovely to train and such a happy horse, the next I would be flying through the air after an almighty spook and he wouldn’t stand still to do anything for a second.

He has a genetic abnormality on the bony landscape of his shoulder, which in simple terms means there isn’t a groove for his biceps tendon to sit in, so rather than the tendon being round like a cable it’s flat and thin across the joint. In August, somehow whilst out in the field he frayed his biceps tendon, which I’m very thankful was not a complete rupture. This made his shoulder very unstable.

Fast forward and he’s been at my parents home in Wales, as the ground and landscape is much better for his recovery, for three months. He is now sound, running around happily in the field but his shoulder is still quite unstable on a slope. We’re giving him the time and eventually the very slow return to work he needs to see how he goes. But for now he’ll stay in Wales and we will wait and see if the shoulder fully recovers.