We first saw Farma Fantasta HHWA and her then three-month-old foal, Fall Fantasta HHWA, at the 2005 World Show in Ebbs, Austria. The heat at that event was unbelievable and under the tent with 100+ mares it was sweltering. They all seemed to handle it all in stride though and Farma put on a beautiful performance when she was taken outside the mare and foal tent.
We visited with the Zebich family and finalized the sale on the last day of the show. Within weeks, Farma, confirmed as one of the last four mares bred to Winterstein, and her foal at her side, Fall, were on their way to Los Angeles. They made the flight well and continued their journey by truck to the quarantine facility at UC Davis.
After two-weeks, we went to pick them up and take them home to our farm in Washington State. This was a long day of driving, one way.
The journey home went well and we were glad to finally have them at our farm. Our elation turned to horror however when after a week of being home, Farma collapsed in her paddock, unable to bear weight. We called for a vet to come right away. He came, assessed the situation, heard the history and made the fortuitous call to send her right to the nearest critical care animal hospital. By strength and determination, we were able to hoist Farma in the horse trailer; her foal, still at her side had to be left behind.
Farma survived three days in a full body sling before we finally got the confirmed diagnosis. She, and her foal Fall (who was later transported to the animal hospital as well) had both been infected with West Nile virus while in quarantine. UC Davis was in the hotbed of West Nile virus at the time. With not being able to vaccinate before import, and no environmental controls in place at the quarantine facility, it seemed an inevitable tragedy.
Farma amazed the doctors by her level-headed approach to each day and her spirit that refused to give up. She accepted each day as it came. The doctors said that most horses would not tolerate the sling for the amount of time that she did. Perhaps because she had been trained as a driving horse, she was not bothered by the constraints and the poles on each side of her.
When the paralysis faded and she was finally able to stand on her feet, insult was added to injury. Farma foundered on all four feet and sadly, lost her Winterstein foal that she was carrying.
When her founder had moved from the critical to the chronic stage, we were finally able to get her back to the farm. We had to resurface her stall in deep sand. We had to constantly treat her pressure sores from the sling and then from not being able to stand up on her foundered feet; She had full coffin bone roation on the front feet.
We soaked her feet everyday in disinfectant and Epsom salt. At one point we had to drill drainage trenches at the top of her feet, by the coronary band to release the pressure on the sole of the foot. With special, orthopedic boots, we were able, while the laminae was soft, to push the coffin bone slowly back up into the correct position. After over a year of this daily treatment and no exercise other than hand walking, Farma had new feet. X-rays now show feet that you would not be able to tell had foundered. The de-rotation of the coffin bone is complete and she has hard, normal feet with no dropped sole.
We were slowly able to bring Farma back into condition and she has excelled as a driving horse. Because of the WNV, she lost most of the muscle on her back and her right hip so she is not a strong riding horse.
In 2007, she had recovered enough of her strength and muscle that the veterinarian O.K.'d her to be bred. She was bred to Aristocrat and in 2008 produced a beautiful, tall and strong colt, Anointed HHWA ("Andy").
Farma continues to grow stronger every day. We are excited about her survival and her success. She is an inspiration and a model of courage and fortitude.
