Question about companion animals

[Dylan Christensen]

Has anyone ever bought a Very Sound horse a companion animal? I’m a little worried it’ll make my guy get over rested but at the same time I think it could make long ships easier on him. Anybody have any experience in this realm? Any help or anecdotes are appreciated

[Rochelle Bos]

Very debated topic in the SIM as far as I know. Lots of different opinions on it. I bought this girl a companion animal before I knew it had benefits. She vets as rested around 1.5 weeks.

Y52-W6-D7 Vet: Cheer This Way seems to be pretty healthy. This horse isn't even a little bit tired.
Y52-W6-D3 Vet: Cheer This Way seems A-okay to me. This horse can run in a few days but I don't think it's at its peak, you know?
Y52-W5-D7 Vet: Cheer This Way seems to be pretty healthy. This horse will be tired for the next few days, okay? Have you ever noticed that Cheer This Way is sore in the morning? Maybe try some bandages.
Y52-W5-D4 Moved to Aa Equine Eastern Us [RACED THIS DAY]

[Art K Stables]

Also,
isnt there a difference between soundness and tiredness? While we know unsound horses require more rest, what is the difference between soundness and tiredness in relation to companion animals?

[Kaine Saracen]

Very debated topic in the SIM as far as I know. Lots of different opinions on it. I bought this girl a companion animal before I knew it had benefits. She vets as rested around 1.5 weeks.

Y52-W6-D7 Vet: Cheer This Way seems to be pretty healthy. This horse isn't even a little bit tired.
Y52-W6-D3 Vet: Cheer This Way seems A-okay to me. This horse can run in a few days but I don't think it's at its peak, you know?
Y52-W5-D7 Vet: Cheer This Way seems to be pretty healthy. This horse will be tired for the next few days, okay? Have you ever noticed that Cheer This Way is sore in the morning? Maybe try some bandages.
Y52-W5-D4 Moved to Aa Equine Eastern Us [RACED THIS DAY]

One can see why it would be "Very debated"


Y46-W15-D5 Vet: X-rays are coming back clear on this horse! This horse isn't even tired! (Pre-race vetting)
Y46-W15-D4 Vet: He is walking soundly. It's the perfect time for a race or some other exercise!
Y46-W15-D2 Moved to South Africa Race Course
Y46-W15-D1 Vet: Your horse's legs look fine for now. You've got yourself a sharp horse here!
Y46-W14-D5 Vet: He is walking soundly. It's the perfect time for a race or some other exercise!
Y46-W14-D4 Jogged
Y46-W14-D4 Vet: He is currently totally healthy! This horse isn't even tired!
Y46-W14-D2 Vet: There are currently no physical problems that I can see. This horse should be okay, but if the race were today, it won't run the best race of its career, okay?
Y46-W13-D4 Vet: He is walking soundly. I wouldn't give this horse another workout too soon, okay?
Y46-W12-D5 Moved to Magic Raven Africa (Race day)
Y46-W12-D2 Moved to Kenya Racecourse
Y46-W12-D2 Vet: There are currently no physical problems that I can see. You've got yourself a sharp horse here!

The above is for Farodin, a very unsound type who shows as totally healthy and not tired in less than two weeks looking at the highlighted bits.He never had the benefit of a companion

[Rochelle Bos]

I should also say my girl shipped to Japan from the US for the 52.5.4 race, and shipped immediately back to the states. So her 1.5ish week recovery is based on 2 long ships and a race win. She recovers faster when not scheduled by a crazy person

[Tammy Stawicki]

Has anyone ever bought a Very Sound horse a companion animal? I’m a little worried it’ll make my guy get over rested but at the same time I think it could make long ships easier on him. Anybody have any experience in this realm? Any help or anecdotes are appreciated

To get back to the original question I don't think you need to worry about a companion animal making a horse "over rested." My intepretation of how things work (which admittedly could be wrong) is that there are two independent variables that influence how long a horse needs between races... tiredness and fitness. And while certainly while both go up with activity and down with rest I don't think they are directly related. I've seen tired horses that weren't fit and fit horses that weren't tired. So you have this balancing act where you want to get the tiredness down but keep the fitness up. I don't think there is such a thing as too little tiredness (less is always better) but if you rest a horse too long it might have lost too much fitness. My interpretation of companion animals is that they only affect the tiredness component. So by recovering from the race faster, you see your tiredness going down faster. I see farm rest as acting similarly. Meanwhile, fitness is not affected by these things so your horse can be ready to race again when it still has more of the fitness from that last race. Now admittedly maybe the "very sound" designation and farm rest already gets you all the speedy recovery time you need and there is no added benefit of a companion animal but I don't think it would be a negative.

[Dylan Christensen]

Has anyone ever bought a Very Sound horse a companion animal? I’m a little worried it’ll make my guy get over rested but at the same time I think it could make long ships easier on him. Anybody have any experience in this realm? Any help or anecdotes are appreciated

To get back to the original question I don't think you need to worry about a companion animal making a horse "over rested." My intepretation of how things work (which admittedly could be wrong) is that there are two independent variables that influence how long a horse needs between races... tiredness and fitness. And while certainly while both go up with activity and down with rest I don't think they are directly related. I've seen tired horses that weren't fit and fit horses that weren't tired. So you have this balancing act where you want to get the tiredness down but keep the fitness up. I don't think there is such a thing as too little tiredness (less is always better) but if you rest a horse too long it might have lost too much fitness. My interpretation of companion animals is that they only affect the tiredness component. So by recovering from the race faster, you see your tiredness going down faster. I see farm rest as acting similarly. Meanwhile, fitness is not affected by these things so your horse can be ready to race again when it still has more of the fitness from that last race. Now admittedly maybe the "very sound" designation and farm rest already gets you all the speedy recovery time you need and there is no added benefit of a companion animal but I don't think it would be a negative.

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much Tammy(and everyone else). I'm wondering if anybody can confirm this? Although it sounds right so probably not necessary