Month: August 2017

I got quite the kick out of one particular part of William Micklem’s last article where he shared his thoughts on breeding event horses:

Yep, you got it, the warmblood registries were not big fans of Sam. This is specifically referring to when he was presented as a 2yo for stallion licensing, where he was rejected with the overall impression being “He is nondescript, his head is too big, he has no presence and has a funny jumping technique”. Of course, this all worked out in Sam’s favor in the end, because it set him on the path to end up with Michael Jung, but it’s funny to hear the impression that a whole lot of breeding specialists had of him (and they were not necessarily wrong at the time) when he was a young horse.

Sam was a late bloomer, and of course even now there isn’t much about him that would immediately WOW most people. He’s fairly plain and not a particularly flashy mover or jumper. But he’s got a ton of heart and a huge desire to please, and that, more than anything else, is what has made him one of the best event horses of all time.

Sam’s story is also just one of many examples of why I personally don’t put much stock in inspection scores, especially for babies. There’s definitely a lesson in Sam’s story for all of us with foals or young horses. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a slam on the judges and inspectors at all – in most cases they are supremely well qualified, with an abundance of experience. This is just an observation of the nature of horses and how hard it can be to see their true potential.

For dressage horses, there’s a lot you can see in a young horse. The gaits will be there at least in their raw form, although the conformation can change a bit, and of course you can’t tell what the horse’s mental capacity for the work will be. For jumpers, or especially eventers, I think it’s very very hard, even impossible, to judge the potential of a horse that young, especially if they are a late bloomer.

I’ve been to a lot of inspections, especially foal inspections. Many people, especially new breeders, put a lot of emphasis on the scores, getting really excited about a good score or extremely disappointed with a bad one. But really, there are a lot of variables at play here. First and foremost, the judges can only give a score for what they see in those few minutes on that particular day. If the foal is in a funky stage of growth, or if they’re tense, or if they just won’t show any trot… the scores will suffer, obviously. It doesn’t mean the quality isn’t there, it just means they can’t see it. The premium foals, the ones who score the highest, are usually the well-developed, pretty ones who decide to trot around with lots of spring in their step on that particular day. Does that translate to a successful sporthorse? I mean… maybe… but not directly.

And with jumpers and eventers, of course they don’t actually get to see the foals jump at all, since they’re so young. The judges can see the canter (if the foal stops bouncing around like Pepe LePew long enough to show some real canter, that is), which can be some indicator of power, but does the horse have the ability? The scope? The technique? The heart? The boldness? The rideability? None of that can be seen on that day, and those are the most important qualities in a jumping horse.

Foal inspections are fun and important, don’t get me wrong. It’s fun to braid, get everyone bathed, and show them off. And of course I do think it’s VERY important for the breed registries to get out there and look at what is being produced. To see the mares, see the offspring, possibly make some breeding suggestions, point out potential future stallion candidates, and see what bloodlines are working out well. That’s selective breeding at it’s finest, after all, and it’s what has made the warmblood registries so incredibly successful at producing sporthorses. It’s also a great feather in the cap of a breeder if their foals score really well.

But am I, the average amateur who bred a horse that is destined for packing my ass around mid-level eventing, going to place a ton of emphasis on what score Presto gets at his foal inspection? No. Honestly, his probably won’t be high, and that’s ok. He’s just not the typical “premium” type. I bred him to do a job, not to get a good foal score. We’ll go out there, and he’ll probably bounce around like a cracked out monkey, and we’ll take our score, listen to the comments, thank the judges profusely for their expertise, and get his brand. Will any of that have any bearing on his future? No. He will be a gelding and a riding horse, not breeding stock.

The same theory applies for young horses classes, too. Hunter breeding, dressage breeding, future event horse… even the beginning of their career under saddle. It’s just a day in the life of that horse, not a be-all-end-all declaration of it’s future. It’s not fun to hear the negative, especially if you know the horse is better than that, but it’s all a part of the game.

Time will tell what kind of quality we really have, just like it did with Sam. So to anyone else out there with foals, or young horses that are starting out in their show careers – if you get good scores and placings, enjoy them. If you don’t, don’t sweat it. Relish the horse you’ve got, and savor the journey you’re on. Remember, this is only the beginning. Sam wasn’t born a superstar either.

You know what’s fun? Planning a trip to Europe. You know what’s even more fun? When said trip is mostly horsey. You know what’s the most fun? The fact that it’s less than 4 weeks away.

The main reason we’re going is for Bundeschampionate, which is in Warendorf Germany from August 30-Sept 3. But of course we’re flying over a few days before, and staying a couple days after, so we have ample time to visit some farms, see some babies and stallions, and do some touristy things along the way, naturlich. This week we finalized all those other days, made an itinerary, and booked the hotels.

Day 1 will be mostly spent at a farm just outside of Brussels, looking at stallions and youngstock,

then we’re heading north to Bruges.

We definitely plan on eating our weight in waffles, but beyond that we’ll just see what looks appealing.

There’s also an entire museum dedicated to Pommes Frites though, which IMO that’s like a must-do. Yes, please teach me all about the history of pommes frites and then reward me with some at the end of the tour. Those are the kinds of things I really need to learn about in Europe.

The next morning we hit the highway that runs along the coast, out of Belgium and into France, on down to the Rouen area. Here we’ll be visiting a pretty awesome pony jumper breeder

and then staying in a small village outside of town, on the Seine. Like literally right ON IT.

The next day we have a pretty long drive all the way across France, back across southern Belgium (with a pitstop at the Zangersheide Studfarm to look at stallions)

before we finally get to our little farmhouse Airbnb in Germany, about 10 minutes from Warendorf.

Funny though, it takes almost the same amount of time to drive from Rouen to Warendorf as it does for me to drive from my house to Michelle’s farm. And we’re in the same damn state.

Once we get to Warendorf we have several things on the agenda. Of course there’s Bundeschampionate itself, although we’re going to just kind of pop in and out during the preliminary days and really only plan on staying all day for the showjumping and cross country finals. 

Luckily there is a TON of stuff within about an hour of there that we can do. There are a couple more studfarms we plan to hit, including Schockemohle and Ludger Beerbaum’s stallion station.

Mostly these four days that we’re in Warendorf are pretty open, by design. We’ll just see where our adventures take us, and figure out what all we can fit in. I had originally mapped out several awesome tack shops, but then one of the BuCha organizers told me that the shopping is supposed to be awesome at the event, so we’ll see what kind of trouble I can get into there. Either way, these are definitely on my list of things that will be coming home with me from Europe.

If I have any money left by the time we leave Warendorf, it’ll be a total miracle.

After being fully immersed in everything horsey for 4 straight days, we head back over to Brussels for our last afternoon and night. We both really loved the Grand Place last time we were in Brussels, so we’re going to spend our last evening binging on cheese and sausage platters and drinking framboise. Perhaps more waffles, too… let’s be real.

Our hotel is literally IN the Grand Place, and we paid a little extra to have a room with a view of the Grand Place itself. Because how the hell do you beat that view?

By then we’ll probably be ready to come home, and hopefully all of our stuff will still fit in our bags. I may or may not be 10lbs heavier, both of body and of bag. I’m SUPER RIDICULOUSLY excited though, especially now that we have a really good plan and everything is booked.

And now, we wait 26 more days. But who’s counting?

 

It was 106 and 107 this past weekend in Austin. Like, degrees. In the shade. We’ve already had 20+ days over 100 this year, making this a pretty miserable summer. Granted, this is Texas… miserable summers are it’s specialty. It feels like sticking your face in an oven, if you’re into that sort of thing.

I’ve been riding at the buttcrack of dawn, so I’m rarely out in the heat of the day anymore. Of course, my morning rides, while significantly cooler at more like 78ish degrees, are usually between 90-98% humidity. Moisture, I has it in spades. I slosh my way into work every morning, put all my stuff down at my desk, and head straight to the shower. It’s just gross. Still better than riding when it’s 100+ though, at least according to Henry the heavy breather.

Who, I’ve noticed over the past couple weeks, always seems to have a harder time breathing when the pollen count is high. Coincidentally, so do I. Austin is not a good place to live if your body has any kind of objections to pollen, or mold, or cedar, or pretty much anything that can possibly be considered an airborne allergen. This place is a Petri dish. And not just because of all the hipsters. Can anyone tell I’m really itching to be done with Texas?

But this week we’re having a “cold front”, if you can call it that. Our highs are now only in the 90’s, and the humidity is lower. Yesterday morning it was only 75 with 70% humidity, and this morning was 75 with 75% humidity. Sadly, that felt completely amazing. Henry has even been a bit wild, and spent this morning spooking at a rock, some poop, a hay bale, a fan, and a horse. For the record, he did not spook at the rabbit, the cat, or the coyote. I don’t understand Henny logic.

The high tomorrow is only 90, and then there are some rain chances in the forecast (omg sky moisture, I hear that’s a thing!) later in the week. Even though I know the triple digits will be back soon, this was a pretty nice mid-summer break.

Thank goodness, too, because today is opening day for our first horse trial of the fall! I was finding it really hard to be motivated to enter when I could barely peel myself out of my seat to walk out to the mailbox. Things are filled out now, though… which means it’ll probably shoot right back up into the 100’s and stay there until October, because Texas hates me back.