Month: November 2019

There’s been a lot of chatter going on this week on social media about what happened to Mongolian Groom in the Breeder’s Cup Classic. I’ve seen it discussed by so many different people, from so many different backgrounds. Some are blaming the track, some are blaming officials, some are even blaming Mongolian Groom’s pedigree (that one I don’t particularly agree with).

Seeing what the non-horse people are saying is probably the most troubling. It’s easy, as an “insider” who understands the animals and the sport a lot more, to shrug off those opinions or roll your eyes at them, saying they’re just the uneducated public. But the truth is, their opinion is what’s going to make or break this sport. Public perception matters, and what’s happening now is the ultimate PR nightmare: a horse breaking down on prime time tv at a track that has been making headlines all year for horse deaths. The public sees jockeys whipping the tar out of horses, a horse’s leg turning into a spaghetti noodle underneath it, and then voila – yet another death. It’s incredibly bad for racing, and honestly it doesn’t exactly shed a positive light on ANY equestrian sports, as far as the public is concerned. They don’t know the difference.

The videos of Mongolian Groom’s last few workouts also make you wonder what exactly happened here. The horse didn’t look good on these videos.

https://www.xbtv.com/video/workout/mongolian-groom-galloped-at-santa-anita-park-on-october-31st-2019/?fbclid=IwAR0lQs4Jj8ZeM8V_n2NZsuLNVYaukterCUqPCgn19c3kLpFcfsoKWcWEg6w

He’s also had a pretty packed schedule. In the last 12 months he raced 13 times. He spent all spring training and racing at Santa Anita when horses were dropping left and right. He traveled to the east coast and back twice. He’s done 9 stakes races since April of this year – 7 months time. At one point he even did two Grade 1 races two weeks apart, with a third less than a month later. Not a schedule you see that often with a hard-running stakes horse.

Mongolian Groom had a heck of a year, with no breaks. He finished pretty consistently in the money and put up speed figures between 105 and 126 all but one time. If his record tells us anything, it’s that the horse was definitely a trier. He showed up and he did his job, time and again, right up until he couldn’t. This wasn’t a horse that colicked, or had a pasture accident, or whatever myriad ways that horses find to die on a regular basis. This wasn’t a case where everything was done right and the horse just fell on some shit luck. This was man-made, on the world stage, while in service to entertain people, with a lot of questionable factors involved. Combine his record, how he looked in those workout videos, the controversy surrounding Santa Anita, and what happened in the Classic… it makes me feel like humans really failed this horse along the way. Massively.

That’s the part of this that is so heartbreaking to me. The shit storm is really tough to watch, but honestly… maybe the sport deserves it. Maybe all horse sports do. Maybe we ALL need to do a better job of looking after these horses, and if we can’t do that, if we can’t put the well-being of the horse as the highest priority, then maybe we don’t deserve to have a sport. Business is business, yeah sure I get it, but at what cost? I will never be comfortable with the idea of horses being disposable. And using up a good horse certainly isn’t limited to just racing, you see it all the time. Shoot, there was an eventer that did Burghley (didn’t finish, but made it about halfway around), Blenheim, AND Pau. And how many people are out there showing 3+ days a week, 20+ weeks a year?

Maybe I’m overreacting or being a bleeding heart, or maybe I’m just tired of seeing horses pay the price. It’s been a long year, with way too many lost horses in several sports, and my heart is weary. We haven’t done our best by these horses. But I do know one thing… if we don’t fix this – if racing doesn’t fix their massive PR problem, and if all horse sports don’t sit up and pay attention to what’s happening here – it will trickle down to all of us. Someday the industry as a whole will have to answer for this, and that day is coming.

LeMieux has, undoubtedly, been one of the hottest brands of the past few years. Their matchy sets really put them on the map, and the product line has rapidly expanded to all kinds of horse and rider wear, grooming equipment, and stable supplies. I am not a fan of the matchy sets myself (thats… a lot of color…), but LeMieux does make some REALLY nice saddle pads. I’ve had my eye on the merino+ half lined dressage pad, because man LOOK AT THAT WITHER PROFILE. And the d-ring strap attachments are brilliant because I hate billet straps with every fiber of my being.

While LeMieux rose to fame on their saddle pads and polo wraps, those are admittedly two items from them that I don’t own. I have three LeMieux things in my arsenal now – bell boots, bandage pads, and ice boots. And my feelings about them vary quite a bit.

The first thing I bought was the leather wraparound bell boots.

I’d had a pair of leather bell boots before and I LOVED the look of them but they died within a couple months. I mostly ride outside of the arena, and grass can really wear on the material. When I went shopping for a new pair I decided to try one more time on the leather but go with LeMieux. It’s been 6 months, and while they’re starting to show some wear on the bottom edges of the leather, they’ve certainly held up a lot better than I thought they would and far surpassed the previous brand. I feel like the leather gives a little bit more protection (Henry grabbed THE SHIT out of himself once to the point where he almost fell down and there was just a very slight ding in the leather. Probably would have been a rip in rubber.) and I haven’t had a problem with them getting wet or muddy. I just hose them off. I’ve been happy with these, and feel like the price is really reasonable. Would love them even more if they came in navy (navy is a lifestyle, I can’t help it).

The next LeMieux purchase was bandage pads.

These were kind of an impulse purchase when I was trying to replace my really old no-bow’s, couldn’t decide what I wanted, and just panicked and threw something in the cart. LeMieux says they can be used as stable bandages or exercise bandages, and I use them as stable bandages, but I would say they’re probably better suited as exercise bandages. I think they’re just a bit small and short and thin and flimsy for a stable bandage, personally. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the towel-like material on the inner lining, because if I’m just dry wrapping, it’s great, but if I’m wrapping over wet poultice paper, I’m not so thrilled. I also thought I would really like the velcro tabs in the middle but turns out I hate them because they’re right where I want to tuck my wrap in to start it. I would probably like those features a lot if I was using them as exercise bandages, but as stable bandages they’re not my favorite. They certainly work just fine as stable bandages but wouldn’t be my first choice for that purpose.

The last and most recent purchase was the ice boots I impulse-purchased at Burghley.

Sigh. These things. I really like the boot itself… I think it’s designed well, I like that it goes all the way down to the hoof, and that the elastic straps let you adjust it tighter if you desire. The interior pocket is insulated and has a zipper that allows easy access to take the ice pack in and out. So what do I hate? Said mother effing ice pack. It SUCKS. The shape is nice, and it doesn’t get stiff, but it’s SO THIN that it doesn’t hold the cold at all. Like I took the packs directly out of the freezer, put them in the boots, put the boots on my horse’s wet legs, and when I took them off 20 minutes later the legs and the ice packs were both warm. Not cold. Not even cool. Like body temperature warm. That’s… relatively terrible. For the price of the boots, the ice packs should be a lot better than that. I know it’s hot here, but geez.

I’m experimenting with making my own ice packs to see if I can make these work, since I do like the actual boot itself.

Despite not loving those, it was really fun to walk through the giant LeMieux tent at Burghley and get to touch/feel everything. I remain impressed by all the boots and saddle pads (in fact I talked both of my traveling companions into buying fluffy boots), and some of their clothing looked nice as well (anybody have the base layer?). Certainly no one can hold a candle to their variety of colors, that’s for sure. Shit, they even make pompom helmet covers, and y’all know how I feel about that. I have a lot of regrets over not buying the sparkly pompom beanie hat. Maybe next time…

First order of business: did the baby boys’ blankets survive the cold snap? I know, y’all are probably just totally on the edge of your seats about this. The answer is, shockingly, yes. Both blankets are still in tact even after several days/nights of wear. Although I think perhaps it’s a testament to the blankets more than it is a credit to the boys.

But yesterday I found a Unicorn blanket and now I really really want it so I need to find an excuse. Henry can’t wear it, since it’s not a HUG, but Presto could. I mean… I guess I could just get a bigger one and keep it for Presto for next year. Does he need another sheet? No. Not right now anyway. He probably will next year since I don’t own anything bigger than a 78 and there’s no way he’ll still fit in a 78 in a year’s time. So technically I kinda need it but not right now. But… unicorns. Rainbow unicorns.

Speaking of unicorns, the vet came back out this weekend to check on Henry’s mouth and do some annual maintenance. Having a big hole in his head (ok fine it’s in his mouth) is still freaking me out. Despite flushing it twice a day with the hose he still had some chewed up hay stuck around there, and the vet got it flushed out then checked the hole. Seems to be healing as expected. I don’t think I’ll relax about it for another like… year, probably.

Henry seems to be feeling fine though, considering he spent Saturday morning’s ride squealing and crowhopping with his nose planted between his knees. I’m totally okay with it though, because my cool weather horse is so much happier than my hot weather horse. It was a gross summer. I think we’re both more than ready to get back to our regular schedule, even if it means I’m riding a cracked out dolphin.

Henry got yesterday off, so I brought Presto in for his weekly “remember you’re not feral” session. He still comes to the gate and happily marches away from his pasture without a peep, so I’m pleased. I haaaaate herdbound shit, so I’m glad to have avoided any issues with that so far, knock on wood. Presto has always been pretty confident in himself, though.

I brought him up, brushed him, and threw a saddle on him. Fun fact: he fits in Henry’s girth now. It goes up to almost the highest holes, but still… it fits. Ha. Hahahahaha. Helpme. Anyone want a used twice 22″ FlexRider girth? I will add it to the pile of things I need to sell.

I didn’t really know what else to do with Presto at that point, he stands in the crossties pretty darn well and was half asleep, resting a hind foot. So we went around the barn investigating everything, sniffing all the cool stuff, and looking at the other horses.

It was uneventful. He’s the same dude he’s always been, which is a really freaking nice quality to have in a 2yo. I bred for the brain first and foremost, and he hasn’t let me down yet.

I also finally caved to the peer pressure and put a stick on him for the first time in months. I have regrets. He’s 16.2h at the wither. The butt is higher so I didn’t put a stick on that because I just can’t. I thought we’d agreed that he wouldn’t be bigger than 16.3h at maturity but I’m starting to think he’s not going to keep his end of the bargain. But hey, until he actually passes 16.3 I can still pretend it’s not going to happen. Denial, it’s my chosen coping mechanism.

When he was sick so much as a foal I was worried that he might end up stunted. I’ve changed my mind, some stunting would be fine. We’ll also ignore the fact that the saddle actually sits much taller on him than it does on Henry because this creature’s withers haven’t really popped yet, therefore his back is actually like SEVERAL inches higher than Henry’s. My eyeballs are solidly at mid-knee pad level. Maybe I should have bred Sadie to a Connemara stallion instead.

This really just reaffirms that my highest priority Black Friday purchase will be a bigass mounting block. Definitely feeling reaaaaaally glad that I’ve already done lots of mounting lessons with this giraffe, otherwise I’d be dreading the idea of trying to climb on it come spring. Maybe I should just stop feeding him? Joking. Sort of…

Some of you may remember my post back in the spring where I introduced our French friend Mimi, and spoke of the… um… special bond she has with Presto. They haven’t actually met, but they’ve become internet friends of sorts, as Mimi has been recreating her own versions of classic Presto pictures for most of his life. As their relationship has evolved, we’ve discovered that Presto and Mimi really are kindred spirits, sometimes so alike that it’s borderline creepy. Like that time Presto ripped out his braid and, turns out, Mimi already had a similar tuft of hair from too many straightening treatments.

Plus they share a bit of a French connection, with Presto’s sire living in France just a couple hours away from where Mimi lives. They also have kind of an eerily similar personality, energetic and perky with lots to say, and because of that, Mimi really seems to “get” him. The Mimi recreations of Presto pictures is definitely one of my favorite things ever, and endlessly entertaining. She manages to nail it pretty spot on every time, in a way that only those with a true spiritual connection could pull off. We’ve even had thoughts of making a calendar or a coffee table book and donating the proceeds. Working on it. Sort of.

Until then, enjoy round two of Presto and Mimi!

It’s not just the clothes in the mouth, it’s also the devilish expression. Nailed it.

Mimi’s very unwilling husband also nailed his role as Henry for this shot, even though he didn’t mean to. See, Presto and Mimi both have the same effect on those around them.

What, you don’t eat salad in front of a fan on the regular? Judging.

Soulmates.

Ah yes, elegant Presto/Mimi basking gloriously in the sunlight (we’re working on Mimi’s ear hair, it’s not quite up to par).

Turns out they eat cookies the same way too.

Clearly they detest being roused unexpectedly from their naps.

And of course, they both agree that hydration is very important.

What kind of shenanigans will Presto and Mimi (Primi? Mimo? Misto?) get up to next? Only they know. Guess we’ll just have to stay tuned to find out!