Month: April 2021

So, remember last week when I said that Patrick misjudged his stopping distance and had a bit of a run-in with the fence, scalping himself in the process? I wasn’t kidding. He basically removed his whole star.

There’s no media of the actual incident, but ya know, just imagine that you’re the fence, and these were the last things you saw before he went boom.

Whoops.

He has yet to make the same mistake again, so I think he’s learned his lesson. Plus he’s figured out his legs a lot better, so his sudden stops no longer involve sliding on his bottom. He might be 100% colt but he’s definitely not dumb.

And somehow, despite the fact that he has a giant hole in his face, he somehow still manages to have a ton of presence. He’s a supermodel for sure.

From a distance you can’t really tell so much that his star is missing. Poor little bald spot. Hopefully it grows back before he starts requiring sun screen on it. The other kids (Pippa, I mean Pippa, 110%) would tease him relentlessly.

Which, they might anyway because he’s a little bit of a momma’s boy. Pippa is over there going 900 miles an hour and bossing her poor mother around (after super well-behaved Remi last year, Peyton still seems a little shell-shocked sometimes at this extra fiery filly of hers), but Patrick is all about the cuddles. Lark might not be his mother by DNA but clearly they don’t know or care. He’s 100% her boy in every way that matters.

That’s not to say that Patticakes isn’t spunky and rowdy sometimes too, because he definitely is. It’s funny to see the differences in the eventer foal vs the jumper foal… Pippa is a big fan of galloping all over the place, whereas Patrick is pretty much always airborne. He’s like a little bouncy ball, boing boing boinging his way around. Constantly. And he can get some serious air, too, for a little dude.

One thing he and Pippa definitely have in common though: hay is clearly meant to be jumped.

He always ends up back with mom in between all the bouncing, though.

Pippa and Patrick were finally scheduled to be turned out together early this week after these pics were taken but then it started raining out in West Texas and hasn’t stopped since. Everybody’s been stuck inside for the past several days instead. As soon as the mud dries up a bit and things aren’t so slippery they can fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinally meet. Patrick has been getting bolder and more confident about the neighbor horses, so I think he’s ready to meet Hurricane Pippa. As ready as he’ll ever be, anyway.

In the meantime, Chanel is hopefully not too far away from releasing Patrick’s full brother or sister. She’s at 336 days today and looking as big as a dang house. Stormie is only about a week and a half behind her, with Ginger a few days after that. Let’s get this show on the road already girls, I’m ready for more babies!

Ya know how sometimes you can’t help but get involved in big social media “debates”, but other times you’re like oh boy here we go, grab your popcorn, and settle in to read? This week I’ve been the latter.

It really started on Sunday, as everyone began posting their opinion of the LRK3DE cross country courses. Although no one was injured, there were more horse falls that we’re used to seeing from a Derek di Grazia course for sure, and then of course there was the fact that only a little over half the 4* field actually made it through cross country (and with only 14 clear rounds out of 40 starters). Everybody had opinions, and that’s fair. But then some people had opinions about everybody having opinions, and ya know how that always goes on social media. It devolved into bickering pretty quickly – the age old debate of “if you’ve never ridden at this level then you have no right to criticize” y’all know how much I love that one.

Amidst all the drama there was one post that generated some useful and interesting conversation though, and that was Kyle Carter’s. The comments were actually good to read through, and I thought his observations were fair and useful to hear. Worth a read through if you haven’t already done so (there’s also some really interesting pics of the different stud setups that people were using, which is always fascinating to me).

I do agree that there were too many horse falls in the 5*, although I admit that the only jump that really bothered me initially from what I could see of the course was the upright gates (where Favian fell and the MIPS clip did not break because of how he hit it – a scenario we saw over and over again with that exact same type of jump at Burghley in 2019. I HATE upright gates on courses like this can we please stop using them?). I think we’re so used to DdG’s courses being very horse-friendly that this many falls was a bit unexpected… more like shades of Mark Phillips. I also have no doubt though that he will analyze and reanalyze this until the cows come home, learn a lot from it, and make changes accordingly.

The other big thing happening on social media this week has been watching the eyepopping racism of some USEF officials and judges come to light. Like wow. Imagine being this triggered when told that the organization you work under is requiring everyone to complete a Diversity and Inclusion course.

People who think that racism doesn’t exist in equestrian sports need to take a wide-eyed tour through those comments and take note of who’s saying what. My god. Imagine thinking that Diversity and Inclusion training is “violating” the “safe haven” of your sport. Holy Christ Peggy that’s a lot to unpack. She’s not the only one who feels that way, though. Seems to be a loooot of the anti-Safe Sport crowd. Huh. Curious. I think if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past few years it’s that maybe we’re past due for a bit of a changing of the guard, so to speak.

And then of course there’s the continuing drama between WEC Ocala and USEF and NSBA.

I admittedly haven’t really even begun trying to wrap my head around that one, because my brain is already at capacity. It doesn’t really effect my world yet, but damn it’s interesting to see this go down.

Have y’all been watching or joining in on any of the drama in the horse world this week? Opinions on any of the above topics? It’s a lot for a Thursday…

It’s been a couple weeks since I updated on Henry! I think last we left off he was just coming back from his two week mystery lameness that I suspected was due to a bruise or abscess but never had any actual evidence to back up or confirm either guess.

The farrier was coming out that week for his regular appointment, and as soon as he pulled that shoe off it was very clear what the cause was. There was a big gross currently draining abscess under the shoe near the toe. Like… absolutely oozing black stuff. Barf. Fair enough, Henry, you hadn’t been lying.

The farrier dug it out a little bit more to help it finish draining, but obviously it was not in a great spot and covering it back up with a shoe didn’t seem ideal. I needed to be able to clean the hole out and it needed to be able to continue to drain freely. The farrier pulled down an aluminum eggbar from his trailer, cut a chunk out of it where the abscess hole was, and tada!

Looks weird as hell but it’s worked like a charm. I’ve been able to easily clean out and medicate that hole, it finished draining, and now it’s filling back in nicely, which I can see for myself every day when I pick his feet. I was a little skeptical that he’d keep that shoe on, given how he likes to step on himself behind, but knock on wood it’s been okay so far. Next cycle we should be able to put a regular shoe back on, so he’s just gotta make it a few more weeks.

Henry got that shoe a few days before I left for Ocala and then once I left he ended up getting 5 days off, but he’s felt super since I’ve been back and he’s returned to normal work again.

As soon as I got back from Ocala the dressage horses came back from their winter in Wellington, which… Henry took that life change about as well as he takes any other. Ie not well. For the first few days after their return he flailed around the crossties while I was tacking him up and spent the entire ride screaming bloody murder, jigging, prancing, and being far fancier than he really is. I think he was convinced that they were going to steal away his BFF Quinnie, and as soon as I took him away from her he devolved into a complete mess. Luckily that behavior has slowly eased up, and while he does still watch her while he’s in the crossties, he’s not flailing and screaming anymore. Next level needy, I swear. 14 going on 4.

Now that he’s back in action (knock on wood again) and the other horses are back, I did enter him in a couple jumper classes at a local show next weekend. If I’m remembering right I think I just picked the 3′, something relatively easy for him. I was able to jump him yesterday for the first time in like a month and he was normal Jompies Henry so hopefully it’ll just be a fun and easy day for him. The next thing I need to figure out is when we can get back out XC schooling again… it’s been far too long!

I’ve been back from Ocala for 6 days and I’m just now getting around to talking about Presto. What a terrible mother. He’s even had more adventures since then! We’ll get to that.

The main goals for our Presto-centric parts of the Ocala trip were 1) boop that snoot 2) see how he was doing 3) get more video for his next Futurity vlog 4) sit down and have a chat with Megan regarding how she was feeling about where he’s at, and what the plan should be for him going forward. As I mentioned before, I officially handed over the Futurity reins to Megan for as long as he’s “in the hunt” so to speak, and his next vlog update is due in May. Considering the only videos I had of him were from March when she’d only done a handful of rides and a couple weeks ago when he XC schooled, we needed something else to fill out the footage a bit. Naturally Ocala decided that the weekend of my trip would be the perfect time to absolutely piss rain like nobody’s business, so what started off as a plan to take him offsite morphed into a plan to just jump a few things at home which morphed again into a “well it’s not lightning right now, lets see if we can hack around the totally waterlogged grass arena at the top of the hill”.

I think it kinda worked out though really because the footage of him flatting in the rain (by himself, not another horse in sight) showed that he’s definitely matured a bit from his time in Ocala. When he got there just hacking up to that ring (which was a really long way from his barn) was so exciting that he wanted to do it at mach 5 and/or bouncing in place and/or sideways. And that was with quiet horses in tow to show him the way. So for him to hack up there quietly all by himself in the pouring rain after not having been ridden for 2 days and do it with zero shenanigans… that’s definitely progress. He had a very mini “NO I DON’T WANNA” in the canter one direction where she was asking him to bend around her inside leg and he really wanted to stare off into the distance instead, but he got over it pretty quickly and went back to work. Very reasonable for a 4yo kiddo with major ADHD, given the conditions. He didn’t bat an eye at the standing water or mud or rain.

That evening we went to dinner with Megan and chatted about how he’s coming along, and looked at the show calendar and YEH calendar. I have a massive chip on my shoulder about the YEH calendar in general in regards to Area 5 – the only two qualifiers we have here are at the end of March and beginning of April. How does that make sense for age-restricted classes? Granted we don’t have any recognized shows from June through August so the pickins are slim to get the qualifiers done here before the Sept 14 Championships cutoff, but still. Why not one of the May shows? Can we lobby for that? Alas, by having a 4yo ready to tackle a qualifier by the end of April, which seems pretty freakin early to me, we had already missed every opportunity within a 15 hour haul of us. Delightful.

The other two best options were Chatt in July – they have two weeks of back to back shows and back to back qualifiers – or, there are two in California a couple weeks apart in June/July. Megan is doing Rebecca Farm in July with her upper level horses anyway, so it would make more sense to look at things on the west coast that could be more “on the way” rather than heading 16 hours east to Chatt, coming home to Texas, and then immediately heading 27 hours northwest toward Rebecca. Instead they could go the 18 hours west to Cali, spend a few weeks out there, head up to Rebecca, and then come home. Plus she was based on the west coast for a while, so she’s familiar with everything out there. We’ve penciled the California qualifiers in as the tentative plan for now.

But, YAY, she thinks the kiddo is ready for his first show now, and there’s no need to wait until June or July for the qualifiers to kick things off. All the jumping stuff is very easy for him, the flatwork is a little harder, but mostly it’s his focus and keeping his mind on task and a lid on his enthusiasm. Those things will only come with time and miles, so we may as well get started. Naturally there is only one (ONE) event left on the calendar in Area 5 between now and September, that being Texas Rose in the middle of May. Texas Rose wouldn’t really be my first choice of venues for a horse’s first show – it can have a lot of atmosphere, a lot to look at, a lot going on, etc. Definitely tends to be the busiest and most impressive of the Area V venues. But again, ya know… beggars can’t be choosers.

Megan didn’t seem worried about it at all (she never seems particularly worried about much, how do I get some of that?), and I don’t give a crap about his USEA record, so if he gets there and his brain can’t handle the atmosphere and he has to scratch, or circle on course, or trot all the jumps, or his dressage is super tense… that’s fine. Hopefully he can contain himself but if not we’ll deal with it as it comes, and really there’s only one way to find out.

Megan did the 4* (or as some are calling it, the 5* Short lol) at Kentucky last weekend with her Advanced horse, so instead of going to Kentucky and then back to Ocala and then back to Texas, all of her Ocala horses made the trek to the Horse Park. Yup, that’s right, Presto was right there at Kentucky on LRK3DE weekend.

I mean, he was over in the non-compete stabling pouting about being bored, but still.

He did have a rough journey from Ocala to Kentucky, not hauling well at all and getting a bit banged up in the process, so he’s gonna spend some time working with Megan’s husband Reed (who very conveniently is a groundwork/colt starter guy) in the trailer and rehashing some of those patience lessons. Presto got a bit of chemical assistance for the trip home from Kentucky to Texas, to make sure he didn’t hurt himself or get in a bad situation. I suspect that (knowing him and having watched him on camera every time I’ve hauled him) his noodle self may have tried to turn around in the trailer and got stuck, scaring himself in the process. That would be pretty on-brand. Hopefully it will be simple for Reed to fix, once Presto gets some confidence back about the situation. These things are all part of learning how to be a real grown up horse, there will inevitably be hiccups.

Presto is looking pretty good though, condition-wise, especially considering all the travel. He’s put on a little bit of weight and some muscle (and possibly height but we’re pretending not) and while he still definitely looks gangly and babyish you can tell that he’s maturing a bit too. He seems to really thrive off the work and enjoys having a job, so I’ve got no reservations with continuing on with pro training/the Futurity at this point. We’ll keep re-evaluating as we go along and I’m sure some plans will change, but that’s all our current thoughts at least!

You’re now fully debriefed on the life and times of Presto. Sorry for the novel.

With everything happening last week I kind of ran out of time to finish my “In the Blood” post before Kentucky, so I decided to turn it into a post-show version instead. Plus, like, if y’all thought you were gonna escape me gushing about Presto’s “brother from another mother” Mama’s Magic Way (Mason) and his spectacular performance in his first 5*, you were sorely mistaken. I’ve been a Mason stan for a while now and this weekend just put it on like level 10.

With his LRK3DE completion Mason also becomes his sire Mighty Magic’s first 5* offspring, and I highly doubt it will be his last. MM’s oldest crop was born in 2007, and for the first few years of his stud career he was bred to quite heavy/cold mares in the thought that, since he was 88% TB and very typey, he would really refine them and blood them up. Once those initial offspring started to mature a bit it was clear that MM actually does best with a mare that has some blood herself and isn’t too heavy, so breeders switched tactics on the type of mares they bred him to. Those offspring are just starting to “come of age” and there are quite a few currently ticking up the levels, so I’m excited to see what happens over the next few years! Mason himself is out of a mare by Star Regent xx out of a Hano mare (making him 80% blood) so he’s a good example of using MM on a mare who has some blood herself. I was cheering like crazy for him and he made easy work of a tough Kentucky, still looking full of run when he crossed the finish on Saturday and bright and fresh on Sunday. Really really exciting horse for the future, and no of course I’m not biased at all.

Yes you’re right, they should hire me to his PR team. ANYWAY, on to the rest of the field I suppose.

Two stallions had two offspring each in the field – eventing stallion Windfall and showjumping stallion Diarado. The Diarado’s won that particular head to head battle in the final placings, with Diachello finishing 11th and QC Diamantaire finishing 19th. Showjumper Stakkato was the sire’s sire of two horses, Superstition and FE Stormtrooper. Other stallions did show up multiple times across the pedigrees of different horses, names you should probably be familiar with by now if you’ve read any of these posts before – Cavalier Royale, Clover Hill (ISH), Contender, Heraldik xx, Indoctro, Landadel, Capitol, Voltaire, and Master Imp xx. Basically TB and showjumping lines with a dash of Irish (which is pretty much all you see if you look at any of the Irish Sporthorse pedigrees).

The blood percentages across the field ranged anywhere from 27% (Bolytair B) to 100%. If you discard all the full thoroughbreds and the full Anglo-Arabian, the highest blood percentage was a whopping 99.8% from German-bred Hanoverian (lol) FRH Butt’s Avondale.

The Butt’s breeding program has produced a lot of good eventers, always with very very high blood, and it was fun to see one competing on this side of the pond. Super nice horse and really fun to watch, another good one for the future I think!

If we dig into the pedigrees of the top 10 finishers (as much as we can anyway, Ballaghmor Class is at least 50% but his pedigree has large chunks missing and I don’t like using inaccurate numbers in my stats, thus he’s excluded) the average blood percentage of those horses is 61.25%, a bit higher than average for a 5*. We’re used to seeing more like 53-56% from the European 5*’s.

If we look at the top 10 fastest clear rounds on cross country, the average blood percentage of those horses rises to a whopping 74.5%. Alternatively, if we look at just the horses who turned in clear showjumping rounds, the average blood percentage is 57.3%. Read from that what you will, if anything.

On the American Thoroughbred side of things we again see the lines we’ve gotten accustomed to seeing at these top levels – Danzig xx, AP Indy xx, Deputy Minister xx, Count Ivor xx, and Affirmed xx just to name a few.

If that’s not enough to convince you of the thoroughbred influence, 16 of the horses who started cross country have at least one full TB parent, and it was just as common to see the TB parent on the bottom of the pedigree (the dam) as it was on the top (the sire). As we’ve seen over and over again by now, the old adage of “blood on top” doesn’t seem to apply to event horses. They just need blood period.

Out of all of the Irish Sporthorse entrants, none of the ones that completed this year were of Traditional Irish breeding – all had some Continental (ie European warmblood) mixed in there as well. It’s proven to be an extremely successful formula for Ireland when it comes to creating modern event horses.

While it’s most common to see sires that were showjumpers (there are very few stallions that compete at the top levels of eventing) five of the entrants were by stallions who competed at upper level eventing themselves – Oratorio by Oslo Biats, FE Lifestyle by Leo von Faelz, Mama’s Magic Way by Mighty Magic, and of course the aforementioned Vandiver and Tsetserleg by Windfall. It used to be thought that you can’t really breed eventers, which is obviously quite false!

On a more personal note, I think my favorite horses of the weekend aside from Mason were FE Lifestyle and Jakobi (by Ustinov, who has sired a lot of good event horses), who both looked extremely genuine and honest on the cross country. My type! Who were your personal favorites of the weekend? Did any stand out to you as ones to watch for the future?