Author: Amanda C

I feel like there have been a lot more horse teeth in my life lately than one would typically want. The first one was kinda cute, Presto shed his first front incisor (apparently he’s reading the book, since that’s supposed to start around 2 1/2 and he’s bang on time), which presented as a hilarious snaggletooth for a few days before he finally lost it somewhere. Considerably less cute was Henry’s broken molar.

I had been seriously dreading this. The vet noticed the broken tooth when we touched up Henry’s teeth this summer (his jaw is slightly mis-aligned, so he needs dental every 6 months). It wasn’t emergency level broken, but it was “this needs to come out soon” broken. Ugggggghhhh I hate tooth stuff, it’s too close to the (admittedly teeny tiny) brain. I didn’t want to do it when it was still 110 degrees, since Henry has a higher risk for hyperthermia type side effects with lots of sedation, and I wanted to wait until he was settled at the new place before we added more stress. So last weekend we took the x-rays, to make sure my vet felt pretty confident he could get it out without too much trouble. If it was shattered, or particularly fragile, or the roots had broken away,  he would have referred me to the very fancy dental specialist guy and it would have been a much bigger deal that required a lot more digging and time and specialized equipment. Luckily we saw two distinct pieces, possibly three, and he felt pretty sure that he could get it all pretty easily.

The extraction appointment was this past Saturday, and y’all… it was gross. As soon as the vet started poking at that tooth and wiggling it (it was already loose) that disgusting rotten tooth smell floated from his mouth. Gag. That is one of the worst horse smells possible. I had to hold his tongue for a while and my hands smelled like it. I’d rather be elbow deep in horse placenta for hours than get a single whiff of rotten tooth.

Henry did not go down without a fight so we had to sedate him twice before he acquiesced to having a bone yanked out of his head. Once he stopped fighting it went relatively quickly, and the first broken chunk popped out. The tooth was split almost down the middle, and you could see where food material had gotten down into the crack and was basically composting. Yes, the tooth was literally stuffed with rotten food, which is where the smell was coming from. Hope no one is reading this while eating their breakfast.

Once the first half was out, the second half came pretty quickly. As it was removed it broke, but luckily it was already far enough out at that point so nothing was left behind. Luckily there was no sign of underlying infection, and there seems to be no communication with the sinus.

Henry, even in his drunk state, immediately started shoving his tongue in the hole. We tried to plug it but that lasted all of about 10 seconds before he worked it out. Tried again, same thing. Given how busy he is with his tongue all the time, I wasn’t very surprised. He came out of the sedation well, and it stopped bleeding pretty quickly, although he did get it started again a couple times because he just wouldn’t quit messing with it.

We got him cleaned up and I watched him for a bit to make sure he was ok. Aside from continuously sticking his tongue into the hole, he seemed fine. He got to eat his dinner a few hours later, and on Sunday he was back to normal.

Of course, if there are going to be complications, many of them won’t show up for a little while. Since he wouldn’t leave the plug in, we’re flushing his mouth out twice a day (which Henry calls “waterboarding”) to try to keep too much debris from ending up the hole. Otherwise we just have to wait and see and hope it heals without issue. I’m mega paranoid. I’m probably gonna be mega paranoid for months.

The vet will be back out on Friday to recheck, so hopefully all still looks good by then. I’ll definitely be riding him in his sidepull for a while, until I’m sure that his mouth has fully healed. Hopefully he’ll be more comfortable without that gross broken thing in there, once his mouth is healed up.

Presto is scheduled to have his wolf teeth removed over the winter, which will cause a whole new round of worrying and paranoia on my part. Horses. Teeth. Gah.

The final Fair Hill 4* is officially in the books – the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new one. Next year I’ll have yet another group of 5* horses to rifle through and overanalyze… my favorite things!

This field proved to be a good one, and particularly exciting if you are a thoroughbred fan. We had 14 full thoroughbreds, and another 7 horses who had at least one full thoroughbred parent. Plus, a TB won. I think that means we should start with them!

If we confine our digging to the first few generations, there are a couple TB stallions that show up more than once. Silver Deputy is the sire’s sire of one horse and the damsire of another. AP Indy, who we saw a lot of in the YEH field, is the sire’s sire of another horse here. Same for National Anthem – he was the sire of two YEH horses and is the sire of another in the 4*. The European based TB stallions Imperious and Heraldik both show up twice. Mr Prospector shows up 4 times and Buckpasser 3 times. But if you go back a little farther, the real standout here is (and not for the first time) Northern Dancer. He’s in an incredible 11 horses, through a variety of different offspring. Direct ND sons Sadler’s Wells, Danzig, Vice Regent and Nijinsky II make multiple appearances. Our winner, Paddy the Caddy, himself carries a triple dose of Northern Dancer.

Other sires with multiple representations within the first few generations are Contender, Courage II, Cruising, Puissance, Animo, Clover Hill, and Voltaire. All jumping blood, and none of those names should be unfamiliar by now if you’ve been reading these posts. Puissance is by the stallion Imperious xx, who is also the sire of the legendary Master Imp xx. Holsteiner stallion Capitol shows up in the sire’s sire position three different times, through sons Cassini II, Capitalist, and Courage II. We’ll circle back to that.

Personal favorite – Mighty Magic – had one offspring in the field, and although I’m not officially covering the 3* horses, he had two more there (both finished in the top 10).

Despite being a field overwhelming dominated by thoroughbred and jumping lines, dressage stallion Sandro Hit does have some representation as the damsire of QC Diamontaire (by Diarado). Of course, Sandro Hit himself does have strong jumping blood via Sandro, Gepard, and Ramiro. So… ya know. Maybe not a surprise that they can jump, especially when he’s crossed with more jumping blood.

One of the most exciting figures from this group, for me anyway, is that 48% of the horses were bred in North America. That does include most, but not all, of the thoroughbreds.

If you average the entire field (including all the full TB) the blood percentage is 68%. If you take out the full TB’s, the average blood percentage is 51%.

Looking at the results side of things, the top 5 horses after dressage only included one full thoroughbred (Business Ben, one of my favorite up and coming horses at the moment). There were only four double clear XC rounds: Palm Crescent xx, Fernhill Fortitude, BGS Firecracker, and Lancaster. Their blood percentages range from 33% to 100%. Double clear showjumping rounds were easier to come by, with 12 horses managing to add nothing to their score in the final phase. Two of those were full TB’s, and the average blood percentage of the other 9 was 46.2%.

Only two horses finished on their dressage score – BGS Firecracker and Fernhill Fortitude. Interestingly, the sire’s sire of both horses is Capitol, via Courage II for Fernhill Fortitude and via Capitalist for BGS Firecracker. Even MORE interestingly, BGS Firecracker’s damsire is also Courage II (which yes, makes him double Capitol). If you remember back to Burghley last month, Courage II had two offspring finish in the top 15 there. You will never convince me that bloodlines don’t matter!

Did anyone else have any favorite horses from Fair Hill? Who do you think will be back next year to contend the 5*?

As you may recall, I went on a quest a few months ago to find a saddle pad solution that would work for Captain Sensitive. Er, Henry. I’ve had problems on and off over the years with different pads rubbing him in different places, but this summer in particular everything I had seemed to irritate him somehow. I decided, somewhat desperately and very hesitantly, to try the sheep route. Natural fibers and plenty of protection for sensitive skin – maybe that would be the key?

This was not my first foray into the world of fluff. Way back in my hunter days (a separate lifetime, really) I had some Fleeceworks stuff. I thought it was kind of a PITA to take care of, but that could be because I’m kind of a garbage human in general and non-living things that require a lot of special or particular care will probably not fare well with me. Granted, I’ve gotten a little better about that with age. BUT, if Henry would be happier in a fluff-covered world, I was willing to give it a go again.

The real problem was trying to decide how to choose what to get. Back in the day there weren’t really a TON of options or brands. These days – you dream it, you can find it, or you can have it custom made. The first order of business: did I want sheepskin or did I want wool?

With sheepskin, the wool is still attached to the skin of the sheep, and that’s sewn onto the pad. With wool, it’s been sheared from the sheep and woven onto a fabric backing. Not really sure which I would prefer, I scoured the internet to see what other people had to say about the two. The general consensus was that sheepskin tends to be more dense, which makes some people think it offers better shock absorption, but that it was harder to clean. Since the skin of the sheep is still attached, you kind of have to think of it as a leather item, which requires special care when washing. With wool, since it’s attached to a fabric backing, it’s easier to wash and care for. Some people also prefer the fact that a sheep didn’t have to die to make the wool. And it’s cheaper. Both sheepskin and wool are touted for their excellent wicking abilities, superior airflow, and comfort. So basically – did I want it still attached to the skin, or not?

There are other factors to consider, too, of course. Do you want the spine of the pad to have wool or not? Some claim that having wool over the spine can make the pad bind on the horse’s back, where others claim that NOT having wool on the spine leaves seams that could rub or create pressure points. This is the point in your research where your head starts to spin and you wonder if the wisdom of the internet is a blessing or a curse. As with all things horse, there are many ways to do the same thing and everyone thinks their way is best.

I also had to decide if I wanted to have the ability to add shims to the pad, to adjust the fit of the saddle if needed. Henry is older and maintains a steady shape, and his saddles fit him well (important to note: they were fitted to him specifically to allow for a half pad underneath). But Presto is a bit narrower and may require some shimming to make my saddles work for him.

And THEN, after you figure all that stuff out, you get to decide whether you want said fluff on a half pad or on a full pad. And if you want rolls or no rolls on top. And how far down you want the fluff to go. And how much you want to pay for it. And what colors you want. And who you want to buy it from. So many options.

In the end I just couldn’t really make up my mind, because it’s tough to know what your horse will prefer until you try different things. Plus I have two horses to consider, and knowing my luck they’ll probably like different things. I also have two saddles, a jump saddle and a dressage saddle. So I bought a couple of Premier Equine merino wool full pads (wool, covered spine, no shim options) – one dressage and one jump – and a Mattes half pad (sheepskin, clear spine, with shim pockets). I got that one in an XL jump shape so that I could still use my dressage saddle with it and everything would sit ok underneath. All bases covered. Or… no actual hard decisions made, since I got a little bit of everything.

Well ok I did make ONE decision – navy. Everything navy. Color is the easiest part.

I’ve been using all of them, trying to get a feel for how they compare and what I think of the different designs and wool vs skeepskin. I remain convinced that it’s an entirely personal choice. The Premier Equine pads, with their merino wool, are definitely a lot easier to take care of than I thought they would be. My memories of taking care of my sheepskin pad back in the day were not very fond, but these have been pretty easy. They don’t get gross very fast, because the horse’s back stays so much cooler under them. I’ve only washed them once so far, and that was this week.

If we put them in a head to head comparison, I think they both have their pros and cons. For ease of care and wash, the nod would go to the merino wool. I tossed them in the wash with nothing special and they came out looking new again. Granted, neither the sheepskin or the merino wool gets gross very fast, because the horse’s back stays so much cooler and drier under them. I would also give a very slight nod to the merino when it comes to breathability, I have noticed that Henry’s back is ever so slightly drier under the merino than the sheepskin. As to the shock absorption factor, I definitely feel that both of them do absorb some impact, but I don’t notice a difference between the two.

If you’re looking for luxury, sheepskin wins. The material just FEELS expensive, and really soft. They’re both soft, but sitting right next to each other the skeepskin is clearly more luxurious. The merino wool is more coarse to my own hand, although I haven’t noticed any difference in how Captain Sensitive feels about one vs the other. I also haven’t noticed a difference in how he feels about the wool covered spine or the clear spine – he seems to have no preference. I like the idea of the wool covered spine more, just because any “disruptions” to the surface of things that are touching him have generally been a problem, but in this case I can’t say that I’ve seen anything to actually back up my theory. Without a doubt though, Henry has had ZERO rubs or skin irritation since I swapped to the fluffy pads, both seem to have done the trick.

Both pads also have good wither clearance, which is very important. If you have an exceptionally high withered horse I might be inclined to go with the clear spine, so the pad sits a bit further up off the wither. For longevity, I can see the sheepskin lasting a bit longer too (uh… assuming I don’t accidentally destroy it in the wash…). The merino wool, being attached to a fabric backing, does shed a little bit whenever it’s brushed or washed.

The care hasn’t been as hard as I had imagined. Like I said, they don’t get gross very quickly. I just hang them upside down in the tack room so they can dry between rides, and once a week or so I brush out the fluff with a slicker brush. The sheepskin/wool is actually a lot easier to keep clean than the cotton parts!

There was, of course, a massive price difference between the two. I paid $108 for BOTH of the Premier Equine pads (on sale, with a coupon code), making them $54 each. The sheepskin Mattes half pad was $140 on it’s own, and that was from Australian company Hufglocken, who definitely has the best prices on Mattes (and always has coupon codes too). The same pad from an American shop would have been closer to $300. The construction of the Mattes is clearly superior, as you would expect from the price difference, and they can make just about anything you can possibly dream up. The options on the Premier Equine pads are many fewer (and sadly I don’t like most of their color combinations), and none are shimmable, and they don’t have any customization. The Mattes took longer to get, of course, being a custom order and then having to go from Europe to Australia to the US. It was a couple months all total. The Premier Equine pads made it from the UK to my door in just a few days. Of course, these aren’t the only two brands on the market either… there are LOTS, with all kinds of different options.

To me there’s not a really super clear winner between the two. I think it depends on you and your horse, and what you want from the pad. I actually really love having both, because between the two designs I feel like pretty much all of my possible needs are covered. Each has it’s perks, and their own pros and cons. Overall though, I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I’m liking my fluffy pads in general. I was scared to take the leap, because of the care, but they’ve been much easier than I thought and Henry really seems to like them. I will be buying more, since I want show pads too.

I’ll do a separate review of just the Mattes pad by itself soon, with more details about it and all of the possible options. Until then, hopefully this helps anyone who’s thinking about going the fluffy route themselves. I don’t regret it!

I only did 2 recognized horse trials this year. In the grand scheme of things, that’s… certainly not a lot. Especially considering that a lot of people do that many shows per month. I kind of expected to reflect back on that figure and feel a bit “disappointed”, but truth be told, I’m not.

Sometimes I have major FOMO when I see other people showing all the time, all season long. Sometimes I stalk the online scores, look for any pictures and videos I can find from the show, and check all the course walk sites to try to get an idea of the courses. And then other times, I just kind of look at everyone’s posts from the show and think “good for them” and keep right on scrolling. That’s it, no FOMO, and I don’t particularly feel driven to follow that closely. Because, to be honest, sometimes it just feels nice to take a step back from it all and take a deep breath.

I feel like we don’t often really see that side of other people though. Nobody gets on Facebook or Instagram to talk about their long breaks, how few shows they’re doing, how they’re taking some time to fill the holes at home, or that they just plain want to slow everything down and reconnect with their horses again. All we really see, and what we seem to be conditioned to crave, are the show pictures and show results… the glossy glamorous exciting stuff. We’re impressed by that, and we want pretty show pictures and results of our own.

It almost leaves you feeling guilty or like you’re doing it wrong if you aren’t following suit. If you aren’t showing 10 or 12 or 20 or however many times a year it takes to make you “serious”. If you’re not always looking onward to the next show. If your life isn’t constantly consumed by the next jump lesson, the next XC schooling, or trying to perfect that one elusive dressage movement that you just can’t seem to score above a 6. People start asking you where you are, and when your next show will be. If they don’t see you on the entry list, they tend to ask you what’s wrong. Because surely something must be wrong if you aren’t out there at all the shows, right? As if life’s rhythm is dictated by the show season.

A lot of the time, I’m totally ok with that. I love showing, I enjoy it, and it’s fun. Most of the time I do live that lifestyle, consumed by progress and what’s next. But also… it’s not the be all, end all for me. For some people it is, 100% of the time, and that’s fine, but for other people it isn’t. When I start feeling a little burned out or like I want to step back and re-center myself, I often find myself looking at other people and wondering why they never seem to feel like that. How they can go from show to show to show and never want a break, and why I seem to be wired “wrong” compared to so many of my peers. I try to light the competitive fire under myself, or look for shows to sign up for. Sometimes I even do it without really considering if I actually WANT to. There’s this expectation in our sport’s culture that we’ll just keep trudging on, from one show to the next, and so that’s what we do.

I mean, after all, that’s so often how we decide our worth as a rider isn’t it? What level have you gotten to, how many runs have you had, how does your record look? The better it is, the more respected you are, right? The more your opinion matters. So to prove ourselves to the world, and to keep getting those glossy photos and show reports that we so crave, we keep going, always seeking more, because that’s just how it’s done.

But the truth is, it’s okay to just… not. I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but it’s okay to take a step back, for any reason you want, or for no actual freaking reason at all. Don’t feel like it? Then don’t. You don’t owe anyone an explanation, and you certainly shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Sometimes you’re totally gung-ho to just traintraintrain showshowshow and other times it does a world of good to take a few months to ride bareback, or hack out for hours, or just take the pressure off and reconnect with your horses. Whatever. You do you. When you’re ready, IF you’re ready, come back to it – I promise the sport will still be here. Whatever you decide to do has no bearing on your worth as a rider or your validity in the sport. Sometimes we just need to spend some time taking ridiculous pictures of our horses making weird faces, or sew pompoms on our helmets, or do bareback dressage in the field. And we have to stop thinking of that time and those things as a “waste” or something to feel bad about.

We all get different things out of this, and have different journeys. They don’t all have to look the same, and it doesn’t mean you’re any “less than”. Have fun, love your horses, and enjoy the time you get to spend with them. If you’re doing those things, you’re doing it right, no matter how many shows end up on your record.

I’m not doing much with Presto at the moment. He’s officially 2.5 (ok to be precise he’s 2 years, 7 months, and 6 days, but WHO’S COUNTING?) and I’m pretty sure the closer he gets to 3, the slower time actually goes. In the grand scheme of things 3 is super young and babyish, sure, but when you consider that this horse has been “in planning” since 2014, it feels like a really long time to get to a point where they’re almost a real horse. We’re at that “so close, yet so far” stage right now.

Luckily he is super chill and retains everything well, so I don’t have to do much with him. His transition over to his new living arrangement went pretty seamlessly, and he seems very content. I bring him in one day a week to make sure he hasn’t gone feral, but otherwise he just hangs out and eats and plays with his friends. He has taken the perfectly middle position in his herd, below the iron rule of the older mare, but ahead of the yearling. None of them cares when another one leaves, so there are no herdbound issues, which is what I was most afraid of. It’s almost like having a younger horse in the dynamic has made Presto mature a little bit. Which, btw, the poor yearling somehow managed to get himself skunked last week. What are the odds that a skunk could be anywhere near Presto and he actually manage to NOT be part of it? I know, I’m also shocked.

Still though, despite missing the actual skunking, he was filthy and disgusting. And it was 90 degrees on Sunday. So I made an evil plan to roll a couple different things into our once-a-week activity day: ponying and a bath.

First, the ponying. This is where things are getting just a bit freaking ridiculous. Thank goodness I taught him to pony when he was still small, because…

at this point who’s ponying who anymore? It’s almost comical. It’s like I’ve got a damn brontosaurus on a leash. Poor Henry with his average height and low set neck.

I haven’t sticked Presto in months, therefore, by my supreme logic, he’s still the same size he was the last time I sticked him. New plan: never stick him again. Really though, I don’t think he’s added much more height lately, but he is definitely filling out. I switched both boys over to Bluebonnet Omega Force when we moved, and while I think it’s too soon to say for sure, I’m liking how they look on it so far. Of course, Presto is also eyeballs deep in a round bale pretty much 24/7, which helps.

Anyway, the ponying was pretty uneventful. It’s to the point though now where Henry struggles to keep up with him at the walk, and Presto constantly has to check himself or shorten his stride. His legs are longer and his walk is naturally bigger and more swinging. But we took him around the entire property, up and down the little hills and across the natural ditch, and he took it all in stride.

The bath though… that pissed him off. I don’t really understand why he hates baths so much, because he LOVES water. He likes to stomp in it, stand in it, roll in it. He even likes to stand in the rain. Why is a bath so different? BUT, jokes on him, because I finally have a real washrack at my disposal. Every barn I’ve kept him at before now has just had a hosing area, not an actual washrack, so bathing him has been annoying AF. But this time, much to his chagrin, he had very little choice but to stand still and accept his fate.

So stand he did, and scrub I did, and let the record show that he was clean for at least an hour. I even made him stand in the barn crossties under the fan until he dried, because I’m extra mean and horrible.

His missing chunk of heel continues to give him no problem, knock on wood, and is already growing out some. He’s had his feet trimmed twice since The Incident and the farrier is happy with how it’s looking. Hopefully the heel continues to grows back in normally and we don’t have any cracking. We shall see. Until then I’ll be over here trying to resist making a countdown clock for his 3rd birthday.

Oh shit, I just realized… it’s time to start shopping for his birthday hat…