I’m gonna just… read the room here this morning and guess that none of us are really up for anything mentally taxing or stressful, right?

At least, I know I can’t. My brain needs to be distracted by happier, prettier, preferably 4-legged things. And it just so happens that it’s Irish auction season again, and this year they’ve moved to offer online bidding, and thus greatly improved their online catalogues. Not that I could afford to import anything, but ya know. It’s fun to LOOK. Although definitely insert my usual diatribe about please buy American-bred horses whenever possible, because y’all know how I feel about that. But it just so happens that I need a distraction BAD, and there are Irish auctions online with lots of pretty pictures and videos and horses GALORE, and I will window shop my worries away because I’ve been raised in a materialistic society and that’s how we cope with our feelings OKAY?

So here ya go:

Goresbridge

Monart

I’ve made it through all the Goresbridge horses but granted only about 1/3 of Monart. I fell in love before I even made it out of the first row at Goresbridge and nothing else has yet to compare. Anyone who reads this blog and knows of my admitted Tullabeg Fusion stalking obsession will be quick to spot the one I fell for.

She’s definitely not the fanciest horse in the sale, but true to Tullabeg Fusion’s typical style she looks genuine, forward-thinking, and uncomplicated. And she’s a mare. And she’s golden. Check, check, and check. What organs do I not really need and how much are they worth on the black market? Just curious.

Someday I’ll get my golden Tullabeg Fusion filly. Someday.

I’m also drawn to all the Ramiro B’s pretty much without fail, which also isn’t a surprise. My second favorite pick though is one for Michelle, a pretty 3yo filly that could do double duty as a sporthorse and broodmare. Because I’m SUCH A GOOD FRIEND. Granted, she just bought a filly in Germany so this one is definitely not happening, but now we’re both drooling over horses we can’t have. That’s what friends are for.

Ironically her sire Dignified stands at the same farm as Tullabeg Fusion, so I’ve seen a lot of his offspring too on their social media and almost always love them. Not necessarily for me to own and ride, but in general. Clearly if/when we finally make it to Ireland no one should let us within 100 miles of Tullabeg Stud or we might black out and buy a bunch of things we can’t afford. They’d all be pretty though.

What say ye, fellow window shoppers? Which ones would you want to take home? Let’s look at ponies for a while instead of the news.

Well guys, the compact castle is officially livable! We tied up all the remaining essential to-do’s this past weekend, getting the water hooked up, the gray tank installed, the pump tested, and the Incinolet put in. SO and I also completed our walk-through list of final items for the builder to come address (like the crooked kitchen drawer and the non-working porch fan), checked out all the new appliances, and figured out how the mini-split heat/ac units work. We definitely have fancier technology in the new house, we are officially living in 2020. Turning on the ac/heat and changing the temp with a remote is pretty fun, and there’s a dehumidifier option too. Ok, maybe it doesn’t take much to impress me.

As with all projects, a couple things weren’t quite as straightforward as hoped. There was some particularly annoying PVC that would only allow itself to be cut very slowly by hand, and drilling the hole through the side of the house for the Incinolet was a fun one. It’s a pretty big hole. Getting things to line up perfectly is annoying. But after a few slight changes of plan/approach and a little more time than estimated, it all came together fine. And while the guys were in there working on the toilet (I can say unequivocally that three people DO NOT fit in our bathroom) I put together my fanceh new porch-sittin’ chair.

And of course, while I was putting the chair together I had to stop to take a picture of what was going on directly off the side of my porch.

So at this point we’ve got:

power – check

water – check

toilet – check

tank – check

functional appliances – check

a/c and heat – check

Finally it’s 100% live-in-able!

I haven’t quite moved in yet though, because on Thursday a house-cleaning service is coming to do a post-construction clean (somehow on Thursday I managed to schedule the farrier, the chiro/acupuncture vet, and the house cleaners, luckily all about 2 hours apart). As you can probably imagine, in the process of towing the house 4 hours across Texas, a lot of construction dust shook loose, plus we’ve now been tracking in and out a lot as we’ve gotten everything hooked up. The cleaners will come and scrub the floors, baseboards, windows, sinks, shower, counter tops, and cabinets, and in an hour they’ll finish a job that would probably take me most of a day. Money well spent. After they’re done I’ll start moving my stuff in, with the bulk of it (and myself) coming on Saturday. Luckily there isn’t really that much to move so I don’t think it’ll be too bad. The bed is the biggest thing by far.

For now I still have plenty to do. I’ve been selling furniture on Marketplace like it’s my damn job (and indeed, yesterday I made more selling my old rando furniture than at my actual job) and it’s pretty much all gone now. Except for the stuff that SO needs in order to keep living there as he does the minor renovations/repairs to get the big house ready to rent, anyway. A sofa, tv stand, end table, and coffee table. Oh, and he’ll be taking over the bed in the guest bedroom. Otherwise all the other furniture is gone, two whole rooms entirely cleaned out and partials of two more. The rest will be sold when he’s finished there and ready to move into the compact castle, since the only piece of furniture that’s actually coming with us at all is our bed, which I’m bringing with me this weekend. Everything else… gone. It’s like a massive cleansing. Feels nice.

Aside from selling anything that’s not nailed down, I’ve been starting the next stage of things for the new house too. Like the skirting and back stairs, which I accepted a quote for and am now just waiting for scheduling. I definitely want to get that all sealed up sooner rather than later. And getting the WiFi people out to set us up. And registering all the appliance warranties. And getting insurance finalized. Super fun things like that.

I haven’t really started buying much stuff for the new place yet, admittedly. Everything else has taken priority (and all my money) at this point. The sofa will probably be the next thing, followed by a coffee table, so that I have somewhere to sit that isn’t the bed or the egg chair. Minor detail. The few things that I have ordered are probably not that interesting… new towels, bathmats, a couple door mats, a toilet paper holder, hand towel ring, trash can… the boring essentials that I will need in order to fully function in the space. I figured we’d start with that and then try to wrap our heads around everything else once I’m actually there. For now I’ll just be taking over some dishes/silverware/kitchen items from our current collection (which SO likes and I do not, so we’ll see who wins that one in the end) so that I have what I need to start with in the kitchen. Hopefully SO will be done with the big house stuff within a few months and then we’ll both be moved in to the little house (along with all our stuff). There’s a lot to do at the big house though, and he’s gotta do it all in his spare time, so… we’ll see how long that really takes.

By this time next week I’ll be settled in and hopefully able to do another little mini-tour with some actual STUFF in there rather than just empty! We’re so close now…

As you may have noticed, things have been a little hectic around here as of late. The barn owners leave for Florida this weekend, so it’s officially crunch time for house stuff, and while the petite palace is officially livable now (we’ll talk more about that tomorrow) there’s still plenty to be done. Including, like… packing and moving. But anyway, all of this is just to say that my blog and social media have obviously been the first things to fall by the wayside as I juggle all of this, but it’s eaten into the horses’ schedules as well.

For Presto it’s really no big deal. I was planning on giving him a month off anyway, and while granted I was thinking more like December or January, now works out fine too. He’s had three weeks off already so I figured we might as well extend it and make it an even four. He’s continued to put on obvious condition with the addition of the Platinum to his diet, and him having some time to himself to fill out and take a break certainly isn’t the worst thing as his body is changing. He’s really looking good right now, that topline is filling in and he’s so shiny (even dirty and with his scruffy winter coat), he looks more and more like a real horse every day.

Granted, while a little vacation is probably the best thing for him right now, he doesn’t seem to really be enjoying it as much as I’d hoped. I bring him into the barn once a week to groom him and pick his feet, and while he’s always very eager to come in, I literally have to DRAG HIM back to his pasture.

Honestly I think he’s mentally ready to start doing a bit more and having a more steady job. The once a week rides and now this time off just don’t seem to be enough to keep his brain happy anymore. He craves stimulation, he always has, and as he gets older he seems to want more and more. And if you don’t provide it he will make it himself, which generally leads to something being broken. Like… his brand new unicorn blanket.

I don’t even think that thing made it 24 hours before he ripped the front velcro panel off. Luckily that panel isn’t necessary for the blanket to function, but still. If he could NOT destroy his cute expensive clothes IMMEDIATELY, that would be great. At least give it a month or something. Humor me, kid.

He’s about to get his wish though, because once the other horses leave for Florida it’ll just be him, Henry, and Quinnie (the bossmare) left, and they’ll all 3 be in the barn at night and turned out during the day together. It will be interesting to see what Presto does without his fellow baby friend JB to be silly with him (although I have to be honest, I think poor JB might actually enjoy his respite from Presto). Henry will play and be goofy a little bit, but he definitely has his limits. Either Presto will have to grow up some or he’ll spend the winter really really missing JB. Maybe both. He seems to enjoy being a barn horse though. He might enjoy it less when he learns it comes with a bath and a bodyclip, but no one tell him.

Henry hasn’t been totally off work, but he’s definitely missed some rides here and there. That’s also coincided with some cooler weather, which has made for a pretty fresh and sassy Henry. This is what he looked like on Thursday AFTER his canter sets.

It was meant to be slow canter sets but mostly it was a lot of crowhopping punctuated with bursts of racehorse speed as he spooked at a bush, bird, leaf, grass, my jacket, and whatever other things he made up as valid reasons. After a long hot summer it’s finally HENNY season again and he’s delighted. I’m always happy to see him feeling good, so no complaints from me. He’s, uh… still kinda chubby though.

I think (hope? knock on wood…) by this time next week things will have settled down some and we’ll be finding our new normal. At least I’ll be moved on site at the barn and won’t have a big commute to deal with, which should make it easier. The only real perk of the 2020 dumpster fire is the work from home part. Sign me up for that permanently please. The boys also have a farrier appointment this week and a chiro/acupuncture appointment this week (Presto’s first time for bodywork) and I signed Henry up for a couple jumper classes at a charity show in 2 weeks. I’m going to try to get Presto legged back up in time to film an entry for an online horsemanship class, but that might be too ambitious. We’ll see. More exciting things are coming, I promise!

Taking a quick pause on the Glamour Shots posts (I know, I know, I still owe you Ollie’s and Ellie’s) because there’s been quite a newsworthy and entertaining development in Babyland this week. We officially have 3 weanlings! Since Ellie was born latest she’s getting a little more time with her dam, and to help ease the other babies into weaning, Michelle decided to try putting the remaining babies out with Sadie and Ellie. They’re all used to each other of course, all the mares and foals have been turned out together all along, the only difference is that the older 3 foals are now without their dams.

Since the foals for the most part have been pretty independent of their mothers for a while now, not much really changed. It was a largely peaceful transition, perhaps more akin to going off with your friends and having their mom be in charge. Ollie, as is typical, didn’t really care much. He’s lived a YOLO type of life up to now anyway, so nothing has changed much as far as he’s concerned.

Oakley had some brief periods of wondering why her mother abandoned her, but generally only when she wants a snack.

Remi has struggled with it the most (I mean, he DID have a helicopter mom so that shouldn’t be such a shock) and has been clinging closer to Sadie, but he hasn’t been too terribly upset.

And how does Sadie feel about all this? Absolutely freakin’ delighted. When they were all turned out together, mares and foals, she seemed pretty indifferent about the other babies. She wasn’t mean or aggressive, but she also wasn’t afraid to put one in it’s place or send it back to it’s mother if it crossed the line (“the line” usually being that they were trying to eat her hay). Now, however, with all the babies entrusted into her care… it’s like her wildest dream has come true. Finally, all the babies are HERS!

Ellie isn’t quite sure what happened. Her friends all the sudden think her mom is REALLY COOL, and she can’t decide how she feels about her mom being so nice to her friends either. She’s far too polite to get upset about it, though. For the most part she seems pretty content to chill with her friends, and has found herself to be much more popular with the other foals than she used to be. True to form, all the other foals think Sadie is much cooler than Ellie does.

She does think that perhaps Remi is a little too clingy with her mother though.

Don’t worry, Ellie and Sadie still get some private time together too, which seems to be enough to keep Ellie happy.

Although Sadie is weirdly delighted to have been given 3 more babies, she won’t get to keep them for long. This was just an intermediary step to start the weaning process, and soon the four babies will be off on their own (or maybe with schoolmarm Hanna, who rules with an iron hoof) before they head east to their new owners. No one tell Sadie though, she’s hoarding weanlings like her wildest dreams have finally come true.

---

One more thing today! A reader contacted me about a fundraiser they’ve got going, trying to raise money to start up an equine-assisted therapy program. Please check it out and consider donating if you’re able!

Being the only 5* of 2020, Pau was particularly good this year. The field was absolutely stacked with quality (as evidenced by the fact that the top 21 horses after dressage all had scores under 30), there were some question marks about how the event was going to go down, given how unconventional the year has been. Lots of tried and true 5* veterans were in attendance, and right alongside them was a healthy helping of 5* first timers. Add in a sprinkle of course designer Pierre Michelet – known as Michelet the Menace – and it had a real anything can happen vibe.

Anyone familiar with Laura Collett‘s story, or at least has seen some of the roller coaster moments of her past few years or her relationship with long-time mount Mr Bass, had to have been pleased with her win. Laura and her young gun, London 52, were the buzz of the pre-Pau discussion, mostly with the “can he or can’t he?” question lingering in the air. London has had some up and down moments as he’s gone up the levels, and while he has all the talent in the world, the real question was whether or not he had enough heart for 5*. He answered that question unequivocally on Saturday, and it was really fun to watch. This quote from Laura in Eventing Nation‘s post-Pau recap admittedly had me a little choked up.

Anyway, moving on to pedigrees!

We’ve done these breakdowns enough by now to where some things aren’t much of a surprise anymore. Would it even be an eventing competition if we didn’t have multiple horses with Contender in their pedigrees? Of course not, and this field is no exception with Contender showing up within the first 3 generations of 4 different horses (3 times on the sire’s side, once on the dam’s side). We also see other familiar names with multiple representations, such as Cavalier Royale (4 representations, all on the dam’s side), What do Contender and Cavalier Royale have in common? The legendary Cor de la Bryere – Cavalier Royale’s sire and Contender’s grandsire. Again this isn’t news, we see A TON of Corde in upper level event horses, and indeed if you go further back in the pedigree he is represented in many more horses throughout the field (20 to be exact) via various sons and daughters.

Two thoroughbred stallions have multiple representations within the first few generations – Laudanum xx is the sire’s sire of two horses and Ben Faerie xx is the dam’s damsire of two (half siblings!). We also see some other familiar thoroughbred stallion names throughout the field, such as Mytens xx, Shaab xx, Ghareeb xx, Exorbitant xx, I’m a Star xx, and Sky Boy xx. There are no full TB’s in the field but 8 horses have a full TB parent (7 as the sire, 1 as the dam) and an additional 8 horses have a full TB within the first two generations. There are also two horses with a full French Anglo Arab parent (both as the dam).

The average blood percentage of this field is slightly higher than we’re used to seeing for a European 5* (likely because of the high number of British and French entries, which tend to have more blood) at 59%. If you average the blood percentage of the horses that managed double clear XC rounds, the average drops slightly to 55%, partly due to 5* first timer Charly van ter Heiden, who managed a phenomenal XC performance despite a blood percentage of only 24%. When you average the blood percentage of horses who managed to showjump clear on the final day, the percentage goes back up again a bit, to 57%. The average blood percentage of the top 10 finishers is 54%.

One entrant, the aforementioned Mr Bass, is sired by a stallion who now stands in the US after a successful carreer in Europe – Carrico. Carrico has enjoyed success in the jumper ring, the hunter ring, and also as a sire across several disciplines. While Mr Bass (out of a mare by Exorbitant xx – definitely eventing blood) is his most successful eventer offspring so far, he’s not the only one, with several others creeping up the FEI levels behind him.

Not for the first time, we’ve got the half-sibling duo of Xavier Faer and Faerie Dianimo in the same field (we talked about those two and their incredible dam in last year’s Burghley coverage, another time where they competed at a 5* together). In this field we also saw one of the half-siblings we mentioned a couple weeks ago in the Mondial du Lion coverage – Colorado Blue (by Jaguar Mail) is out of the same dam as Hush a Bye Baby. This was Colorado Blue’s first 5* attempt, and while he impressed with a courageous double clear XC, he sadly was one of 7 horses who didn’t make it past the second horse inspection. (I know I should try not to be biased but I am a fan and will be keeping an eye on this one for the future!)

If we examine the dams of the horse’s in this Pau field, only a few of them had sport careers themselves. Two of the French entrants as well as GB entrant Zenshera had dams that competed through 1.30m showjumping and 1.35m showjumping, and of course we know about Faerie Dazzler. Otherwise, we see a lot of career broodmares amongst the dams of these entrants. We talked about Colorado Blue’s dam and MHS King Joules’ dam in the Mondial du Lion post, but there are even more who have produced a string of good foals, which means a lot of half-siblings that have been successful in sport, mostly in the jumper ring. Just to name a few of the more notable ones – Scuderia 1918 A Best Friend has a half sibling showjumping at 1.50m level, Zenshera has a half sibling showjumping at 1.60m level, Carneyhaugh Rua has a half sibling currently competing at 3* eventing, and Trompe L’oeil D’emery has 4 half siblings showjumping, one through 1.60m level.

As you can see, jumper breeding with a heavy dose of blood once again dominated another 5* field, with a couple entrants having some dressage breeding (Dimaggio and Flemmingh being the closest in the pedigree) but none being completely dressage bred.

My last In The Blood post for 2020 will be in a couple weeks, with the 4*L field for Tryon! I don’t have the time required to dig into this year’s FEH/YEH field (which always takes FOREVER to find and build the pedigrees of those young horses because without fail they’re either not entered anywhere or only partially entered) but USEA has done a pretty good job of covering it, so check out their coverage if you want to see more info on the babies!