It’s official: as of Saturday I’m now living out at the barn full time! The barn owners and 3 of their horses left for their farm in Florida (a little jealous right now since cold front is about to blow through here and drop us down below freezing) on Saturday morning, and I swooped in as they were pulling out.

Trying to pack for a months-long stay was kind of interesting. I took it as an opportunity to prepare for living in the tiny house. What stuff did I REALLY need? Clothing and shoes especially. Honestly I need way less than I actually own. All the clothing I brought (aside from jackets, which are hanging near the door) fits easily in the closet and a couple of drawers in the dresser. I’ve decided to limit myself to using one shelf in the pantry, and just a few dishes/pots/pans etc. Mostly to see just how much stuff I actually need, vs how much stuff I’ve accumulated back at home. If I don’t use it over the next 5 or 6 months, do I really need to own it? Probably not. I packed what I feel like are the necessary essentials, so now we’ll see how that works out.

I kept myself pretty busy on Saturday, getting settled in. I turned the horses out, unpacked my stuff and put it all up where I wanted, then went to move and set up my jumps. They’d all still been sitting behind the storage barn right where we unloaded them the day before I moved the horses. In reality they all need some repair and paint, which will be a winter project, but I still need to be able to jump in the meantime. So first I loaded up fillers and poles, then drove out to Henry’s turnout (the biggest, flattest space) and started plotting out where I wanted things.

Which took me forever because I went out there with no plan and thus was completely indecisive. Once I had the poles set, I went back over to get the standards. By this point I was kind of glad that I only have like 6 jumps. Moving them all by yourself is a real bitch. But now it’s done, and we jumped them (boy is Henry really excited to find himself pointed at a jump again). The field that I put them in is right up next to the road and someone driving by yesterday stopped to watch us jump… I think I might become a bit of a neighborhood spectacle.

Then of course when I was cleaning stalls, the lawnmower that pulls the manure spreader got stuck in park. Because naturally, day 1, something has to happen. Luckily I’d already done most of the stall cleaning by that point so I just left it there and figured the SO could fix it the next day when he came out. It helps having a mechanic around sometimes. And fix it he did, in like 5 minutes, using one screwdriver. I figured it would be simple and I would feel dumb, and I was correct on both counts. He showed me what to do if it happens again, but hopefully it won’t. I’m a lot better with horses than I am with machines.

Saturday night I went and got groceries, which was the last big thing on my to-do list for the weekend to get settled in. It’s funny, it takes me pretty much the same amount of time to get to the grocery store now that I live 9 miles away as it did when I was 2 miles away. Country roads vs city traffic. Much prefer the country roads. And now that I’ll basically be living as a single person 5 days a week for a while, I got perhaps overly excited about being able to eat whatever I want again. The SO is mostly vegetarian, and before he came along I existed pretty exclusively on variations of chicken. As you may imagine, it’s been tough finding things we’ll both eat. But I stocked up on chicken, and I’ve had it 2 nights in a row for dinner. Also really looking forward to having breakfast for dinner again, which is something the SO just did not do, but I love. I bought turkey bacon for that exact reason. I also don’t have to cook if I don’t want to… like if I get done in the barn late, I could totally just have cereal or a sandwich for dinner, because I don’t have to consider anyone else. I definitely didn’t appreciate that part enough when I was single and yes you’re right it’s kind of sad that I’m so excited about it now.

My favorite part, though?

It’s stalker heaven.

I can see my boys whenever I want, just by looking out the window. Even in the middle of the night, because there are cameras in the barn, I can pull up the feed on my phone to check on them without even having to get up. Not that I’ve done that. Ok yes I’ve totally done that.

I can blanket them how I want. I can feed them how I want. I see them every single day and can observe every little nuance with their condition or behavior. I know how much they eat, drink, and poop. I see their attitude and demeanor. Taking care of my own horses is a dream come true. It’s a time constraint, sure, and it ties me to the farm in a way that gives me a lot less freedom. Given my 1.5hr round trip commute to work, fitting everything into the weekdays is going to be a bit tricky. It’s a totally fair trade to me, though, and one I don’t mind. If I need to change something, I can just… change it. After so many years of compromises with boarding, I LOVE being 100% in control of their care, and it’s worth the work or whatever I have to sacrifice to make it happen.

Of course, tonight that cold front is blowing through, so maybe ask me again in a couple days after I’ve been rained on and frozen solid like a popsicle. Just kidding, it’ll be fine, I brought 3 jackets. I’m ready.

How about a little group shopping experience? I’m having a hard time finding very many options in exactly what I want, so I figured the hive mind might be able to help come up with some things I haven’t.

Ever since Henry outgrew his PS of Sweden quarter sheet a few years ago, I’ve struggled to find something else I like to replace it. By the time I sold this one, PSoS no longer made this style, or I would have just bought another one in a bigger size.

It was by far my favorite quarter sheet that I’ve ever owned. It had leather straps that looped through the girth, it was wool, and it had a tail cord. The shape was great, it stayed in place perfectly, and it was easy to take off/put back on while in the saddle. Everything I’ve bought since then has… well… displeased me. I’ve learned that I really just hate the style that goes under the saddle or over the rider’s legs, and I cannot, in any circumstances, do fleece. Not even as the lining. I dunno if Henry’s swishy helicopter tail is some kind of electricity generator or what, but he is walking static in the winter and I’m done with any hint of fleece. Done. Burn it all.

So basically, here’s what I’m looking for:

• the “loin rug” style that sits totally behind the saddle

But I would much prefer that the straps be set lower, like the PSoS was. Failing that, they at least need to be long enough to loop over my stirrup leathers (not looping it through my stirrup leather keeper, no thanks).

• NOT FLEECE. Wool or thermatex are preferred. Nylon would do, as long as it isn’t fleece-lined.
• Must have a tail cord, because wind.
• Must be under $100 shipped to the US.
• Prefer navy. Dark green or gray are fine too.
• New or used, I don’t care.
• No I’m not interested in making my own or modifying one. If it requires sewing I’m out. I just had to sew new buckles onto a couple of my blankets and the torture is too fresh. I know, first world problems.

I’ve only found one so far that ticks most of the boxes, a wool B Vertigo.

The attachment is not my favorite, and lord that logo is giant enough to be seen from space, but it’s my fall back if we can’t find something 100% perfect.

So, friends… what have you seen that might fit the bill? Help Henry’s apple booty survive the winter.

You made it, friends! It’s the final “In the Blood” post of 2019, so after this you’re off the hook again until spring. I feel like I’m still evolving in how I do these posts and what statistics are proving to be consistent, and which ones are proving to be more interesting (at least to me). If there’s one thing that the endless hours of research and spreadsheets have taught me, it’s that there IS definitely a pattern here when it comes to what makes an upper level event horse. Well… usually anyway. For now, let’s take a deeper look at the Pau field!

I found myself going off on a bit of a mare tangent on this one, for two reasons.

1) if you are in any sporthorse breeding groups on facebook, you have probably seen breeders arguing (sometimes quite vehemently) about sport mares vs career broodmares. Is it important for a mare to have had a sport career herself? Do mares that are proven in sport produce better offspring? Watching them go back and forth about that will give you whiplash.

2) there are two horses in this field with the same dam. A pretty rare feat, but one we also saw this year at Burghley (with a different mare).

So, let’s look at the dams a little bit here. My eyes started to cross a bit as I was researching, so I only took a super deep dive into the dams of the top 10 horses (well, aside from that mare who had two offspring in the field, but we’ll get to her). Of those top 10 horses (I couldn’t find details about the dam of one, so toss that one out), two had dams who competed at the FEI level in sport – one a 1.30m showjumper, and one a 2* eventer. The rest were either career broodmares or a mixture of lower level riding horses with a few foals. The 1.30m showjumper mare also produced a 1.60m showjumper – so she has a top level eventing offspring as well as a top level showjumper, both of which exceeded her own success. One of the career broodmares has a 5* offspring, a 4* offspring, a 3* offspring, and a 1.30m showjumper to her credit.

And the mare that is the dam of two horses in the Pau field?

King’s Gem, who herself competed at Pau (her only 5* completion) with Gemma Tattersall in the irons. King’s Gem was bred by Mary King and is by the very successful event sire Rock King. She is the dam of King Albert (sired by Mayhill xx, who competed through 4* with Mark Todd) and Chilli Knight (by Chilli Morning, who competed through 5* with William Fox Pitt). 

Sportmares vs career broodmares… the debate goes on. Psst, no one tell them that they’re both right, it ruins the fun.

Moving on to all the normal statistics, the average blood percentage for the starting field was 62%, with only 3 full thoroughbreds. That’s the fewest we’ve seen in any 5* this year. The highest placed full TB was Canadian-bred More Inspiration, finishing in 12th. More Inspiration was one of three full siblings, and at 55k earnings in 28 starts he was the best racehorse of the 3.

If we look at the average blood percentage of the horses that completed, it drops slightly to 59%. Average blood percentage of the top 10? 58.5%. Average blood percentage of the 5 fastest XC rounds? 52%. Blood percentage of the double clear SJ rounds? Goes back up to 61.4%. (this is where my brain goes oooo interesting). Also worth mentioning, 3 of the 5 double clear SJ rounds were logged by a Selle Francais. And finally, the blood percentage of the horse with the ONLY double clear XC round? 39%. Yep, you read that right. Zagreb, the only horse to complete XC double clear, has a blood percentage well below average. In fact, he’s one of only 7 horses in the field with a blood percentage under 40%. He did perhaps pay for that speedy round a bit by adding two rails on the final day, and he’s also the only one of those 7 under-40% horses to finish in the top 10.

Looking at all the different places in the pedigrees where a full-blooded horse appears, 8 of the 41 pedigree-verifiable horses (20%) had a full TB sire, 5 horses (12%) had a full TB dam, 14 horses (34%) had a full TB sire’s sire, 13 horses (32%) had a full TB damsire, and as usual the most common place is as the dam’s damsire with 17 horses (41%) having a full TB in that spot.

There was only one stallion who had more than one offspring in the field – Chilli Morning, sire of Chilli Knight and Jalapeno. Both completed XC but did not compete on the final day.

Interesting for breeders that despite being quite blooded himself, both of these top level Chilli Morning offspring are also out of blooded mares. Blood plus blood.

Other stallions do make multiple appearances in the first three generations of the field’s pedigrees though, in different places. Quinar, Quick Star, and Pilot for the warmbloods, and Mytens, Shaab, and Buckskin for the thoroughbreds.

It’s been a long year of spreadsheets (my 2019 excel document has 11 sheets! 11 different events! 11 different times I’ve spent WAY TOO MANY HOURS on this!) but I continue to learn a lot and be a bit addicted to all of this. It’s fascinating, if you’re a breeding geek. Thanks to those who have followed along with the series, and if you have any suggestions for stuff you’d like to see in the 2020 editions, let me know! Until then, I’m looking forward to a bit of a break.

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…