I promise I won’t post about the tiny home thing very often, since this is a horse blog after all. It’s kind of a big deal for me though, preparing to have a tiny home built, and then subsequently moving into it and living in it. Plus technically it’s going on a horse farm, so… it’s relevant. Either way, when I do post anything about the house, I’ll limit it to Tuesdays only and clearly title it so that you don’t have to read about it if you don’t want to. Sound fair?

On Sunday the SO and I went to the Tiny Home Expo here in Austin. Not for any real specific reason, I was mostly just curious and wanted to take a look at what was there to see if there were things I hadn’t though of, or cool gadgets/gizmos on display. The expo was, overall, pretty underwhelming. It did have a fair number of tiny home models on display, which was good, but nothing much else worth looking at. Some of the booths didn’t even make any damn sense, like all the douchey overly perfumed people trying to sell me “instant face lift”. WTF? Clearly they are NOT understanding the type of people that tend to want tiny houses, because, well… we ain’t that. People that are looking to live tiny or rustic or minimalist prooooobably aren’t gonna buy your 10-product face care package from Mr. Walking-Axe-Body-Spray-Commercial. We came here to see creative storage solutions and compost toilets and collapsible fire pits. Just saying.

Anyway, having all the tiny home models there in the convention center was the saving grace of the expo, and made it worth the trip. We got to look inside everything from a hunting cabin to a shipping container home (by far the most godawful thing I’ve ever seen in my life) to a plastic dome yurt thing to a converted school bus to a “bohemian bungalow” to a gypsy wagon. It was not lacking in variety.

The builder that we’re using was also there with two models, one a towable tiny home and then one park model RV, which happened to be the same model that we picked out – The Tumbleweed. It was finished out quite differently from what we’ve picked, but it was really good to see it again and stand in it again and confirm, without a doubt, that this was for sure our favorite. It really wasn’t even a contest, we still both love the layout and the space. It’s definitely bigger and lot more open than your usual tiny house.

We also took the opportunity to do some things we hadn’t thought to do when we saw the model a few months ago, like take measurements for the area where the couch goes. I wasn’t sure what would fit, but we’ve got 84+” to work with so I think we’ll be able to find a smaller sectional without a problem. We also got to see some of the upgrades that we had picked out but weren’t in the model we saw at the showroom, like the stainless steel farm sink and appliances, and the front load stacked washer and dryer. This one had all of those upgrades, and I loved them.

This is the video tour of the one they had at the expo. We won’t be doing a back deck, since it means sacrificing a closet and a dresser in the bedroom, but otherwise the layout is the same and it’s got the same size front porch that ours will.

What stuck out to me most, though, in walking through all these models, is that what I really seemed to be drawn to were the little pops of character. For the most part I’m boring, I don’t like big walls of color or tons of bright accents or anything that looks busy. For those who don’t remember from the first tiny house post, we picked out a quite GRAY interior. Which I like, but now I’m second guessing a few parts of what we picked out, like the cabinets and the backsplash.

I do still want the place to have character. Seeing the unique tile accents, or the stained glass panels, or the little pops of color, or even the super fun and unique drawer pulls… I loved those touches. It gave the spaces a little bit of personality and made them feel less cookie cutter, less bland.

This is perhaps the first time in my life that I’ve wished I was a little more girly. I have  no eye for design, no concept of what will work or what won’t. I don’t really know how to go about adding these little things that will give the space some charm without making it look like… well, a gypsy wagon.

I went a little bonkers googling things on Sunday night, and just flipping through Wayfair to try to understand what I even like. I’ve never paid that much attention, to tell you the truth. I found some really cool handpainted knobs that I’m wondering if maybe we could incorporate into the bathroom or something…

I’ve always loved stained glass but never even thought about putting it in the house until I saw the accents in a few of these tiny houses. Then I was like OMG WE COULD DO STAINED GLASS DOORS. OR A TRANSOM WINDOW. But… thinking that might be a bit much and/or awfully permanent, so maybe I could hang a nice panel on the kitchen window or bathroom window or something and get the same effect?

Then I realized we’d also have to pick out rugs, a couple counter height chairs for the island, porch furniture, a coffee table, and a couch… at which point I pretty much just curled up in fetal position and gave up. Thank god this place is only 399 square feet and requires very few items of decor or furniture.

Basically, I came away from the expo feeling like my mind had been opened up a lot, but that quickly morphed into feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed. I’m astonishingly bad at being able to imagine what things will actually look like in the space, and whether or not I’ll even like it. Looking at all this stuff just made me think that I should hire a decorator to help us, but I’m 150% sure there’s not room in the budget for that. And I’m scared they’d just put knick-knacks and shit all over the place anyway, which makes me cringe. I mostly just need guidance. Someone with a good eye and some creativity that can tell me what to buy, or like… present me with just a couple options to pick from. That would be so much easier.

Advice? Ideas? Words of wisdom? I’m all ears.

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.