The Belgians were in Texas for the Willow Tree Warmbloods sBs inspection yesterday!

This registry is fairly new to this country, having come over to the US around 2010, but it’s starting to really get a good foothold with the jumper breeders. Studbook sBs horses are known as “Belgian Sporthorses”, not to be confused with Belgian Warmbloods (from the BWP registry). What’s the difference? Mostly which part of Belgium the studbooks are based in. Studbook sBs covers mainly the southern (French) region of the country and BWP covers mainly the northern Dutch speaking region. Although BWP has been known here in America for longer, sBs was actually the first Belgian registry. It’s quite small, numbers-wise, but has still managed to produce its fair share of superstars (ever heard of HH Azur or Rothchild?) and consistently finds itself near the top of the WBFSH Studbook rankings for jumpers.

Basically, it’s legit. Maybe you’d never heard of it before, but you have now. Also their brand looks kinda like the Budweiser logo, so there’s that.

One of the great things about sBs in the US is that they have full reciprocity with their books in Belgium. It’s not a completely separate registry like some of the other big North American based ones, so you end up getting a European passport as part of the horse’s registration paperwork. Pretty neat. The other great perk is that they use Belgian judges, which gets you consistency in the scoring and a solidly experienced eye.

Granted, they are a very jumper-oriented registry, and Presto is an eventer. I knew he wasn’t going to be the type they generally look for, conformation-wise, which is a big muscular well-developed type of horse… which is not generally what you see galloping around the upper levels of eventing. But I was obviously interested in their general impressions and thoughts on his movement… the opinions of experienced breeders and horsemen are always important.

Before I start recapping events, I have to give props to Michelle for how well she did with organizing and preparing for the inspection. The farm looked great and the judges had much praise for how professional the inspection was. She worked her butt off and it showed. Hopefully going forward we can draw even more people to sBs and her inspection.

We had 2 foals (Presto and Liam) and 7 mares to present, which made for a busy morning. There were plenty of helpers though, so we were able to shuffle everyone through pretty quickly. It was an unseasonably cool day, 65 and overcast, so the horses were plenty “lit”. Some a little bit TOO lit.

 

Presto was a compete shitturd to braid. Totally wanted to murder him more than once, but didn’t. Gold star for me. He really needs to be weaned so his self esteem isn’t quite so damn high. He held himself together fairly well(ish) for the in hand portion but mostly just galloped around screaming like a deranged donkey for the free movement portion. There were like 10 steps of meh trot in there, so at least we got SOMETHING.

 

As I expected, they thought he was a little underdeveloped as far as musculature and “bulk” goes. The fact that he’s 74% tb means he will never be particularly solid, and I don’t want him to be, so I’m cool with those remarks. He definitely isn’t the big powerful showjumper standard. He scored straight 7.5’s for the type and conformation section. For perspective, his dam (who I commonly refer to as Hippo or Elephant) got an 8.5 on type. Just slightly different criteria in the jumper vs eventer worlds as far as that goes.

They liked his movement more, giving him an 8 for his walk (it was not very relaxed at the time) and an 8.5 for both his trot and canter. Considering I didn’t think he showed as much quality in his movement as I’ve seen from him before, I was pleased with those scores. Pretty much everything was right in line with what I expected.

After we finished with the horse inspections, both foals got branded and microchipped. Presto had a brief “AM I ON FIRE?” moment with the smoke, but otherwise seemed pretty nonplussed by the branding and the big microchip needle. Sure… stand just fine for those things but dance the tango while I’m braiding you. That makes total sense.

Obviously these pics are just the ones I snapped off of the nice camera’s view screen, so once I get the good versions I’ll post pictures of all the horses. It was a fun (and kind of exhausting) day, but most importantly Presto now has all of his “real horse” stuff done. All that’s really left is to get his lifetime USEF registration! But first: WEANING.

This one was started by Olivia, and I think it’s fun to dream, so dream we shall! She said: “If money was absolutely no barrier and I could custom design every single itty bitty little thing, what would I want in my next horse?”

If you had asked me this question Pre-Henry, you would have gotten a very regimented “16.2h, bay Holsteiner with a star/snip and a couple of white socks, that can take a joke and jump a house”.

If there’s one thing that little bay ball of sass known as Henny has taught me, it’s that it truly is what’s on the inside that counts. These days I’m pretty open to anything 15.3-16.3 that is genuine to it’s core and really wants to do the job. But Olivia said Perfect Horse, so let’s play ball.

Really what I want is all the best things about Henry, but a better mover, easier to ride in dressage, more careful in stadium, and more scope. Oh right, also this perfect horse is bay or brown with just a little bit of white and never has a lame day in it’s life. HA. I still maintain that 16.3h is my preferred upper limit, since I really think the ideal size for a sporthorse is 16.1h or so. I want something that could pack my butt (and all of my bad decisions) around Prelim without turning a hair. Something that is careful in stadium but still super brave. Something that is FORWARD (because I freakin hate when you close your leg and a horse doesn’t react) and wants to take me to the jumps but isn’t a runaway.

Work ethic is probably one of the most important qualities to me in a horse. I had one that had to be “convinced” to go to work every day, and it was not enjoyable to me in the least. I absolutely must have a horse that enjoys the work and is always willing to TRY.

I also want good ground manners – cannot stand super rude horses – but I don’t mind something a little cheeky. Not outright naughty, but I like a horse with some character. Has to be a good traveler, naturally, and easy to catch (another pet peeve). It can’t be inclined to rear, it has to have a decent sense of self-preservation (I don’t want something that will try to jump even when it really really shouldn’t), and it has to have a safe jumping technique. I would want to get it when it was still kinda young and green too, because I’m one of those super masochistic people that likes developing a young horse.

Which kinda leads to this nugget.

I made sure to guarantee myself bay or brown by using a stallion without a red gene, but Presto certainly did his part in the markings department with his star, snip, and one front white sock. My favorite markings! If he’s anything like his parents, I’m hoping that he’ll have at least most of the qualities I’m looking for in my Perfect Horse. We’re a long way from seeing if he develops into that, but I think it’s gonna be pretty fun to find out.

Oh, arena eventing. I’ve tried to like it, I really have. I watch it every time it’s on live broadcast, I’ve watched a lot on Youtube from Europe, and I even did an indoor eventing show once. Which, for the record, was great fun. It used OT instead of fastest time, which seemed considerably more safe. Alas, I digress.

I watched the arena eventing from Central Park on Saturday night (because I was at a party and there were no dogs to pet), hoping to come away with what I’m always hoping for – a “wow that was fun and exciting” feeling. Instead I came away with what I always come away from those things with – a “well, I’m glad no one was hurt” feeling. Granted, maybe I’m being oversensitive, especially considering that a well established French rider suffered a fatal rotational fall at a CCI* horse trial in Europe earlier that same day. Maybe that set me up to be on a hair trigger. Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m the biggest Debbie Downer on the planet. All of those things are possible I suppose.

Don’t get me wrong, there are things I like about the whole arena eventing spectacle.

1. Big money classes like these, that take place at prestigious horse shows, help put the spotlight on the sport of eventing in general.
2. These classes help get real money into the hands of some of these riders who really need it. Prize money is hard to come by in our sport.
3. I always walk away from it thinking that event horses are pretty damn brilliant and genuine.

On the other hand, there are a lot of things I don’t like, which is… pretty much everything else. At the first near horse fall, my heart leaped into my throat and stayed there. At the third near horse fall, I was just crossing my fingers that everyone would stay upright. One horse pulled out a pretty spectacularly athletic feat to manage to not have a rotational, and another one somehow managed to scramble back to his feet after almost completely wiping out around a turn before a jump. Almost every horse did not read the bank question correctly the first time over it. Considering that safety is THE big hot button issue in our sport, these showcases seem to laugh in the face of it.

We’ve been told that one of the main purposes of these types of classes is to showcase eventing as a sport. I have to wonder if this is the kind of showcase we really want. I came from the h/j world, and the most common perception that I remember hearing (or having) about eventers was that they were “yahoos” – riders that cowboyed around but lacked finesse and, to some degree, skill. Others thought it was just downright dangerous to gallop over solid fences. After watching several of these supposed arena eventing showcases by now, it’s easy to see how someone would get that impression. They seem to constantly toe the line between exciting and reckless, like a more extreme version of an already fairly extreme sport. If the riders want to win they have no choice but to go pedal to the metal, yanking the horses around the turns, galloping wildly at big solid fences, jumping dozens of fences over and over and over crammed into a fairly small space. While I’m sure it’s fun to watch from a “thrills and spills” perspective, that’s just not what eventing is.

Even Dom Schramm, part of the winning team, said of the horse he was riding (who was an impressive 20 years old, btw): “He’s just been going novice, so I felt kind of bad for him, as we were turning and burning. Halfway around I was thinking ‘Sorry mate, I wouldn’t normally ride you like this,’ but he was a champion. He was just unbelievable, just picked himself back up.”.

I love Dom and Ryan, and I’m super happy to see them walk away with a big check, but with comments like that coming from the winners, I have to wonder about the format of these classes. I feel like surely there has to be a better way to showcase eventing and to put some prize money in people’s pockets. Watching people (some of whom aren’t even wearing protective vests btw) gallop at big solid corners in an arena setting makes me cringe in a big way. What happens when there’s an accident and a horse or human is seriously injured, or worse?

Surely there’s a middle ground here. A better way to format these classes where it’s still fun to watch, but it’s safer for all involved. Until then, I don’t think I can watch it anymore.

Omg, it’s a miracle, I actually had a jumping lesson. With courses and everything! I know, it’s rare. The local pony club was bringing my trainer in for a big lesson day and they were kind enough to tack me onto the beginning of their schedule. The arena was fantastic (great footing – so springy!) and I only had to drive an hour instead of the usual 2 hours. Total win/win that was much appreciated. Well, by me anyway. Henry was not as enthusiastic about his 5:30AM wakeup call.

The journey from my barn to the site of the lesson day was one I normally would cringe about making. I literally crossed diagonally from one side of Austin to the other, which meant mostly toll road and under-construction highway the whole way. Sunday morning at 6am is the only time I’d recommend that particular journey with a horse trailer… it was actually quite pleasant with very few other cars on the road. Any other time it would just be standstill traffic. Worked out for us!

The arena was set up with all of the exercises for the Pony Club kids, which also fit in pretty well with our agenda for Henry. Last week at MeadowCreek it became pretty clear that he’s got to take a little bit more responsibility for his own feet, and not be quite so reliant on me getting everything 100% perfect in order for him to jump clear. So we worked on getting his feet moving a little quicker, rocking back at the base, straightness, and on making changes by going forward. The jumps stayed small and the exercises themselves got more complicated.

It took several times through the bounce before Henry was really springing himself through it. He has this tendency to land and just stall out a bit, rather than rocking back on that big lard butt and pushing himself off again. Life is hard when you’re built downhill, man. I really had to think of coming FORWARD out of the corner and keep my leg very solidly ON the whole way through.

The straightness stuff was a bit easier for him, but still a great test of our accuracy. Those parts of the exercises almost had more of an XC type feel, jumping on an angle or off a very short track. It was a good test for me, the pilot. I quite liked the little “thread the needle” triple, with 3 jumps that didn’t line up, set one stride apart. There really was only ONE good line through there, which is also true of a lot of the combination questions we’re seeing on XC at Training. It’s important to pick the right line and never waiver from it.

My favorite exercise (the one in the video below) was jumping up through the center of the corner over the barrel as a skinny, two angled strides to the 3rd element of the “thread the needle triple”, around to the bounce, left rollback to the rail, back around and jumping down the triple, 3 forward strides to a vertical. It had a little bit of everything thrown into one mini-course, and Henry answered all the questions well.

 

It was a fun lesson, and definitely served to highlight the things we do well versus the things we still need to work on. Time to set some bounces back up at home! And uh… make sure we get more regular jumping lessons…

 

Holy crap guys, guess who turned 6 months old on the 16th?

Time flies, huh? 6 months kind of seems like the official point at which I can’t really call him a foal anymore… he’s a weanling now. Well, he will be after his inspection next week, anyway. Then Sadie goes back to her normal life, focusing on growing her 2017 Diarado baby, and Presto learns what the world is like with no mom to help you through it (or step on you, or use you as a scratching post).

This is also probably the last time he’ll look even semi-attractive until next summer. Is there anything worse than weanling awkwards combined with winter woolies? I think not. After the inspection photos it might be a while before y’all get anymore full body views of the wildebeest. Granted, he’s looking really really moth-eaten right now anyway, so maybe we’ve already crossed into wildebeest territory. It’s like his coat still hasn’t quite recovered from all the sickness and he’s kinda patchy. And gangly. If his chest would actually start to sprout outward, that would be great.

He’s got a big fall and winter ahead. His BFF Liam will be leaving (which I think will make both of them really sad, they’re such bros) and he’ll be getting gelded. He’ll have to do more “big horse” stuff now. Mostly though, he’s just gonna be eating and growing. For like… 4 more years.

He keeps getting better and better though, as he slowly recovers from all the issues he had as a foal. He’s still weedy (maybe he always will be) but his legs have straightened out beautifully and he’s right on target for size, with legs for days. We’re also FINALLY starting to get glimpses of his gaits, too, including the first real trot I’ve ever actually seen from him. His typical preferred gaits are standing still and galloping. I knew there had to be a fancy trot lurking in there somewhere.

Going forward I think the “birthday” posts will be reserved for years instead of months, but you’ll still be seeing lots of Presto updates here, especially once I figure out how to get him a bit closer to me. I need more of this nugget in my life on the regular. Can’t wait to see him next week and get him all prettied up (well, as much as possible at this point) for his inspection!