S2 E3: OTTB on Tap Evaluates Vol 2! Pedigree, Conformation, Suitability: Looking Ready, C Two & Ruby Bleu

S2E3 OTTB on Tap Evaluates #2
[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. And welcome back to OTTB OnTap.
I'm Niamh. And I'm Emily. Hey, Niamh. What's on tap today? Today we're diving back into one of our favorite segments, OTTB OnTap Evaluates. We had so much fun the first time around that we're back for, with even more horses submitted by our listeners. Yes,
take it easy.
You guys have been recording for literal hours. All right. We hope. Oh. It's bad when I start laughing. We hope you all, see I have to be the serious one so we keep a lid on it. That's why I'm so serious. Cause if I start laughing it's just a hell in a hand basket. Yeah. All right. Okay. We all, I also can't read.
We hope you all enjoy the series as much as we've enjoyed preparing for it. Just a quick reminder. This is all in good fun. These are just our opinions based on our experience and research. Horses break all kinds of rules and every thoroughbred is unique. People often say you don't read, ride the bloodlines or the confirmation.
And so there's always exceptions, especially with OTTBs. Absolutely. This series is meant to be both educational and entertaining, and we're excited to see the variety of horses our listeners have shared. And for those of you tuning in, don't forget to check out our website, www. ottbontap. com for bonus content, upcoming episodes, and our newsletter.
Don't forget to sign up for it. We also will have the photos and pedigrees of the horses that we're discussing today, along with a link. If you would like to submit your own OTTB for a future episode.. We're structuring this series so that it works well in podcast format, but we'll be sure to include confirmation pictures and all of our research links on the website. Exactly. And just so you know, we have not shared our thoughts with each other.
We also have not received anything other than a photo and a Jockey Club name from the owners of these horses, so we didn't get any sort of pre read. We are going strictly off pedigree and confirmation as displayed to us in whichever photograph was submitted. But we'll introduce each horse by its Jockey Club name, go over its race history and pedigree, and then Niamh and I will give our take.
on confirmation and suitability for different disciplines. Okay, so let's get into it. The first up we have Looking Ready. Looking Ready is a 2015 Bay thoroughbred gelding owned by an old friend of mine, Melissa Libby. Fun fact, Melissa and I were in the New Jersey Region Pony Club together, and I remember her often beating me with her OTTB Arby's alibi.
I love that connection. You told me a lot about her. So let's look at Looking Ready's background. Sure. Melissa calls him Louie. He's by More Than Ready out of Seek and Find by Giants Causeway. Louie raced 13 times over two seasons with one win and one third, earning over 85, 000 before retiring in 2018.
All right, so now we are going to jump right in. I know last time we talked through the different sires and gave some historical information. We're going to jump right into our thoughts on the pedigree, just cold to start. We're going to go through and give you more information that is readily available through research afterwards.
So okay. Who wants to go first? Do you want to go first or want me to go first? I'll go first. Okay. So if I were just strictly looking at this pedigree and had no other information, all I've got in the early part of the pedigree is, how many starts he's had, where he was based out of, and if he was a black type or graded stakes winner it does say that he was a black type place winner, which so right off the bat, the information that I have is that it's a lightly raced horse of high quality.
When I look at the. Sire line, we've got more than ready, who is by Southern Halo, who's by Halo. So I would suspect that Halo has a little bit of a reputation for being a bit tough. I would expect this horse to have an athletic and maybe a bit of a stubborn streak. On the dam side the dam is Seek and Find who is by Giant's Causeway.
Who is by Stormcat. Now on the flip side of this, I tend to have a little bit of a soft spot for Stormcats and specifically Giant's Causeway. The couple that we've had were really nice to work with and tended to be fairly straightforward in terms of training. So that's my overview. There are actually quite a few names in here I didn't necessarily connect with, but there's a lot of older, good names in the pedigree, if that makes sense.
Yeah, interesting thoughts on Giants Causeway and the Storm Cat. So right off the bat, I noticed that this horse does not have a ton of inbreeding, which is something that kind of coincidentally, I think through doing this. We've both noticed that I tend to like in a horse. I will see a photo and I'll send it to Niamhe.
And she's yep, no inbreeding through the fifth cross. He does have a slight bit of inbreeding but not a ton. It's where you suspect to find it. Yeah. It's further back and with horses like Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector, which are very prolific. I wouldn't necessarily turn one down with more inbreeding.
It's just purely pretty coincidental. If you know me, you also know I like the older breeding types. Niamh said this horse has Halo really quite up close for a modern OTTB. Halo is by Hail to Reason, who, fun fact, was the sire of Stephen Bradley's Horse sassy reason that one Burley. Oh, that's a cool fact.
Yeah And I find that [00:06:00] horses from the halo line tend to be tough buggers, but athletic On the bottom line, we have Giants causeway as Niamh said by storm cat now Storm Cat as we've talked a little bit in the past, he's probably one of the more controversial sis out there. He is very polarizing. Most people either love him or hate him.
I don't mind a dose of Storm Cat. I always like to look at the full picture of the horse in front of me. I do agree that Giants Causeway, I really like Giants Causeway horses. So might be the dam line Mariah's Storm that helps temper some of that storm cat. blood but they tend as Niamhe said, to be on the more level headed side.
However, coupled with the halo on top could have some strong opinions that I would hope were on my side. That's a good way to put it. So let's jump into some of the notable sires and research that we did. Yeah. So more than ready is a pretty well known sire in both the racing and sport horse worlds.
His offspring are known for their versatility, especially on different surfaces and often have solid jumping ability and good minds, which makes them popular as sport horses. And he brings so much more to his offspring. More Than Ready was a successful sire in both the U S and Australia providing or producing consistent athletic horses with great versatility.
His line is highly valued in eventing circles where trainability, as we know, and durability are key. So let's start with Woodman. Although his own racing career was short, he really made his mark as a sire. Yeah, he's got a very solid pedigree. He's known for passing on soundness and a great temperament.
So Woodman's offspring tend to be very adaptable, suited for a variety of equestrian disciplines. And it's that adaptability and well balanced conformation that makes Woodman's line so popular, especially for eventing and show jumping. Next up, we have Giant's Causeway, as we were just talking about.
His nickname was actually the Iron Horse. He had an amazing racing career across Europe, and he's especially remembered for his resilience. Yes, his tenacity and courage on the track really carried over to his progeny. They're known for their endurance and intelligence, which makes them great for eventing and show jumping.
With his lineage, you can also see that excellent confirmation. Which is a big advantage in these demanding equestrian sports. And moving on to Stormcat, he didn't have the longest racing career, but he definitely made an impact winning four out of eight starts. He's known for speed and tenacity, as we were talking about, and could be a bit temperamental.
Sometimes that may be passed on to his offspring, sometimes not. Yeah. And I find it when it's on the dam line, it tends to not be as strong of an influence for some reason, but it's interesting. I would be curious to see more stats on that, but yeah, Stormcat became a powerhouse sire leading the North American sire list twice.
His progeny are valued in the sport horse world for their athleticism and bold forward moving nature, which can make them ideal for experienced riders and eventing and show jumping. And they have a very powerful build. A lot of times they're quite compact. I feel like they're almost always dark bay.
They have white. Yeah. Sometimes they have a, white ringed eye, which doesn't really bother me, but I know it bothers some people. But to me I can often look at a horse and be like, Oh, that's a storm cat. And last but not least, we've have seeking the gold. He had a successful racing career with some great finishes in high stakes races. As a sire seeking the gold really passed on his competitive qualities and athletic build. His lineage is known for stamina and solid confirmation, which is a real advantage in disciplines like jumping and eventing. Definitely. His progeny carry a mix of speed and intelligence, making them versatile and well round for sport horse careers.
Let's get into our confirmation evaluation on him. We pull up his picture here. Yes. And there's two pictures submitted. Yes. Top picture was a more recent photo and the smaller photo is when she adopted him off the track. So we're going to start with overall balance. Yeah. So I would say my first impression of him overall is very balanced. He has A distinct head and neck, shoulder back hind quarter, but they all really couple together very beautifully. I think he's has a very harmonious build and just overall has a very pleasant disposition as well.
Yeah, I said, I love the overall balance of this horse. He looks like a type I would seek out at this point in my life. I love how short coupled he is, and he presents a very balanced picture, like if you broke him up into equal thirds. Yep, absolutely. For head and neck, again, , he's got just a beautiful eye, his ears are pricked, which always helps, but his head looks very well shaped and defined, and lo and behold, he is Dark Bay with white.
I think his neck looks to be really nicely set especially in, it's interesting too, when you get two photos that are taken at a distance of time apart especially in the older photo you can really see what a beautiful arch he has to his neck, good length without being overly long. I bet he would carry himself really well in a nice frame for dressage, eventing, jumpers, that sort of thing.
Yeah, I said that he has a lovely expression. He looks intelligent and curious and I love the overall look of his neck. Although I did say that I felt like the connection to his chest is a little bit abrupt. Yeah, I can see that. Just where it ties in because he's got [00:12:00] this beautiful setback with her and it almost makes like the bottom part of his neck look a bit short, but he has a beautiful neck.
It's just a little bit abrupt there. I think that's a nice way to put it. What did you think about his shoulder? I thought he's got a gorgeous shoulder. That balances with his setback wither. I said he's got pretty ideal angles at the point of the humerus. It's pretty textbook what I would be looking for in terms of a horse to do a little bit of everything with.
Yeah, I don't think that you can really mess with his shoulder too much. I think it's gorgeous. And you'll be able to see it on the website and we'll illustrate what we're talking about here. But I would expect him to have nice movement, nice forward reach ability able to really snap his knees up nicely over fences.
If he's a jumping horse all the above, I think he'd have a lot of freedom there with that shoulder. Yeah. . Okay, so let's talk about his front legs and his hooves. Here, I would say, Not that it's a fault. It's more of like a observation I would I feel like his forearm could be longer in relation to his cannon bone I feel like his cannons are a bit long or his forearms are a bit short or maybe a bit of both I would expect that. However, if your desired action is more of a rounder more active knee action type I would expect that to be the movement that he produces with that confirmation.
He may be in the one photo, he looks like he could be a little bit over at the knee, which does not bother me unless it's severe. It's one of the faults that I absolutely can live with. And then his past turns. It's hard to see his past turns and feet in the more recent photo in the older photo, which I know is pretty soon him coming off the track.
I will say that his hoof angles don't necessarily match his past turns all that well. And his hopes look a bit upright. But. Oftentimes coming as we've talked about coming off the track and transitioning off the track their feet can change quite a bit. So I'd be curious to see actually what his feet look like now and if there's still , I think I might have mentioned something about that, later on in the evaluation, but I said pretty similar things that he looks, he's got nice straight legs.
They don't necessarily seem to have anything glaring there. I actually like the length of his radius and I do think you're right I think maybe he could have a shorter cannon bone. But I would say that he's probably got very nice rotation and freedom with, paired with that shoulder, agree. I would expect more of the less hunter y, more like sport horse y type movement out of him, if that makes sense. It that's interesting, but go moving on to his back Yeah you already mentioned that he's got a nice short coupled back to me, he just has a very well muscled powerful looking back It is on the shorter side I personally tend to like horses that have a little bit more length to them maybe in their back, but it's certainly that's a very personal preference, not at all a fault or anything like that.
It's very specific. I really get the impression that this horse packages himself really well and I can see him cantering in a teacup. Yeah, now that you say that he actually makes me think of your horse Jack. Yeah One of the things I thought was interesting about this horse is that he doesn't have the most pronounced wither What do you think about that?
Yeah, it is interesting Especially in the more recent photo. It's almost like his withers. I don't know if it's because of the development of his top line that his withers are less prominent or maybe it could be just the photo or play of light. But yeah, he does not have what a lot of people call like the thoroughbred, shark fin wither.
And I would say that if he's been developed really correctly, then that little dip that a lot of people get in front of the wither, that's the most impossible muscle to actually build up in the top line. This brighter has done a beautiful job maintaining his top line because he looked to have a pretty good one in his off the track photo.
But I'm curious to know if that's had any influence on how they have dealt with saddle fit and things like that, given like the, wither and then that really big shoulder. Yeah. He looks more comfortable to ride bareback than nine out of 10 thoroughbreds. Yeah, definitely.
All right. What did you say about his hindquarters? And. It's funny when you look at both pictures, because I, in the older photo, I said, I like the shape of his rump loin. The angles look pretty good there. He's got a nice low set Hawk. I'm sorry. That's his leg. But he's like the way that all ties in is interesting.
It does look like it was quite weak when he first came off the track, which is really typical. And it looks like it's been nicely produced since. I feel like in his off track photo, one of the most striking things to me is that beautiful the way his stifle is set and the way his hawk is set and that really just lovely long gasken allows his hawks to be placed underneath of him.
And , I just think he would be a very powerful, hopefully fairly easy to collect. Type of horse with that. Yeah, I think he has pretty ideal Angles in his hind quarters in terms of the triangle that we were talking about last time From the point of his hip to the point of his buttock to the stifle.
It looks fairly equilateral I think if one side was longer, it would be the top between the hip and the point of the buttock, which is what I Really prefer. Yeah so i'm a big fan. You And then I think we're just down to his hind feet, which from what we can tell in the first photo, I think look fine.
It's hard to tell in the back photo because he's standing in the grass. [00:18:00] Yeah, in terms of his hind leg, I think I said similar things, but that he's got that long, powerful looking gaskin, nice, tight looking legs and his feet in the photo where he was just off the track, look like they're in transition.
Maybe he was, didn't have a shoe on. On already didn't have hind shoes on it almost looks like in the picture and it could just be that it was muddy, but that the right hind was a little shorter than the left time. And that's not so atypical for horses coming off the track. Sometimes they're just a little out of balance.
Yeah. And he's got two white socks, which means he's got two white feet behind. That's all I really noted there. And what's your final impression of him? So I said, I bet this horse has long sweeping style of movement, would probably suit a lot of disciplines, but I think he'd be very well suited as a hunter.
I said, if this horse jumps, I would guess he's got a powerful jump, uses his back well and looks neat and tidy up front. I am curious to know how the reputation of his breeding lines have played into his trainability. Interesting. Yeah, I would love to see him move. I know that we are friends on Facebook and old friends, but I don't believe I've ever actually seen a video of him or anything like that.
I just know that she owns him and loves him. But I just get this impression of power and more uphill, upright movement than the huntsman movement that you're. Thinking of and I think it just could be the way that he's packaged together so I would lean towards more of the dressage eventing jumper suitability again, and as you said, I would be very interested to hear about his temperament and how the halo line plays with the storm cat line and if they peacefully coexist, or if they get into arguments occasionally, I guess that's a good point.
I would like to have the. All that power on the side of good. Yeah, for sure. From his expression, he looks absolutely lovely and I think he'd be a really fun horse to ride. And he looks, as you said, beautifully developed. Yeah. That's a horse that I look at and I'm like, I'd like to sit on that horse.
Yeah. All right. Onto horse number two. Okay, next up we have C as the letter C, and spelled out the number 2, T W O A 2017, gray. I thought this was a mare. Hold on. Gelding. No, hold on, I've got the wrong one pulled up.
It's a mare. It's a mare. Huh. I saw gray and said gelding. I actually wrote my notes as a gelding, and then I looked at the the first part of the pedigree, and I was like, oh, it's a mare, oops. I can't read. Should we start again? I think it'll be funnier with the outtakes. Submitted her through our evaluation form. Sorry for the gender misidentifying, Jamie. I, no. Sorry. That was my fault.
All right, so c2 is by golden lad out of cocoa punch by two punch He has a solid racing career with 19 starts. What's that? She shut up see
C2 is by golden lad out of cocoa punch by two punch. She had a 19 starts only earned 24, 000 primarily raced at mid atlantic tracks like charlestown pimlico and laurel And now we're going to give our personal thoughts based on just looking at the pedigree. Okay. Do I get to go first this time?
Okay, hold on because I am blind. I have to replace she with he with she everywhere. So I'm in trouble. All right. Let her rip. All right. Just looking at this pedigree my first thought is this horse is majorly up my alley and where is she and grabby hands because I want her. Yeah. So that's just by looking at the pedigree.
I haven't even looked at the horse yet. So golden lad is C2's sire. Our golden lad is by Medaglio Dioro who's by El Prado by Sadler's Wells. So one of my very favorite lines there. And then on the damn side of Golden Lad, we have Broadway Gold, who's based Seeking the Gold, which is another great name.
I believe we talked about in OTTB on tap evaluates number one. Yeah. And then C2 is by Cocoa Punch, who is by 2Punch. And then out of Lady Lear by LearFan, who's by Roberto. The Mid Atlantic area, I think the has a, Two Punch has a fan club.
Literally, there are Facebook fan clubs for Two Punch Offspring. And I got super excited when I saw this, so up close in the pedigree, because he's a 1983 stallion. So you don't really see too many that are, coming around that often that are as closely related to two punch anymore. I have also known several Medaglio de Oro and El Prado horses.
So I'm really intrigued by the combination of Medaglio on top and two punch on the bottom. So backing up a bit, starting with Medaglio de Oro, the sire of Golden Lad the ones that I have known. are very fancy. Often for Medaglia offspring, big dark Bay horses, usually with some white, but not always, not the easiest horses, but look out these things can move and jump and they are tough and usually sound, usually really well put together a good neck set, good bones, strong feet, El Prado, Medaglia sire, also has some other notable offspring.
I actually personally had a horse. Aniv at one point called the big rooster who was by Fort Prado and probably the nicest horse that I will have ever sat on. Just the whole package. Moving on to Two Punch, that is also a local stallion that stood in Maryland. They are getting harder to find.
He to [00:24:00] me tends to throw nice tempered solid horses. They're also athletic. Good movers. And in my experience, tend to be on the more uncomplicated, simple side. Maybe not the sharpest horses. Maybe that's just my personal experience. I was laughing, but they're also just great. All purpose, all round horses, super family horses, and they're also super good looking.
They tend to be gray, good movers. Good, just very solid. Yeah. And then of course. The other notable name for me on here is Roberto quite far back, but another name that goes back to hail to reason, which was that great line of inventors from a long time ago. Yeah. I think you touched on pretty much everything I would want to say on tangent, but I'm so excited.
I was like, Oh my God. It was interesting about the. The two punch lineages that we had a couple of two punches. And in my memory, two punches were almost always gray dark gray, like dark dappled gray and had unusual. Birthmarks. The two that we had, one of them had a reverse birthmark and the other one had a darker, like weird kind of birthmark on it.
But types of markings that would fade out eventually. Yeah. So that, but I remember those horses being a thicker bone type, bit more hard knocking. And I think that paired with the golden lad lineage is actually interesting because I think like you said, the two punches of being \ maybe not the sharpest horses, adding that sharper lineage is probably a nice combination.
Yeah I feel like I would expect this horse to be. Quite athletic, very attractive, solid boned, good balance, and a good balance of get up and go temp to temper that with a levelheadedness. Yeah, definitely. I'm intrigued. I am intrigued too. Let's kick things off with Golden Lad. He had a successful racing career with three graded stakes wins, including the grade three Razorback Handicap.
Yep. And he had an impressive pedigree, again, as the son of Medaglia D'Oro and a Seeking the Gold mare. Since retiring, he's made a name for himself in the Mid Atlantic breeding scene. His offspring have shown both durability and a competitive edge with stakes winners like Hello Beautiful and Air Token, and that athletic build and stamina he passes on make his lineage promising for jumping and eventing.
Absolutely. And when we talk about Medaglio D'Oro, he had an incredible race career, winning major races like the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap. Oh, and known for his strength and competitiveness, Medaglio D'Oro has become a major sire in North America with offspring like Rachel Alexandra. To his name. I almost mentioned her.
Yeah. Instead of Zenyatta. I, yeah, I know. She is a favorite of mine. His line is highly regarded in the sport horse world for their athleticism, courage, and strong minds. Qualities are key in show jumping and eventing. I think strong minds is key. Yeah, for sure. And next up we have El Prado.
He started his career in Europe and became one of North America's most respected sires. And I think you'd be hard pressed to find somebody looking for an off the track thoroughbred that turned their nose up at an El Prado horse. Agreed. Either a Fort Prado or a Golden Lad or any of those. It's a beautiful line.
I, yeah, it's just something that when I see that name, it jumps off the page of me for sure. And his offspring are known for versatility also across racing surfaces. Something that we touched on a little bit in the past is the differences in horses that race on dirt versus turf and what they are like to retrain.
I'd love to delve in more about that in a future episode, but El Prado produced notable stallions. You may have heard of Kitten's Joy who I believe we talked about with Jessica a couple episodes ago and Artie Schiller, both of whom have passed down his good temperament and athleticism.
Also I've Niamher seen a Kitten's Joy that is not a jaw dropping mover, like jaw dropping, straight dressage, upper level type mover. I used to have in my virtual stable so many Kitten's Joy horses. Yeah, they're hard to find anymore, but they are spectacular. Just a complete side note, because I remembered the name sticking out to me, but the Winner of the freestyle at the RP this year was a horse named pretty and Prado who was a Fort Prado and they did that whole Cinderella routine.
That was unbelievable. I watched the whole thing and it was so cool. And I feel like I remembered us looking at her when she was for sale somewhere, not looking at her in person, but seeing her and being like, Oh, she's a Fort Prado. And his descendants often transition beautifully into sport horse careers, especially in eventing and show jumping.
Thanks to their adaptability stamina and willingness to work. Now getting to two punch another well regarded mid Atlantic sire known for passing on speed and tenacity to his offspring. Tenacity is probably a good word to use. Yeah. His descendants tend to be bold and muscular, which makes them a great fit for sport disciplines like jumping.
And in eventing and hunter jumper circuits, especially toughness, strong personalities. But I find it's a bit harsh to say strong personalities because I don't mean that in a way that is negative. It's just that they're they go they go on their course, and unless something is going to alter them from that course, they stay on that course.
Does that make sense? Yeah. I may have had one that did. Like to just go [00:30:00] on one, one, one straight line. So turning didn't work too well. So maybe that's my own personal experience.
Last but not least there's Roberto. He had a distinguished racing career winning the Epsom Derby and went on to become a foundational sire. Yes, and as we were talking about eventing earlier, well known in that line for resilience and stamina, they often have great scope and a solid work ethic, aka like by solid work ethic trot sets are fun.
Let's do more. Yeah, again, he's another one. I think you'd be hard pressed to find somebody interested in buying and selling thoroughbreds that would turn down a Roberto, even if it's a little bit further away in the lineage, his influence is still seen in sport horse pedigrees, especially in disciplines, disciplines like show jumping and cross country where endurance and power are critical.
All right, and on to our confirmation evaluation. Yes, so we also have two photos of this horse. The one photo where he has a a trace clip. . I'm assuming that's her while she's still at the track or directly off the track, because it looks like a track barn, maybe? Yeah. And then the second photo where she Is standing on the grass.
It's not a great confirmation photo, but it's a maybe it's a little bit i'm assuming because we don't know that is a little bit further out from leaving the track. Yeah So what do you think? I said I was using the first photo primarily for the raw balance, but I said at first glance She's got a powerful front end that in this particular picture makes me think it might be Overpower the hind end, but we're going to come back to that because I say a lot of great things about her hind end in a minute.
In this particular confirmation photo, she's being stood up in a way that I can't really see her length of neck. I wish her neck was stretched out a little bit more, but I overall, there's a nice horse there. I can see enough that I know that everything there is nice. And I think she looks mostly well balanced.
In terms of breaking her into thirds, yeah, I would say, again we work with the images that were sent. One thing I noticed, I'm moving to make sure I'm square on my screen, about the first photo with the trace clip, I think that the photographer is standing a little bit ahead of the horse. That makes sense.
At the point of the shoulder, because it looks like the hind end is more diminutive, right? Agree. And it's such a subtle thing, but it's something we talked about in our last episode with just having the ability to tweak the image in your mind to say, okay, it looks like. The horse is leaning away from me slightly.
So let me pump that up in my mind. And it's just something to think about visually when you're looking at these photos. If you're really trying to learn and evaluate them is what does that horse actually look like versus what's in the photo? And the only way to do that is to look at thousands of these.
So join us on our journey as we do that. But from this photo, I agree that. The back and hindquarter, look a little bit longer and weaker than the front end. And the neck looks a bit on the shorter side in proportion. Now, when I look at the photo of her standing on the grass, you can see she does actually have a good length of neck.
Her head's turned towards us. But off of that first photo and the angle of it, it's a little bit misleading, I would say, but overall, I think she still does break up nicely into thirds of the front third, the middle third and the hind quarters. Yeah, but there is that overall impression of extreme power in the front and then weakness as we get through.
Further back. Good. Then I wasn't completely off track. So for her head and neck, I said, she's got a cute head though. My experience with two punches is that they have cute heads, but they're a bit blocky. Yeah. A bit. I don't know. They're not particularly refined. And she has a look, she almost has a little bit of an insecure expression.
And who knows, they could have pulled her out for this photo and there could be a lot of stuff going on. So again, you're just, I'm just looking at what's in front of me. It's hard to really tell her expression in the second photo, but she does have a little bit of a, Oh, you caught me look.
It's a little bit hard to tell just how the neck ties into the shoulder. And both of these photos, they're both very different. So yeah, they almost look like two different horses. But I would say it probably ties in pretty nicely. I agree. I agree with the two punch. So this is a gray, if you're just listening and you haven't actually gotten a chance to look at the photos yet, it is a gray.
They, she has quite large ears. And I would call it an earnest expression. She doesn't seem to have the largest eye. She has a blocky muzzle, but it's a very workmanlike sort of presentation and very honest, I think. So not the most refined head I've ever seen. However, I do think that her neck is going to suit her quite well in sport horse disciplines.
It looks like it ties very well into her shoulder and with her. She's got a little bit of a profit thumbprint there, which I always like to see for good luck. So i'd be pretty happy with that. I still think could be Like there could be a titch more length there in the neck. Yeah. Yeah, and I think also we're going to get to this now with kind of her shoulder a little bit But she has I she's has my favorite shoulder of all three horses If i'm just picking the shoulder She has a beautiful long sweeping shoulder that [00:36:00] ties in at the point of her Humerus and scapula.
It's gorgeous and so because of that I think her sort of thicker neck Actually suits her because that's such a powerful front end I think under saddle that probably makes a little bit more sense than a static photo Yeah, or in free movement or something like that But I really think she's got the best shoulder of the three.
I also think that You know our first horse Had a great shoulder, but she has A little bit more prominent wither and it's her wither is a bit longer So if you can visualize where the saddle would sit on her, you're still going to have quite a bit of quite a long length of rain in front of you when you're sitting on her because she's got that nice prominent shoulder, huge prominent shoulder, nice prominent wither that's set back from her shoulder.
So you're going to have plenty of horse in front of you, which is my big concern. If the horse appears to have a little bit of a short neck, I Niamher want to feel like I'm going to fall off the front end. Yeah, exactly. But I would love to see in this photo, her neck just stretched out a little bit more to see where it would end up.
But I think with that shoulder, any discipline that she wanted to do, she'd be set up well for. Yeah, no, I think that's an excellent point when you think about where your leg would sit on a horse like this one in Terms of like where her wither kind of ends, you know You're gonna have a ton of shoulder ahead of you and a ton of neck and it's gonna balance out that shorter neck Like you said totally agree I always like to take the neck and wither into account when I'm thinking about what the horse would be like to ride Versus yeah, you know what?
Maybe a confirmation Gen Judge in at Devon would say right. Yeah, because we are not that Yeah, but definitely not What do you think about the front legs and hooves? I would say I like the proportion better than the first horse Between the can't I think she's got a nice short cannon A little bit better proportion there.
She's got a really great bone Her hope is a very two punch thing, I think yeah She's got nice clean tendons, it looks from here and I think that her hooves look very solid, again, in my experience, a two punch trait, and they match her pasture angles quite nicely. Yeah, I was wondering if you thought that her left front looked a little bit upright?
Yeah. It could, I think again, it's hard to know where she is in her transition coming off the track here, but what I really like is it matches the pastor and angle. So it doesn't really, it really matter. Yeah, no, for sure. And I w I was wondering, I just said, I'm curious to know if that's true and if it's changed over time, those things can all shift just slightly, which I think is one of the fascinating things about thoroughbred feet something to take into account a little bit, like we were saying about the first horse and his pastured angles and everything about those horses back, I said, I love the horse's back.
I think this horse would feel really good over its back under saddle. That's interesting. Cause I feel you, what do you think? I just. I still I know what I said about the photo angle, but even in the second photo I feel like there's a weakness over the loin between the loin and like the top of the croup there.
Yeah. So I really think that she could benefit from some like long and low work working over her back and build that top line up. Not to say that there's, I think If she were as well muscled as our first horse, I think we would have a totally different impression there, but just seems a little bit yeah, no, I know what you mean.
And, it's tough to say if the top photo with the trace clip is when the horse was at the track or recently off the track. And if the second photo is like after the letdown period, when the horse has lost its condition and hasn't really been in a program yet. So I would really be curious to see what this horse looks like.
Now with six months of work or now, or, that kind of thing. Yeah. It just goes to show that these little snapshots in time are just little indications of what you can improve on with a horse's conformation. And obviously there's things that you can't, but I can very easily see in the top photo where it's against The black background where the long and low work would fill in from those from the top of the hip sort of area and the croup over towards the saddle would improve with that kind of work.
Yeah. Yeah. And moving on to the hindquarters again, in the top photo with the trace clip she feels a bit like, it's funny when I look at the angle of point of hip to point of fire to point of stifle. That triangle that we talk about I like that. I think that looks really good However, when I look at like the top of the point of her croup to the top of her tail Like that looks a bit short to me short.
Yeah So again, I think there might be some muscling here that could really build up her hind end And when I look at the lower photo on the grass I still see some hollow areas there on the top where I think building up her hind end You Long and low work could really benefit her and it's just a little bit Doesn't match the shoulder still.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think for a horse like this, if this is truly what this horse does look like, and they're in a place where they can do things like raise cavaletties and hills and things like that will really improve the overall balance of this horse, because it's hard to fault. Any of these horses, honestly we're just, I feel like we're being very picky here.
But I think this is what you guys [00:42:00] like, right? We're just here looking and seeing, and this is what Emily and I do, every day with each other. It's what improves your eye and it's knowing what you can actually improve on and what is just existing in front of you. I actually said, I thought she's got a beautiful hind leg.
I thought that her hind quarters, like you said, I thought it was interesting. She had a much longer line from hip to loin than the other horses. And I think that actually. Is almost a bit of a weak, a weakness, like you said. But in terms of her hind leg, I actually liked it a lot. And I said, I bet she actually takes a really big hind step if I'm just looking at kind of her angles.
Yeah. And I am hoping in my mind if it were a horse I was looking at, I would be hopefully that will make up for the powerful front end. And I just said that her hind feet look a little out of balance. But that's probably most likely resolved really easily. Yeah. I think it's interesting too, looking at the two different photos, the top photo with the trace clip, I feel like I want her hawk angle to be a little bit more open.
To me, it looks a little bit too sharply angled but in the lower photo, I'm liking it a lot more and seeing that nicely placed stifle to hawk ratio that lends to power. However, she's still very lightly muscled through her gaskin. So that long and low work, cavaletti work, hill work, I think all of that will just benefit in her intake.
This is great raw material. Yeah, really great raw material. But could just take her to that next level. Yeah, and then hind feet. I It's hard to have an opinion on I think they look okay a little out of balance maybe but I think we can give her a little grace there. Overall though, what do you think?
I said, I would guess that this horse is quite fun to ride, more of an event type, dressage type with a very good canter. If she jumps, I would suspect her to be bold and maybe a bit playful. With her breeding, I would suspect her to be a nice athletic type that enjoys having a job. I can't argue with that.
You've trained me well, Emily. Yeah, no, I really can't argue with that. I think that really nails it. I also would throw in there that she'd probably do really well out fox hunting and probably have some, stamina for days and be super fun. And also just with that uphill build that she has, you're always going to feel like you're a horse in front of you.
Yeah. You can get tired, I think. Yeah. She almost looks like a Roman horse or something. She's just so powerful looking. . Yeah. Yeah. I like her, but I would love to see her move. As you say, Emily, I wouldn't kick her out of bed. , , do I say that? Yeah. Yes, I do. Yeah. I wouldn't, I just, on the breeding alone, to go back to that I am dying to see what this horse is up to and I know, and how she actually moves. All right. So that's pretty cool. I really enjoy hearing what we agree and disagree on. And how are we ever going to find a horse to do the RRP with? We're gonna have to find something that just checks off all of the boxes. Maybe like in 2020 or 2020, 2030. 2030. There we go. Okay, so our third horse is Ruby blue. Ruby blue is a 2014 gelding owned by Amanda chance. Amanda is a friend of mine. I've known her for a long time. She's a fellow blogger. She's an inventor. She was living in Texas. She actually knew my horse when he was a youngster and had to compete against him a lot with her off the track for her bread.
When I bought him. I remember her reaching out to me and being like, he just won everything. And it was really annoying. Doesn't she also do pedigree evaluations? Yeah. So she owns a business called breed ride compete. She is not only an absolute encyclopedia about breeding and pedigree, she will run evaluations for you for a fee.
She has got a Patreon. Great. Now I'm terrified. You can go to breed, ride, compete. com. Trust me. I was as well, but she was really excited to hear what we had to say because this horse was actually a PA bred owned and trained by its original breeder connections and this horse ran a hundred times. I think he aged out of racing.
When he came up for to find a new home, they specifically wanted it to be with somebody who was basically going to make a spectacle out of him. And there was no better person to do that than Amanda. She competes her beautiful homebred horse Presto in a lot of black sparkly stuff. And she has a beautiful teal tailcoat too.
I am like, Oh yeah, she's style for days. It's just, it's too much. But so when he came up, she asked me if I knew his connections and I did some digging around for her and I was so excited that she got him. She had to wait an awfully long time to even sit on him for the first time, which I think she did a few days ago because she wants to take him to the RRP next year.
Like I said, he had a hundred starts, earned almost 20, 000. 940, 000 in his racing career. He was ranked 40th in the country by wins in 2022 and his race career spanned from 2016 to his final start in 2024. He was Niamher sold to auction. Which is incredible. I would feel like most horses that have this sort of racing career at some point.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think what's really cool about him, like I said, he was owned and trained by his breeders. I looked at his racing. He was in a lot of graded stakes races. He was a black type winner. His race career is really cool. They did not run his legs off.
He ran a lot, but like I said, he aged out of racing. [00:48:00] And I think they just thought the world of him, . And when you see these photos, it's going to blow your mind. I remember when he came up for sale and I saw his ad and I was like, holy crap, I really like this horse. If I'd been in the position to buy one, I would have scooped him right up.
Also, listeners, you can see the problems here because I like every single horse. So it's actually not true, but it actually I hope you guys know that it actually takes a lot for us to find fault in horses. We're doing it from almost like a clinical level.
We have to think about it in that sort of if we're breaking it down and do these little parts and pieces, it's not even that, it's that we are good at, I think that we're good at finding what they'd be good at, so we're not being. Critical in a way that's saying, Oh, no, get rid of that horse.
I wouldn't even look at it. It's more of okay this is what's in front of me. What are we going to do with you? And we're both good visualizers, so I think we're able to look at raw material and appreciate what it's going to look like down the road, which is a good skill to have for sure. Yeah.
And that's what we're trying to impart. Yeah. Our good dude for the day. Alright, let's just look into his pedigree and make our first analysis of Ruby Blue. Alright, do you want to talk about some of the names on there and what you're thinking? Sure. So again, you're looking at his, the first part of his pedigree, mentioning that he's a black type place winner, which right off the bat, he is pure class.
Also race 100 starts also race a hundred times, not too shabby , I've known a couple of these horses that have raced close to a hundred times and they just, they know they're special. They're just cool horses. I wish more people would, lean into these true warhorses like this and a warhorse is really classified as what over 50 times over 50 50 starts I think also 100, 000 in earnings.
I see. Okay. But I think it, it's a little bit of a gray area. If the horse ran at one race and won a hundred thousand dollars, does that make it a war horse? Probably not. Not really. First time you don't have the hard knocking claimers that earn a hundred grand the hard way would be a war horse.
Yeah, for sure. So looking at his breeding on the top line, he's got He's by Messner, who I don't think I know that well, but who is by Bernardini, who I do know. And I think Bernardini is just one of the nicest producers of sport horses of all time. I don't think I've met a single one that I've not liked.
And Bernadine is by AP Indy, who I love. And then on the bottom line, he is out of Ruby Soul, who is by Perfect Soul, who is an Irish bread horse, who is by Sadler's Wells, which We also really love which produces really nice, very tough knocking athletic types. So I would expect a horse like this to be an older type build with very good movement.
and a bit of a hard knocking type. So that all kind of tracks in terms of he ran, he did a hundred starts. What are your feelings about his breeding? All right, buckle up. Oh boy. I also, to be honest, do not know Messner. I don't know that I'd ever heard of him before, as a sire.
But I love Bernardini. Who's by APND. I did ride and compete at Bernardini Intact Cult for a little while, and he was just the best mannered, bravest, nicest little horse. You would Niamher have known he was a colt, even around mares. I would almost forget in clinics or at competitions or whatever.
He just, you would Niamher know it. He was so cool. And just calm, straightforward, put the jump in front of him. He jumps to jump beautifully, et cetera. AP Indies in my book is a real beauty, Mark. I don't think we talk enough about AP Indie. I know. I think it's starting to get pushed back in the pedigrees.
I think that's why it is. But, when we have Bernardini and other, salients by him, I think it's worth bringing him up. Just temperament, athletic ability, solid citizens, but not deadheads, which I think is always more of a fun ride. On the bottom line, Perfect Soul and Saddler's Wells.
Saddler's Wells is the sire of El Prado, who we waxed on about in our course number two. So you can see a theme here. I don't I think I have met a perfect soul ha in person, but
yeah, a horse by perfect soul. But I've definitely seen them out there and I think that they remain true to what we were saying about that line and horse number two. So I'd expect similar here, good bones, strong temperament, but usually for good, not evil, good athleticism. Yeah. And then another fun old timey eventing note, I spy Hawaii way back there.
Take that with a grain of salt. Do you know who Hawaii was the sire of, Eve? Put you on the spot. If you get this, I'll give you a thousand dollars.
I feel like I do. Is it a foo peg? No. I don't know. Maybe. But, hawaii was the sire of Molokai. One of the great. Oh, I did. Okay. Yeah. It gives me 2, 000. Damn it. You guys. I know. Should I just be like, now, Jesus, this is a Foupeg. Sorry. That'd be really bad. I don't think so. I think Foupeg is a different line.
Anyway, I really like the balance of this horse's [00:54:00] pedigree. I would expect him, I know this is taking Not the best road here, but I would expect him to be good at whatever he wants to do in life. Yeah, no versatile hard knocking I'd expect genuine Athletic, yeah, he raced a hundred times.
I think he can do whatever he wants to do. I do just want to give a little shout out here. Not that he's ever going to listen to this podcast But to his breeder owner donald l brown jr. Congratulations. I'm producing breeding and bringing along a Amazing example of a thoroughbred and the world of racing.
And we're so excited to see what Amanda is going to do with this horse. So, all right. Let's talk about some of the the research we did on the breeding. Yeah, absolutely. Let's start with Messner since we don't know who he is. I have heard Messner. I've just don't have any like actual experience with Messner.
Yeah. As we know, now he's the son of Bernardini and primarily known in regional racing circles, but he's just beginning to make a mark in sport disciplines, right? And through his influence, and though his influence is still emerging, Messner does seem to pass on Bernardini's traits of versatility and durability.
Speaking of Bernardini, he has become a standout sire in both racing and sport breeding. His offspring have shown success across various surfaces and distances. I think you'll see wheNiamher we say a horse had success over various surfaces and distances, they tend to be good sport horses. I don't think that's a shock.
I think that's a good conclusion to draw there. And notable names like stay thirsty and to honor and serve have come from his line. So if you've heard of the sires or race horses also his daughters are especially prized for producing athletic offspring, which makes them a solid choice for breeding programs.
And then moving on to a P and a truly a legendary sire, as we were saying, lasting impact on both racing and sport horse breeding. Yeah, definitely. His descendants like Tappet and Pulpit are highly influential. A. P. Indy's line is known for producing durable, built horses that are ideal for eventing and even dressage.
Moving on to Perfect Soul, who is Irish bred. As a son of Sadler's Wells, his offspring tend to have an affinity for turf and versatility, which is really beneficial for eventing and show jumping. And that Irish thoroughbred influence brings stamina and a good mind, two great traits for sport horse careers.
He's well regarded in North American breeding for adding durability and elegance. And now Sadler's Wells himself is a cornerstone in sport horse breeding. His progeny are known for their excellent movement and stamina. Oh, and one we haven't talked about is Galileo. With descendants like Galileo, his line consistently brings strong confirmation and trainability, making Sadler's Wells a top choice for dressage and eventing.
Finally, we have Hawaii bred in South Africa. He's known for combining stamina and agility, which his descendants often inherit. And they might be rare, especially nowadays, but they're definitely appreciated for their hardiness and versatility. Hawaii's influence is subtle, but well regarded, especially in the venting where endurance is key.
And now we're going to move on to Ruby Blue's confirmation evaluation. All right. I know you sent me Niamhe. That was a video. Yeah. Like another, I have a still here on my phone. It's very similar to the other confirmation shot, but we'll include both of them. Yeah. On here. What do you think about his overall balance?
There are a couple differences. Overall, he's beautifully balanced. He looks like Alex. In a way. In a way, yeah. My old horse, Alex. He does look a bit like Alex. Maybe not from the legs down, but the body. I can see that. That's actually really interesting. I think he's a bit more, okay, so let's talk about all three horses here.
The first horse I felt, for me. The first horse felt very powerful and uphill to me, but maybe a bit short coupled overall for me. And this is where this gets very interesting when you're evaluating these horses and especially if you're evaluating them for yourself or others is to know your own personal preferences versus what they like.
This horse here has a bit of length to him. He's got a bit of a length of neck. A bit of length of back a bit of length in his legs, although I don't think he's particularly tall. I think he's only about maybe 16 hands or 16 one or something like that. But he's beautifully balanced. His head and neck, shoulder and hind quarter, I think it would be hard to say that he, no one area stands out as overpowering or offsetting the other areas to me.
Yeah, I said, he's really nice overall with quote, a hoof in each corner. Yeah which like sounds like such a generic way to describe a horse's confirmation, but that's truly one of the nicest compliments you can give a horse is to say that literally they have a foot in each corner that up, holds up the structure above it.
And I said, he's a touch more rectangular than square, but it's hard to fault him because. Everything about him is nice. I agree like I like that. So the first horse Is a little bit more in that square box, which is beautiful This horse is more a little bit more in that elongated rectangle box so thinking about things like collection and Impulsion and upwards movements.
They Potentially could be a little bit more a little less in his wheelhouse than the first horse You Yeah, but things like scope Stretching lengthening would maybe be a bit easier for this horse. Yeah, and what [01:00:00] about his head and neck? I mean, I think it looks very nice Amanda Emily's got a massive crush on your horse.
No, I think he's he is a very nice head and neck An elegant neck he has a well defined head, very kind eye, and nice expression. I like the cleanliness through his throat latch area, and just the set of his neck I think is nice. If I were to fault This photo there I would like to see there's a little dip in front of the weather where it attaches to his neck I would like to see that get built up more but this guy also raced 100 times So right and I believe this photo is from right after he got to florida, right?
Exactly. So Very so he raced 100 times and like a 16 18 hour trailer ride I don't think it was the day you arrived but it was very soon after agree and I think if i'm being super critical The junction of his neck to his Shoulder could be a little bit cleaner and a little bit higher but yeah, super critical I said that I thought he's got a beautiful, refined head and intelligent expression.
And I love the connection at his throat latch. I would expect this to translate under saddle very nicely. And what I mean by that is that when he's carrying the bit properly, I think that's going to be an open connection. It's going to be a very ideal frame. And if maybe if he pokes his nose out just a touch, it's just going to create this beautiful picture.
Yeah. And I said, he's got a well defined top line with good connection to the shoulder. All right. Go on about the shoulder. Knee? Yeah. Who else is here? I don't know. I think again, like this should be the shoulder episode. We've got three horses, such nice shoulders, three horses with really beautiful shoulders, which I mean, to be honest, a lot of thoroughbreds do have beautiful shoulders.
But I'm having their bread to pull themselves around a track. Yeah. faulting any of these horses with their shoulder. I think that he has. A nice length of shoulder. His connection to the humorous is very nice. And upright I would expect him to have plenty of forward reach so yeah, I think his wither is not maybe as defined as the second horse But more defined than the first horse So I think he'd be a nice horse to sit on with a lot of front porch in front of you.
I think also because of how he's standing in this particular photo, and this is just me being critical of this photo, he's standing a little over his shoulder. And I bet if he was stood more square, his weather would look slightly more set back and his shoulder would look a little bit more sloping.
That's right. And that's actually something that I think is important to point out is that's why it's important to see the connection between. The scapula and the humerus and look at the angle there. Yeah, exactly. Because you're translating that in terms of like where the, you're just looking at that versus what the hind, what the front leg is doing to the overall balance of the body.
So yes, that shoulder does look at surface level a little bit upright. Yeah, but I can tell that if he was stood square, it would not look that way. And I said, I would suspect he's got a lot of freedom in that shoulder, which again, a hundred starts shocking, but. Okay. What do you think of his front legs and hooves?
He has, like I said, he's standing a little over his shoulder in the photo. And just to explain that for anyone that doesn't necessarily know exactly what that means It just means that their front legs are a little bit underneath of them and they're almost leaning over so It and you can it's a little exaggerated in this photo so you can it makes a little bit more sense and she did give me some videos to look at as well, but i'm just going to use this photo.
I said I Thought that his feet look a little bit small for his body And I thought that his pasture and angles looked a little more suited to racing that I think this because this photo came after he came off the track, I felt like the transition period for this horse was probably a little bit rough.
I, my experience, these, bigger ranger rangy horses that come with kind of smaller hooves off the track, they fall apart a little bit. And I do know a little bit about this horse, but I think that they can be difficult given their size and their experience to keep a shoe on for a long period of time.
That's not to say they're not going to have a good foot because I think he will. He's got a good shape in his heel. He looks to have a quality. overall shape. I just think that's going to take him a little bit of time to balance out the rest of his body. I love his front leg. I think he's got a beautiful long radius and a short cannon bone.
If she wanted to jump him, I bet he would jump nicely with that front end. I'm going to disagree a little bit. I do see, I agree he is standing over his shoulder. So when you look at him, it almost looks like, he's almost, I'm saying his tippy toes, but he's trying to like, get something that's in front of him and he doesn't want to move his feet.
And some horses just stand that way. That's just how they're put together. Can make them look a little bit over at the knee. I don't think that's, what's going on here. I think that's just how he's standing. I think his feet are actually. a good size for him. I don't think they look too small but I do see some inconsistencies with the angles of his feet and I also see that his pasterns and his hoof angles like while his pastern and his hoof angle match on his left front and it's hard to tell the right front but it looks like his right front is more upright.
Yeah, his left front, which is not uncommon to have what's [01:06:00] called high low. So you've got the lower heel on the left front, higher heel on the right front, and that can all swap. Sometimes it's the opposite, but you can see like his right front Fetlock looks a bit higher than his left front.
Anything that's due to that higher heel on the right side. Again, being very nitpicky here on this horse who raced a hundred times and has been gorgeous. It looks like he's been beautifully cared for. Something of interest, I think you can see in his especially the right front, it looks like there's a little bit of filling in his tendon area.
Not the back of his tendon, but more of a wind puff type. Yeah, which would . not be any cause for concern, just something to notate and erase as much. His legs and ankles look incredibly clean. But I don't think that would be anything that would ever affect him.
But just if people are curious about that and in terms of we were talking about his overall balance, I feel like there's a lot of distance between his front feet and his hind feet. And I know that even though he is standing over his shoulder, a bit, which would position his front feet further back.
But so I do suspect that he is a horse that would be, he's a racehorse. He's meant to go straight and fast and that's fantastic. But I do feel like things like collection might be a little bit harder for him just from that. Type of confirmation. Yeah, it's interesting because moving on to his back I said if I had to fault him at all, it would be that he's a bit long in the back Again, I think if he was stood completely square, I might have a slightly different opinion about it But I think when I look at him and I see where I think the saddle will hit in the back There's just quite a bit of distance there He reminds me so much of my old horse scout who yeah was just a little bit long in that area of his back however He Niamher had trouble engaging or using his back effectively.
So it would be interesting to find out how this horse feels under saddle. He's got a nice setback wither. I bet he feels like there's an equal amount of horse in front and behind you when you're on him. So I like, I'm a little torn. Because I feel like first impression his back does look a bit long.
However, when you break it up and look at where his wither ends And then where his hip starts and where his hip starts. It's really not that much room. I think actually He's a bit light in the hind quarter Yeah, and in that top line muscling and once that gets filled in like we were talking about the last horse Then he'll look completely different.
I don't think that his back is actually too long. Yeah. Yeah No, I agree and it's not like sometimes they get that kind of sunken loin Roach kind of yeah, and I don't see that at all. His back looks quite strong Yeah, so I'd love to see him in a year Yeah, and see what he looks like. Yeah. No, I think it'd be really cool in terms of his hind legs and hooves I said at a hundred starts his hind end makes A lot of sense.
I think he looks a little weaker behind. I think again, I said with some downtime and some correct development, his hind end will look incredible. Now I just want to say, making statements like that is really easy to say. I think one of the things that's one, this horse lives in Florida.
That's tricky in itself. It's very flat. Two. One of the tricky things about warhorses is that they often don't go through the same sort of condition changes that other horses go through and they can be a little bit trickier in terms of how to rebuild up the muscles. Often they just stay in the body that they are in and I've noticed that with a couple of horses that even at our barn, I mean he's 10 and he's been this way a long time, right?
And he's learned his body and muscles and jaw, everything is learned one. One way, especially if he's been with one connection, exactly, so I just want to say that statement with a little grain of salt of there's probably a lot that Amanda wants to improve on him and there's probably a limitation on what his body can actually handle in terms of that change in terms of he's 10 and he's built this way. I said that his hawk could be set just a touch lower if I'm being picky. He's got a lovely long gaskin. His legs look behind, especially look nice and tight. There could be a tiny bit of a wind puff behind. And then I just said that feet look like they just need a little bit of time.
They looks like there might be some. Shoeing glue on situation, but yeah, I totally agree with you. I mean my impression looking at sign quarter is his angles are Phenomenal I do think if you look at where his knee is and where his hawk is a little bit higher Than his knee. I'd like that hawk to be a little bit lower if I am like, yeah if I am designing My ideal horse.
What was the movie in the 80s where they designed their perfect woman? Oh, yeah, weird science. Yeah, like a weird science. My perfect horse is Hock would be just like an inch lower. But I think that the other thing to really think about here is look at the raw material and look at like his bone structure and see that beautiful equilateral triangle of his hindquarter.
The lovely length of his gaskin, the remarkable cleanliness of his legs for as much as he's run. Yeah. And, manufacture a year's worth of time let down and gentle, like rebuilding on that. And I think you've got some great raw material. [01:12:00] Yeah. Final impressions. All right. I think this is a really interesting group.
, my thought of this horse would be I just get this impression of him of being a bit like longer and rangier to ride, less upright and compact. Not to say he's less powerful, but he's more of a forward reaching horse. So I do think that he could be good at whatever he wants to do. But my pick, if I were to pick from all of the disciplines, might be more in the like, Field hunter, hunter type of area and, or long format event horse, but we're no longer, we're no longer in the long format eventing phase.
It looks like a horse you would enjoy galloping. I would love to get on this horse and go gallop him along a river. And maybe there's some jumps that pop up in the way and have a grand old time. I said, I like this horse a lot. He reminds me of an older type of thoroughbred, rangy, and I bet he's going to be athletic under saddle.
I said in terms of his career after running a hundred times, this horse looks incredible. He's clearly been well cared for by his connections. I can picture this horse being a really good mover with a very good gallop. And if I had to describe this horse in one word, it would be classy. That's good.
Yeah. Thank you. What discipline?
I think long format event eventing, honestly. We don't have that anymore. I know. Then she's just gonna have to qualify him for the waca for long format. Yeah. It'll be so cool to watch him. I know with Amanda and I do know she just posted like some photos of her first ride on him slash I've been telling Niamhe she's not allowed to look so.
Now you can look. Yeah. It's gonna be very exciting to see how she brings him along, and I'm super excited for her, and the connections could not have picked a better second home for him, agreed. Alright. Of the three. That was fun. Of the three, which would be the one, if you can only ride one, which one would you want to ride?
The first one. Looking ready. I feel like I would say that too. I love all of them. I thought you were going to pick ruby blue. Honestly. I'm torn between one and two. I like all of them, but we are, we're judges here. Also, we're not very good judges. Cause we like all of them. We like the, we all, everybody gets an award.
I am intrigued by horse too. I love the breeding. I think of all of them. I like the breeding the best and find it the most intriguing on number two. On the mare. Yes. Yeah. But I think horse number one looks like a really fun, powerful horse. I think that this Ruby blue also looks incredibly fun. If you are a participant in this episode and you would like to fill us in on what these horses are up to, any changes, any quirks, anything that we got right or anything we got wrong, we would love to hear from you.
It was so fun finding out. Where we stood with that in the last time. And that definitely helps us get a little bit smarter about some of the assumptions we're making or some of the critical feedback we're giving you guys. And we'd love to update our listeners on how right or wrong we were.
Yeah, they loved that last time. So please, we'll when we put this episode out, we'll definitely put it on social media. And if you'd like to chime in there, that would be great. Or reach out to us directly. We really hoped you liked this series. Again, we've gotten a good number of submissions, but you can always submit your horse for consideration.
And again, like last time, we'll reach out to the owners to see how right or wrong we were. And if you liked what you heard today, please leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts. You can follow OTTB on tap on Instagram, Facebook, and Tik TOK, and contact us with interview candidates and topic suggestions on OTTB on tap.
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