So this happened: Overnight, Cruella – a 6-year-old mare – came up with a huge mammary gland infection. This is strange for a mare that is not lactating and has never been in foal, but there you go: 40.5 degree fever and a mammary the size of a testicle. Sometimes this stuff happens and nobody knows why. So we started her on antibiotics and dexamethasone, the anti-inflammatory wonder drug. She’s much better now!
Our first international win!
Jack gives us our first international win taking the Wettstar.de handicap at the Baden-Baden-Iffezheim racecourse. The course and ride, by Hugo Boutin, were exactly to Jack’s liking who is in great form and earned second win this year and his summer vacation!
Racing at Longchamp, May 30 2024
Melbora heads to Longchamp tonight for a twilight after-work race meeting. All the details are below.
The Vice Squad
What are stable vices? How do they start? Can they be stopped? Have a watch and find out – and then leave a comment to tell me what your solutions are!
A good second place finish by Cruella de Vil
Reassured by this race. We know she can move when the conditions are right – she didn’t miss by much today. Good girl!
Racing at Longchamp
3ème, Classe 4 — 16/05/2024 17h48, PARISLONGCHAMP
PLAT , 1.400 mètres , Corde à DROIT
Pour chevaux entiers, hongres et juments de 4 ans et au-dessus ayant une valeur inférieure ou égale à 30 k. Poids : 56 k. Les chevaux ayant depuis le 16 novembre 2023 inclus reçu une allocation de 3.500 porteront 1 k. ; une allocation de 6.000 ou plusieurs allocations de 3.500, 2 k. ; une allocation de 8.000 ou plusieurs allocations de 6.000, 3 k.
NOUVELLE PISTE
MORHIB wins the Prix de la PINEDE
9ème(P/ 3525), Classe 3 — 03/05/2024 17h45, FONTAINEBLEAU
PLAT, 1800 mètres , Corde à GAUCHE , Terrain TR SOUPLE (4,0 )
Good boy, Morhib!! An easy winner in Fontainebleau. What a nice horse. He deserved to win last time out, so he got his due today. No luck for Cruella, who finished behind him, but we have a plan to change strategy for her next time out. Stay tuned.
HANDICAP CATEG DIVISE
Pour chevaux entiers, hongres et juments de 4 ans et au-dessus.
Seront qualifiés dans cette épreuve, les chevaux auxquels le handicapeur aura attribué une valeur inférieure ou égale à 29 k.
The First Winner of 2024
Jack O’Boy wins again in St Cloud, taking the Prix My Love.
Bitless!
I have to say I’m not ready yet to go galloping off on a racehorse with a bitless bridle just yet, but William Micklem did inspire me to take a (calm!) test ride with one a couple of weeks ago.
I’m still a fan of a simple snaffle to do what we need to do, but I can see why this might be an option for a horse with a sore mouth or a tooth issue.
Have a look and tell me what you think!
Read more about William MICKLEM at his website: https://www.williammicklem.com/home.html
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Something new under the sun?
There is no end to the messing around people have tried to do with horseshoes, always trying to come up with something nobody’s though of yet that helps improve absorbing shock and improving foot comfort. Most of these efforts don’t amount to much, mostly because horses have been galloping around on their feet forever and anything we try to do just seems to screw things up.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not a barefoot advocate by any means, but we do need to be very careful when choosing shoes for our athletes. So I was quite skeptical when all of England seemed abuzz about the new Equishox shoe, a rubber-coated aluminum racing plate.
My first impression was a big “no,” because it appeared to me that the tread on the shoe would stop the natural slide of the foot, which is necessary to avoid injuries. Nothing is worse for horses’ legs than toe-grabs or crampons, and neither of those things are allowed in racing in France, thankfully. But my ears perked up when the inventors claimed these shoes could minimize injuries in horses who tend to knock into their own legs galloping.
We have a specialist at that, so I decided the shoe might be worth a try. So we are trying them. Jury’s out, but this could be interesting!