Grazy ex(new) Girlfriend: Cyber Stalking Brad

I don't know about you guys, but whenever there is a new horse around, I always (always) cyber stalk the crap out of it. 

(And since Prair is 90 minutes away, and Gray Brad is even farther... I have little to do with my horsey time other than scour the internet for information, and tack sales....)

Thanks to the ever increasing depths and online presence of the Horse World, often there are wonderful, endless click-holes that you can just fall into and pretty soon you're looking at 20 year old wedding photos of a horse's breeder... Which... isn't creepy at all...

Fortunately for me, since Gray Brad was born in 2008, most of his life is online, including his auction sale, stallion approval, and apparently some showjumping rounds (if I want to pay for the download...).  Even Prair, who is a 2005 model, has almost no online record from her time in Germany.  Amazing what a difference a few years can make...

We'll start with what I know.  Gray Brad was born April 16, 2008.  His first internet hit is his sale at auction for 9,000 euro in October of 2008.  (for the record that actually seems like quite a lot for a 6 month old? am I crazy?). 

I think this is his foal video from that auction, but I can't figure out how to embed it, so you'll have to click through if you want to see baby Gray Brad in a pasture... he's just starting to show that he'll gray out, but otherwise looks like a gangly, goofy baby.  If there's one thing I fully acknowledge I have no ability to do, it's detect future prowess and ability in a foal. 

I have no shot of being able to tell who will have springs in their legs, or move like a freak, (or anything, really) by watching a baby.  My eye has no idea what to look at.  I get way too distracted by cute baby fluff and those impossibly long legs... so I remain mystified by those who are able to see greatness in babies.

After his 2008 sale, it's pretty much radio silence until 2011, when webstallions.com has this video, which I think is from stallion approvals, but could just be his inspection.  I can't tell.




Then there is another big gap while baby horse grows up a little more, gets started under saddle and finally starts FEI competition 2014 at a 6 year old.  There might be other, local results, but I haven't stumbled onto those pages yet...

He started in the 1.20m FEI classes, where he stayed (for the most part) as a 6 year old.  A few larger classes at 1.30 toward the end of the year (which might be what the WCYH class is at?)

2015 saw him move up to 1.35 and 1.40, with his biggest accomplishment to date being a qualification for the World Championships, and making it to the final round of that competition. 

Again, I'm not a jumper, and I'm definitely not an FEI jumper - so I don't really know what this means.  I was told that about 3,000 horses attempt to qualify, with 300 getting a bid to compete, and that whittles down to about 60 for the final.  I'm sure of those 300, lots choose not to make the trip to Belgium, so I'm sure that actual numbers at the competition are smaller than that.  But still, top 60?  I think that's pretty good.  I might have to educate myself on the selection process.  But with my cross multiplying skills, I know that getting to the finals puts him in the top 2% of 7 year olds who are competing internationally at that height... so that's pretty damn cool.

There are lots of random website hits for this name in 2014, and 2015 which all seem to equate to show results and entry lists of the various shows he attended.  Not much else to add, aside from a couple of blurry photos.  Usually I won't screen grab a professional photo, but I made a moral exception in this case and captured what I could for archival purposes.  There are only two images that I think are actually him (there is a horse competing under a VERY similar name and their images and videos both return on searches..). 



Blurry, and there was no option to buy/photographer to credit... SORRY INTERNET

The only other fun fact I've been able to scrape up (so far) is that he has (at least) one baby on the ground that was born in June of 2014.  She's a filly, registered Belgian, and has one competition on record from 2015.. I'm assuming some sort of breeding class?

So, that's what's I've learned.  It's the horsey equivalent of digging into someone's facebook and looking at all their ex-girlfriends, and vacation photos and family pictures from Thanksgiving of 2003.  Except with horse-stalking you don't have to worry about your clumsy fingers accidentally liking a photo from 6 years ago....