Sunday, November 22, 2015

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....

23 comments:

  1. That is so cool that you can find out so much about his past.
    Also squeee baby images & he's a daddy!!! Awww baby Brads

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  2. The best I ever found when stalking was the Facebook page of the last jockey who raced the OTTB lesson horse I rode a few years back. And his whole race record, pedigree, and breeder too.

    It took me two weeks of wrestling his face to get a clear read of his tattoo, but it was so worth the effort!

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  3. So cool to see some of his history, go you for digging it up!!

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  4. Very cool! And holy scope, Batman!!!

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  5. How awesome be getting a horse that has official free jumping video like that!

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  6. Daaaamn that horse has some springs!

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  7. I love that his damsire was a french anglo-arab! http://www.studforlife.com/news_detail.php?id=1855

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    1. I know! I'm returning to my pony club roots of always having a sprinkling of arab around.... :) it certainly explains his dishy little face!

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    2. Those French AA's are amazing little jumpers, the guy that was our guide in Belgium breeds event horses by combining them with TB and Holst.

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  8. I did the same thing with mine! I actually
    was able to find quite a bunch of videos from when my horses were over there

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    Replies
    1. It's fun being able to dig into their past a little bit :)

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  9. So neat to be able to dig up some of their past!!

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  10. Very cool. He is actually registered Selle Francais. Looks like he was ridden by Mexican and Brazil riders?

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    1. yes, definitely registered SF... :) His previous owner us Mexican, and there she's had about 4 different pros show him over the years (at least in his FEI classes). The most recent German rider to show him is who had him when we tried him.

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  11. More fun info (my hubby and I have horses in France so was reading some stuff in French for you) your boy was the winner of his 3yo stallion group. With a 7.3 out of 10. Tons of photos of him. He is very very cute. Lucky woman!

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    1. Oh my gosh, awesome sleuth skills! I'd love it if you'd forward that link to me :) you're great at this!!!

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  12. One more his name: ufo means nothing his name had to start with a u for his breeding year. Du val guerard is the name of the farm where he was bred val means a very small valley, guerard is a name. His breeder is Michel Palau, small breeder no website in Normandy area.

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    1. I had figured out the name... but I still can't say it well, lol!
      and interesting to know you couldn't find much on his breeder either... I was certain I should be able to find something on him, but struck out.

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  13. I love learning about a horse's past! Granted I found almost nothing on my ottb, womp womp

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  14. You are not alone. The two OTTBs I owned I did some major internet stalking on, even stalked siblings, dams, sires, etc. Anything I could get my hands on.

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