https://www.equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=Horse&refno=10542374®istry=T&rbt=TB
Interesting he was only started in three stakes over here–is that because he ran out of conditions and that is all he could only run in stakes company? He either did not finish or finished last and I guess it was not the company he was running in that was the problem.
He was DNF and last in all. The one he was last in the race record says he “jumped poorly” at two fences and was eased. It noted twice he “walked off” instead of was vanned, so I would be vetting that one heavily. Cool horse though! Love his breeding. A post-track career that is easier on his body and he might fit the bill very well.
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Her horses all sound so quiet and chill. So much more so than the 10-year-old straight-from-the-pasture Thoroughbred that was sold to me as a Ladies Pleasure Horse. Good thing I like a little zing! 
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I believe Jess posted something about this with her most recent update or two about him. She was able to speak with his previous connections about it. Steeplechase conditions here can be quite different than what they’re used to overseas and he just didn’t acclimate well and just didn’t do well in these fields. I would want to do a good vetting on any horse I buy (I say this, having purchased three sight unseen without vettings but do as I say not as I do) but it will also depend on someone’s comfort level and goals. Either way he seems really neat.
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I’ll admit to knowing nothing about racing over fences, nor have I looked closely at the horse’s record as my tastes tend more red and dressagey! I’ll have to Google to learn about the differences. I was fascinated by flat racing growing up, but never learned much about racing over fences. It’s always just been “steeplechase” to me.
Yes! Sorry I only read her description on the website and my brain immediately went to Maryland/Middleburg (timber) because of location. I didn’t actually pull up his results because I’m trying to keep a healthy distance from looking at him…
But yes! MAJOR difference.
Steeplechase is its own breed and doesn’t equate to flat racing. How you dissect their results isn’t an apples to apples sort of thing. There are more conditions to take into consideration and while a DNF might raise some concern it’s not as uncommon in steeplechasing due to the length of the track and the ask of the horse. That’s just my opinion, YMMV.
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Agreed, especially given that they tried to throw this horse back into racing after however long time off. In this case, walked off to me just means he decided he literally did not want to do the job anymore, not because of any physical reason.
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Exactly. I think the horsemanship as a whole is more finely tuned in steeplechase, too, probably in part because there is more risk, especially hurdles and timber. The jocks are more apt to save themselves and the horse for another day.
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I had my eye on her page for months when I was looking. Lots of nice looking horses! It rubbed me the wrong way when I saw a public comment she posted about how she’s gotten many horses with awful spine x rays but they’re not symptomatic so she doesn’t worry about it. Since the horses she gets don’t last long in her program, I feel like that’s a little irresponsible. I ended up finding something more local but I was definitely interested in purchasing from her. I would’ve done a full ppe including spinal x rays. Seems like many people are very happy with their purchases from her so as always, get a ppe!
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From my experience, she doesn’t vet them unless they give her a reason. She goes off the track connection’s history otherwise. So she wouldn’t know about spine films until someone PPEs the horse.
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If I recall correctly, she was saying she would purchase a horse with ks on spinal films for resale in a heartbeat if it was a nice horse with minimal clinical signs (yet)
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As she, and everyone else, should. We don’t even have the technology to define a normal human spine, much less an equine one. “Perfect” back films don’t exist.
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I’m sorry but I would never buy a fresh ottb off the track with evident ks. Agree to disagree!
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I will say this isn’t a knock on Jess cause again, clearly she’s doing fine. But with more and more OTTbs coming off the track with KS (that we search for and find on X-rays) and more and more buyers hard pass on KS finding on PPE i’m surprised from a business standpoint she’s willing to take a risk on them.
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Are more horse having KS or are we just looking for it now?
KS is so hard because you can have a horse with horrible x-rays and it never effects performance. Then you have the next horse that hardly has anything and it has to be retired.
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That’s your opinion, but to paint Jessica as actively selling horses with KS is misleading.
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If I recall correctly, her FB post was more of a philosophical look at her views on KS in general. I don’t want what I write here to be taken literally, but I think the gist was that yes, you can find clinical evidence of this spinal process on some X-rays, but her take was that many issues that are largely attributed to KS (bucking, behind the leg, etc) can be cured by riding the horse correctly from back to front. There was more to it, but I think that was the long and short of it. I never read the comments, but there were a LOT. When I went back to look at the post again, it was gone— which means she either took it down or she made it accessible only to FB friends (I only browse her page, not an official FB friend 
).
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I remember that post, but that wasn’t the one I was talking about! It was actually a comment on someone else’s post
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A seller doesn’t have to pay for a horse with KS for the rest of their life, and they usually get the horse when it is young and move it before it becomes so symptomatic it’s unignorable.
I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s a good thing any seller is casual about KS findings on x-ray. KS often gets worse as a horse gets older, as other parts of the body compensate for the KS. When you[g] only have a horse in your program for a few weeks there’s no way you can say with certainty the horse is asymptomatic. KS symptoms aren’t always behavioral standbys like bucking or bolting. In my experience, much of KS comes out as training progresses.
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I think KS on an X ray is similar to any PPE result. Some horses have bad X rays and never take a lame step, some are already lame, some are quickly lame. It’s up to the buyer to look at the PPE and make an assessment. If a seller doesn’t think it’s a big deal but finds that they get stuck with horses with those types of X rays, then they won’t take those horses in the future.
I mean really, how can any seller that turns over horses as fast as Jess make an assessment about the horse’s long term soundness as it progresses in training? I also think that KS is something that we’ve just started PPEing for and there’s some variation in belief in what the X rays mean for a horse’s long term soundness. Over time that might change.
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