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Ask The Experts: What’s Up With Firenze Fire’s Savagery?

Viewers of the Grade 1 Forego Aug. 28 got a surprise in the stretch run when experienced competitor Firenze Fire reached over and attacked rival Yaupon around the sixteenth pole. The act of one horse attacking another is called “savaging” and while not completely unheard of during the running of a race, it's not exactly common.

Up until now, the most famous image of a similar incident was probably taken in the final strides of the 1980 Tremont Stakes, where Great Prospector reached over to bite at eventual winner Golden Derby. A black and white photo of the moment, shot from underneath the inside rail by Bob Coglianese, became the Eclipse Award winning image of that year.

Firenze Fire, a 6-year-old intact male with multiple graded stakes races to his credit, came at Yaupon with his teeth several times before jockey Jose Ortiz was able to straighten him out. If Yaupon was disturbed by the behavior, it didn't impact his performance, as he prevailed by a head at the wire. Local reports indicated Yaupon was unharmed by the incident.

Strangely, Firenze Fire has been on the receiving end of such treatment, too. During the running of the G3 Gallant Bob in 2018 he was bitten by Whereshetoldmetogo just before the wire — although he seems to have only gotten a single, somewhat discreet nip on the neck, rather than a teeth-barred facial attack like the one he dealt to Yaupon.

Unreal. Firenze Fire, you savage. pic.twitter.com/hNNCOZcATj

— Ray Paulick (@raypaulick) August 28, 2021

We asked a few equine behavior experts about Firenze Fire's behavior to learn more about what makes horses do this. Here's what we learned.

Dr. Sue McDonnell, founding head of the Equine Behavior Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and Certified Animal Behaviorist:

I'm always wondering why this doesn't happen more often. That bite gesture seems almost a reflex response when horses are play or seriously chasing and running head to head.

I don't think it does have much to do with dominance, but of course can't be sure. I see this all day every day in the herd and I don't think it gains the perpetrator any advantage or dominance. I think it's a reflex gesture that communicates, 'Slow down and let's play fight!' I agree to people it looks vicious, and people often assume it's a dominance thing, but that's a big assumption, probably without much evidence. What I see doesn't support that at all.

I see this among foals playing, bachelors play chasing and wrestling, usually after a long run or “race” if you will, and they are tiring and ones seems to want to slow or stop and wrestle. In serious combat between stallions, that particular biting gesture is not seen. It's more of very serious lunge to take the other down to the ground.

My first thought is that the previous incident is likely coincidence. The only thing that I can think of concerning the possible relationship of having been involved previously is that Firenze Fire is the type of horse that is paying attention to the competitor horse in the sense of actually “racing” the other horse rather just running in response to the rider direction and training — a different motivational state, which is likely perceived among horses. And that in the previous incident where he was the receiver, that competitor horse was reflexively responding to Firenze Fire's natural racing motivation/behavior.

Firenze Fire #10 (R) with Irad Ortiz, Jr. riding overcame a bite by 2nd place finisher Whereshetoldmetogo (L) with jockey Jeremy Rose to win the $300,000 Grade III Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on September 22, 2018. Photo By Taylor Ejdys/EQUI-PHOTO

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, program director of the Animal Behavior Department of Clinical Sciences at the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and diplomate of American College of Veterinary Behaviorists:

Biting with ears pinned back is a typical behavior of an intact horse or a gelding given steroids. If you walk down track shed rows, you can pretty much tell the stallions by the way the horses lay their ears back and charge at people with teeth bared or they do it only to horses being hot walked around the shed rows. The walker knows to give them a wide berth from the stalls and needs to have their horse strong in hand when going by.

I doubt very much that Firenze Fire's biting behavior was a reaction to his being on the receiving end of similar behavior some years before.

Kerry Thomas, founder of the Thomas Herding Technique and THT Bloodstock:

[This incident is not necessarily about exerting dominance] because dominance and physical expression do not always go hand-in-hand by the laws of herd dynamics in nature. In this scenario I view it as more related to the manner of physical expression in what we at THT call a “close-space-fighter”, which means for us horses that have a tendency to exaggerate their physical expression during times of protracted competitive stresses.

It's more a re-direction of focus than a fracture. The same amount of emotional energy that was housed in the forward competitive aspect gets shifted to what the horse views as a close space infraction. This shift in emotional energy disrupts physical efficiency and subsequently affects physical pace. In short, what you have is the mental horse going one direction and the physical horse another for those moments.

By and large I view these as unrelated, separate incidents. However that said, Firenze Fire's herd dynamic rhythms and competitive nature in close space battles can lend itself to a variety of both dishing-out & eliciting of arbitrary expressions, most of which are subtle, some of which, as we have seen, not so subtle.

The emotional expressions of these athletes reminds us we should never underappreciate the beauty of their nature, nor undervalue the impact of it.

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The Blueberry Bulletin Presented By Equine Equipment: My OTTB Did Not Fail

One of the first things I did after adopting Blueberry was to embark on a small online shopping spree for him (naturally, none of the draft cross mare's gear would fit him), followed by a small online shopping spree for myself. I found a t-shirt on Etsy which reads, “My OTTB ran slower than yours.” It made me chuckle, as the new owner of a horse who ran once and placed fourth.

Blueberry is by Uncle Mo, out of a graded stakes-winning mare. He had the mind of a racehorse, and we're told he showed such impressive speed in the mornings, his training team suggested he be nominated to stakes races at Woodbine before he'd even made a start. We joke sometimes about our “underachiever” who cost $400,000 as a yearling and won a little over $4,000 in return.

But the reality is, there's a little air of disappointment when racing people are asked about OTTBs. Many are eager to support aftercare in word and in deed, but there's often a wistful air if you ask them about a specific horse that has left their operation for a second career. 'Oh yes,' they may say. 'It's a shame they didn't work out.'

I get it; no one spends six figures in stud fees, or pays an Eclipse Award-winning trainer's day rates hoping to find out their horse is slow, or injury-prone, or briefly brilliant but eventually flat. Everyone wants to win the Kentucky Derby. Everyone wants to catch lightning in a bottle. Perhaps it's good that so many people in this sport wake every day with these stars in their eyes, continuing to breed, sell, buy, train, and care for the thousands of horses who support so many livelihoods. Everyone who has a role in a racehorse's life is subject to back-breaking work, long hours, lost money, and chasing sleep. There wouldn't be an industry to employ us all if we didn't have crazy dreams to make all of that worthwhile.

But the reality, which I know people understand just as keenly, is that there will be many more horses like Blueberry than American Pharoah. When I wrote about the challenges of aftercare in late 2019, 28 percent of Thoroughbreds born between 2005 and 2014 never even made it to the races. One Australian study found that about 40 percent of that country's racing population retired each year, with only 10 percent of those heading off to breeding careers. The 2020 American foal crop is estimated to be 19,010, but there were only 99 Grade 1 races held in North America last year – it's just a matter of logic that some horses will have a career on a breeding farm waiting them, but most of them will not.

The last few months of under saddle work with Blueberry have been a joy. I tell people that he makes me look a lot smarter than I am, because the level of dressage we're working on now is physically easy for him. Our trainer, Stephanie Calendrillo, told me at one point that she loves a horse who loves to work, who asks her when she encourages them to lift their backs and soften their jaws, 'How high do you want me to lift?' She said Blueberry does it for you and then asks 'Oh sorry, was that enough? Do you need me to do more?'

He loves going to work, but he's smart about it. I pulled him out of his stall for a morning ride this week – his first in a couple of weeks – and where others might have expended calories on exuberant bucks and hops, he was immediately quiet, focused, responding to the slightest twitch of my rein or heel. He does not waste energy (if anything, he can trend towards 'sleepy' rather than quick), and believes with all his heart he is a professional who has Done All Of This Before even when he hasn't.

Having known his mother, I'd hoped when I adopted him that he would have this mindset. I did not know, until about May when he began ground driving walk/trot/canter, how he moved, beyond having a very impressive walk at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale in 2018. In his first months with me, he was on 24-hour turnout while he recovered from some minor ligament desmitis and we awaited a stall and better weather at my trainer's main property. When I saw him stretch out at a trot and felt his floaty canter for the first few times, I used a few four-letter words. I hadn't just adopted a nice horse, I'd adopted a really nice horse.

I'm excited to bring him to the Thoroughbred Makeover next month, but I also recognize that it's just our first show season goal. There will be other seasons after this one, and I think he's just going to get better with time.

'I'm not surprised,' Stephanie told me. 'He's well-bred, and class is class, no matter what you're doing with them.'

Blueberry warming up at his second dressage show in July, where he would win his Intro C class and finish second in his Intro A class

I think it's time we change the conversation about these, the vast majority of the Thoroughbred foals born in this country each year. There were 27,700 races held in North America, which means there were fewer than 27,700 winners, but that doesn't mean that every horse who didn't win a race, or who found a non-breeding second career has failed – they were just a predictable part of the statistical picture of competitive racing.

By extension, we can also reframe the successes of the racing connections for those horses. Part of the goal of breeding Thoroughbreds is to create an athlete, and breeders Jay and Christine Hayden did that. One of the goals of a commercial consignor is to be a source for Thoroughbreds with a lot of potential, and Cara Bloodstock achieved that in selling him. One of the goals for responsible owners is to be caring stewards of their horses' welfare, and Godolphin did that, backing off on his training at the first sign of trouble and providing me a sound horse with no limitations on performance. One of a trainer's worries is ensuring that they keep their horses physically and also mentally sound, and Johnny Burke and Brad Cox ensured their staff preserved Blueberry's kind impression of humans, allowing me a relaxed 4-year-old gelding who sometimes gets groomed by my trainer's 4-year-old little girl.

Horses with second careers are simply those who found renewed purpose in a different job. When humans do this, it's called resilience. Let's give our OTTBs the same credit for finding their calling.

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Long-Time Washington Horse Trainer, Former NFL Player Junior Coffey Dies At Age 79

Junior Coffey, a star running back at the University of Washington and one of the state's most successful Thoroughbred trainers, died of congestive heart failure Monday at age 79.

Mr. Coffey died at St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way, according to wife Kathy Coffey.

A three-time All-Coast selection and three-time Honorable Mention All-American at Washington, Coffey led the Huskies in rushing in 1962 and 1964 and played professionally with the NFLs Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons and New York Giants. His pro career included a rookie stint on the Packers' 1965 championship squad coached by the famed Vince Lombardi.

After a knee-injury curtailed his NFL career, Coffey turned to the world of horse racing as a Thoroughbred trainer in the mid-1970s, becoming one of the state's most respected trainers at Longacres and later Emerald Downs.

At Emerald Downs, Coffey ranks No. 5 in all-time win percentage at 20.13 percent. He preferred a relatively small stable of runners and was “hands on” with every horse.

“My objective,” he said, “is to have a sound and happy horse.”

Born March 21, 1942, in Kyle Texas, Coffey starred at Dimmitt (Tex.) High School and is enshrined in the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame and Texas Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame. Coffey said he wound up a Husky because Washington assistant Chesty Walker had seen Coffey play in Texas and convinced him to come to Seattle. At that time, colleges in the Southwest Conference were not integrated.

Emerald Downs founder Ron Crockett entrusted some of his top horses to Coffey including 2012 Belle Roberts winner Cielator and 2007 Longacres Mile runner-up Raise the Bluff.

“Junior Coffey was one of a kind in so many ways,” Crockett said. “He was an accomplished athlete, a talented horse trainer, a philosopher, a friend to many and most of all kindhearted. He was a trailblazer.”

Coffey won 174 races at Emerald Downs including eight stakes races. He conditioned the filly Run Away Stevie to nine stakes victories including stakes triumphs at both Longacres and Emerald Downs. In his final start as a trainer, Coffey saddled Levitation to a neck victory under Rocco Bowen on September 23, 2018.

Coffey is survived by his wife, Kathy. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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Itchy Horse? Five Potential Offenders

Narrowing down the specific reason why horses persistently itch can be time-consuming and frustrating for their caretakers. Ectoparasites, or external parasites, are a possible cause. Review these five ectoparasites, some of which may be known to you and some of which may not be.

Culicoides and other biting insects. These tiny flying insects, sometimes called no-see-ums or flying midges, wreak havoc on horses. While Culicoides often feed from multiple areas of the horse, they habitually swarm around the belly. These insects cause a hypersensitivity response due to a salivary allergen, and the resulting condition is called Culicoides hypersensitivity, sweet itch, or Queensland itch. A hereditary predisposition to the hypersensitivity is thought to be at play in some instances. Without question, the trademark sign of this hypersensitivity is pruritus, or itchiness. Limiting the occurrence of the hypersensitivity seems to depend on management strategies designed to keep insects away from horses, such as stabling during peak feeding hours, sunrise and sunset; use of ultra-fine mesh or screens over windows; fly control with permethrin; overhead fans; and avoidance of standing water.

In addition to Culicoides, the roster of biting flies that prove bothersome to horses is long: stable, horn, horse, deer, and black flies. All of these can cause pruritic dermatitis in horses through biting. Lesions caused by biting flies are usually treated symptomatically, with therapy consisting of gentle cleansing to remove crusts and application of topical medications, including corticosteroids, at the top of the list. Unlike biting flies, mosquito bites cause swelling but do not exude blood.

Removing habitat that keeps biting insects in the vicinity may help reduce the population, so maintain stalls impeccably and dispose of rotting vegetation and manure far from the barn or anywhere horses congregate. If horn flies are a particular problem, horses may have to be separated from cattle in the area, as these insects require cow manure as part of their life cycle.

Chorioptes mites. These mites are found on the often-hairy lower limbs of draft or draft-type horses, with pruritus as the primary sign and crusts and bald patches, known as alopecia, as ancillary signs. Multiple skin scrapings will likely be necessary to identify the mites because they are often difficult to detect on microscopic examination. Even if skin scrapings reveal no definitive infestation, many veterinarians will treat horses for mites based on the clinical signs. In addition to treating all horses in a herd, the environment, such as stabling, grooming areas, and transport trailers, should be thoroughly cleaned as well, as mites can survive off of hosts.

Lice. In some areas of the world, biting and sucking lice remain a problem, especially in unthrifty horses that are not groomed regularly. Lice seem to be more problematic in the winter, especially when horses are kept confined in close quarters. Biting and sucking lice tend to infest different parts of the horse, with biting lice favoring the topline and the sides of the barrel and sucking lice preferring the mane, tail, and fetlocks. Biting lice tend to be migratory, while sucking lice are inclined to be less mobile.

Chiggers. Less vexing and widespread than biting insects and mites, chiggers can affect horses in North America and Europe. Chiggers are the six-legged larval stage of a plant parasite; interestingly, chiggers require a blood meal to complete their life cycle. Larvae attach to the horse, ingest blood, and then release themselves two to three days after arrival. The lesions caused by chiggers, which usually result in 1-2 mm crusts, have been identified on the head, neck, chest, and limbs. The degree of pruritus depends on the severity of the infestation. An infection with chiggers is termed thrombiculidiasis.

Pinworms. Oxyuriasis is the scientific term for an infestation of pinworms, also known as Oxyuris equi. Adult pinworms reside in the cecum and colon of the horse and feed on fecal matter. Once fertilized, female parasites journey to the rectum and through the anal sphincter to lay eggs in the perineal region. Eggs are bound by an irritating gelatinous matter that incites intense pruritus.

Infested animals rub the top of their tail incessantly to stem the itchiness, almost always to the point where tail hair is ruffled and broken and sometimes so badly that baldness and bleeding occur. Pinworms should be considered a possible diagnosis if the horse is rubbing just its tail; a horse rubbing both its mane and tail is likely to have a different parasitological problem, such as Culicoides infection.

Horses that persistently itch should be examined by a veterinarian, as many of these parasite problems do not resolve without treatment. Some horses become stressed to the point of inappetence if infestation and pruritus are severe enough. If flying insects are especially abundant, horses, especially sensitive ones, will run to keep insects from hovering and biting. This can have detrimental effects on body condition, hoof health, and soundness.

All horses should have access to a well-formulated diet, appropriate housing or shelter, and regular grooming. Two dietary supplements known to benefit skin and coat condition are Bio-Bloom PS (Bio-Bloom HF in Australia) and EO-3. Bio-Bloom PS contains biotin and several other nutrients known for their positive effects on integumentary tissues, such as hooves, skin, and hair. EO-3 is a fish oil rich in the omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA that helps reduce body-wide inflammation. Many horse owners extol the virtues of fish oil in relieving skin problems in horses, including those caused by ectoparasites.

White, S.D. 2019. Working up the pruritic horse. In: Proc. 41st Bain Fallon Lectures. Equine Veterinarians Australia, pp. 32-40.

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