Thermal, Calif—March 9

Count Me In has been on a roll lately. Leading up to Desert Circuit 9, he won two of the last three grand prix classes he contested—including an FEI World Cup Qualifier—and ticked a single rail in the third. And he kept that hot streak going in the $117,000 Kubota 1.50-meter Grand Prix CSI3* held during the penultimate week of the Desert Circuit, winning both that class and the $32,000 FEI 1.50-meter Speed class earlier in the week.

Seven of 30 combinations found a clear way around Joey Rycroft’s first round grand prix track, set on the grass field at the Desert International Horse Park. Last to go in the jump-off, Swail knocked 1 second of Ali Ramsay’s time aboard Conrado 12 aboard the quick-footed gelding, despite taking an extra stride to avoid a slippery area on course.

“The horse is so quick,” said Swail, 52. “I know that if I do everything correctly I won’t be so far away. I knew if I did those numbers that it would be fairly close.

“He has been an incredible horse for me,” added Swail of the mount he’s been riding since 2021. “He’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden.”

Watch their jump-off round courtesy of Showgrounds Live.

Now that “Crosby” is 17, Swail is particularly conscious of carefully managing the Hanoverian (Count Grannus—Sunshine, Sherlock Holmes) owned by Sandy Lupton and Mannon Farm, especially in light of the past two years of his career.

In 2022 Crosby put in an eighth-place performance at the Longines FEI World Cup Final (Germany) and strong jumping efforts on the five-star circuit in Europe, including in the Longines FEI Nations Cup of Ireland in front of his home crowd. There he won the jump-off to keep the Aga Khan trophy in Ireland, which Swail described as “the best jumping day of my career.” But the pair didn’t have the same success in 2023.

“Last year he had a little bit of a dip in form there,” Swail said. “Soundness-wise he was good, but healthwise he was struggling a little bit mentally. He had a few ulcers and things that were annoying him a little bit to make him jump not as good.”

Despite qualifying for the World Cup Final again, Swail, Wellington, Florida, opted not to go, and instead stepped Crosby down to the two-star level, and he and his team got to work figuring out how to get the gelding back on form. That meant treating the ulcers, focusing on his fitness and keeping him happy.

“Thankfully—touch wood—he’s a very sound horse for his age, he moves incredibly well so, it’s just about trying to keep him fit and supple and healthy,” he said. “Because he can go in and do this job every day. Some days he jumps better than other days, but the score is still the same: it’s still zero or it’s still a win. And some days he’s amazing and other days he’s not maybe feeling it, but you’re still first. He’s just that good.”

Next up for Crosby? That depends how he’s feeling. He’ll compete at next week’s finale grand prix in the desert, then Swail hasn’t ruled out stepping him back up to the five-star level at Thunderbird (British Columbia) and a possible trip to Spruce Meadows (Alberta).

“I’m not sure, so he’ll tell me, and I’ll know,” he said.

Find full results here.

Catch up on all the action from Desert Circuit 9 in the March 25 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse, and be sure you’re following the Chronicle on Facebook and Instagram.