Did you hear about Must Win, the racehorse in New Brunswick, Canada, that got bored and climbed onto his owners’ roof? Pat and Stephen Downey have spoken to the press, but so far no one’s gotten the scoop straight from the horse’s mouth. So Grist spoke with Must Win to get the story behind the stunt.
Grist: Thanks for talking to us today, Must Win. What’s the deal with your roof-climbing?
Must Win: Well, I’m pretty competitive, right? I mean, my name is MUST WIN. And when I heard solar and wind are now cheaper than coal, I was like, damn. Pat and Steve gotta get ON that.
Grist: Rooftop solar, you mean?
Must Win: Right. And the Downeys took my horse friends away for the day, so I got bored, and I figured, what’s more exciting than clean energy?
Grist: So the Downeys told CTV News that your hooves poked through the roof at one point, and they’re amazed you didn’t fall right through the roof.
Must Win: Well, yeah, I’m not stupid. I didn’t want to get hurt. But trying to install solar panels without opposable thumbs — or any fingers, for that matter — is pretty tough.
Grist: They also said it looked like you were up on the roof all night, since your poop had been smeared around up there.
Must Win: I mean, like I said, installing solar panels is hard! I needed a sticky substance I could put them on when mounting them to the roof. So I just … you know. Popped a squat.
Grist: Right. So where ARE the solar panels you were installing?
Must Win: I ate them.
Grist: Classic.
![](https://grist.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/parking-day-4.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=768)