Summer ends and the winter jumpers are on their way!

                With autumn around the corner, we managed to grab a few days away from the yard and head up to North Norfolk for a long weekend, which was lovely.  One of our favourite places to go and despite the time of year, not very many people about on the sands, with sea for as far as you can see!  I couldn’t help but think what a great natural all-weather the sands would be…a great place to bring the horses!  Maybe we could join in with The Household Cavalry next year when they stable near Holkham Beach!

Stiffkey Beach

                The time was perfect to go as we have had a few runners recently and these were having an easy week and the winter jumpers are only steady cantering.  I am really happy with the winter jumps horses although they have a bit of weight to lose still.  Not something I worry about too much as a healthy gut is most important and I have never restricted a horse’s intake, whether it is in or turned out (although they are mostly turned out at the moment).  The horses gut is meant to be working most of the day and night and when it eats it produces the saliva which is good to keep acidity levels down in the gut and help keep ulcers at bay.

                We are very much looking forward to the jumps horses having their first gallop which may be a couple of weeks away.  This time of year there is plenty of dreaming going on as to what races they will be winning over the coming months!  We certainly have some exciting additions to the yard to look forward to.

Newton Abbot - Mick Easterby - Hereford!

Newton Abbott:

                It looks as if the ground was too soft for Red Not Blue at Newton Abbott on Saturday; he tried but just couldn’t go in the ground.  As we were driving down it was raining a fair bit and with the watering as well that the course had done, it just went against us.  It was a fiercely competitive race and I couldn’t believe how many good horses he was giving weight to.  I was pleased to see Andrew take him wide and keep him out of trouble.  I always say to my jockeys if things aren’t right to pull them up and there is always another day and Andrew did exactly that.  The horse has come back fine and he was pleased to be back out in the paddock with the sun on his back on Sunday!

Mick Easterby:

                It was great listening to the interviews with the Easterby brothers on Channel 4 at York last week.  Both are very respected and it is well known that Mick Easterby is one of the shrewdest trainers in the country.  His words were ‘horses would last a lot longer if you don’t put shoes on them’.  I thought that was fabulous to hear and at least there is one person who understands what we are doing by training and running barefoot!

Hereford:

                Chord ran a very good race considering it was his first run for a while, to finish 3^rd at Hereford.  He would improve a fair bit for the run and we look forward to him running next time. 

Schooling

We had a good morning this morning doing grid work with Monday’s runners Chord & Bemused.  I was very pleased with them both; whilst they have done this all before many times - as always this was a case of them getting their eye in and sharpening them up.  I like to see them getting in close to the obstacle and being clever, as well as coming up off a nice stride.  A very satisfying morning.

Chord happy to warm himself up on his own.  Who needs jockeys!

Sam Goldsmith schooling Bemused

Simon above and below schooling Chord

The week ended better than I thought!

I worked a horse on the all-weather on Thursday and he hung quite a lot the last time up the gallop about 1 furlong from the end, and considering he has had a fair few problems in the past, I was worried that everything had all come back to hound us.  I was especially worried for the owner who has spent a bit to get this horse right and given him the time needed as well.

So, the first thing I did was to speak to Anita Miles (our Equine Manual Therapist who is pictured below treating Red Not Blue – who is not the horse in question!).  Anita came to the yard that afternoon and treated this horse after galloping on Thursday; he then had an easy day on Friday and then I galloped him at the weekend.  On Thursday when he had a problem, his time on the all-weather was 1:16.73 and he was at the end of his tether and at the weekend he did 1:13.26 and didn’t hang at all!  In fact he did it easily.

With anybody doing anything here, I need to see the results and the proof is in the pudding.  We are very fond of Anita who is a breath of fresh air when she comes to the yard; a sunny face and there is no doubt at all that I like her even more because I see the great results she has with the horses! 

1st -- Red Not Blue!

Red Not Blue won his 6^th race for us at Worcester on Friday; it was an amazing performance carrying top weight and his first win over 3 miles.

I think everybody here deserves a massive pat on the back considering he was a horse on the verge of retirement before he came to us.  We are lucky that we have such a good team of practitioners supporting us.  The main people working with Red Not Blue are our manual therapist - Anita Miles, vet - Buffy Shirley-Beaven and the barefoot trimmer - Chris Keable.  They have kept the horse sound and pain free therefore allowing him to run to the best of his ability.  It is remarkable how hard the horse tries as he really had to battle back from the last hurdle. 

I am not sure where he will run next and we will see how he is over the coming days.  He has just spent a lovely weekend out in the field with his mates and I noticed that when he went out on Saturday he galloped off to where he rolls, getting himself covered in mud and then doing a buck and a kick so that shows he is well – and very pleased with himself! 

Well done to everyone here – I find it incredibly satisfying and I am very proud of what we have done.  It is a massive achievement to win 6 races with this horse and he has been only once out of the money in his 12 runs - and that run was when he couldn’t go in the ground.  Aka Dark Horse (as he is known on the yard) will always be close to my heart and I appreciate very much what he has done for us.  Thank you for all your calls and congratulations everyone.

Red Not Blue and Bath Races

Red Not Blue:

Forgive me for not updating you all sooner on Red Not Blue’s last run.  I thought Red Not Blue ran a cracker at Market Rasen in a very competitive race (Class 2 Handicap Hurdle) and it seems that the jockey, Andrew Thornton, was right in that he is a very versatile horse regarding trip.

It was a great day, despite the long journey, with plenty of Red Not Blue’s loyal owners – ‘The Plums’ – being there.  It is always good fun going racing with The Plum Merchants as they are ‘up’ for the occasion and love to see their horses at the races. 

Yet again, another great get-together where we recounted the amusing stories after his last win on how some of them managed to get home – a fair bit later than planned…!  No names mentioned.

Red Not Blue will run again tomorrow at Worcester.

Bath Races:

                I watched a few races from Bath yesterday and I can’t say it made for good viewing.  Most of the horses were either hanging badly, had their heads in the air or were not striding out with any rhythm or fluency.  It was very clear that there were many hating the ground and they were having their arses smacked as well!  Should we be putting horses through this and running them on such hard ground…?