Velvet Red schooling

On Friday morning Will Telfor came to school the three horses, Red. Dream and Dove. They all schooled really well. Red and particularly Dream were very pleasing. Doug and I had spent a couple of hours beforehand re-stuffing the fences so they need jumping properly now and the horses seemed to jump better. On the way back it was quite evident that Red was feeling extremely well as when she saw the carriage horses coming towards her she exploded and dumped me on the gravel track. Ouch. It hurt. It didn't hurt too much when I got back on but later on in the day I was climbing the walls with pain and not able to put any weight on my right leg at all. I knew there was nothing broken as nothing had cracked so I couldn't see the point of going to hospital. My hip had twisted and it felt as though the ligaments had stretched. However, that evening it wasn't a good look with me having to crawl everywhere and having to be carried out of the bath! The next morning Doug phoned around and managed to locate a pair of crutches. Two days on and I am still a bit hoppy but getting better all the time.
We were still planning to run Dream but when she got back from her schooling session she didn't feel quite level. Her stride seemed a bit choppy. We couldn't feel any heat but now with the ground coming firm we decided to leave it until she is 100% right. She is such a big horse and Alflora'a have a reputation for taking a long time to mature so we are happy to give her as much time as she wants, particularly as she impressed so much with her schooling - she might be worth it after all ...

On Saturday because I was laid up it was a great excuse to watch non-stop rugby and racing - Bliss! The Wales v Ireland game lived up to expectations - gripping rugby. and definitely the right result. Brilliant - The celebrations in Cardiff and Dublin would have been something to behold..