A beautiful frosty morning without the icy easterly wind that we've had for the last couple of days. I was stable girl this morning while Doug took Dove out - she has been really temperamental since her accident but is gradually getting better and Doug took her around the round gallop three times. She has a habit of sticking her head in the air so he tried her in draw reins made out of baler twine (typical 'Larkin' style!) He came back absolutely delighted with her as she made a lovely shape at the canter using all the right muscles and didn't seem to mind the draw reins at all - he then tried Harry with them as yesterday Ed got carted somewhat and he wanted to see if they worked on him, which they did really well. Doug had always been a bit reluctant to use them before as he thought that natural horsemanship should bring the horses head down but sometimes I guess they need a bit of help. We might even treat ourselves to some leather one's now!
Both horses are all set for the races tomorrow. Ben schooled Jake in our small school yesterday and he jumped brilliantly. He is much more enthusiastic than he used to be, so fingers crossed that they run a good race and both horses and jockeys come home safely.