The two new horses have arrived - Coeur de Lionne and Haunted House - Coeur de Lionne (the bay horse) means 'Heart of a Lioness' in French and has been shortened to Leon - he has been in Paul Nicholls yard since the middle of June and had three runs, in the hope of winning a few hurdle races after coming off the flat. His previous owner paid the staggering amount of £350,000 for him as he is beautifully bred (his dam is half sister to Sir Percy) but he hasn't come up to scratch so he was given to a neighbouring farmer, who is a friend of the original owner, and he wants us to train him to perhaps recapture some of his flat form over fences. When he came off the lorry we noticed he seemed to be a bit stiff in the shoulders, so we have had the chiropractor and masseur to check him out, and sure enough he has got problems both in his front end and behind. After his various treatments he is still quite sore so we are taking it very gently at the moment. He is a lovely horse to do and has a very kind eye, it would be lovely to get to the root of the problem and hopefully run him under rules - I am hoping to get my full licence very soon.

Haunted House (the chestnut) is a beautiful horse who broke down two years ago after winning at Uttoxeter over the big fences. His owner, Emma, has a rehabilitation Centre and has spent a lot of time and effort to get Aitch (his stable name) back - he has had a very tough career and clearly wasn't treated very well whilst in training as he is very nervous of being ridden but has settled in beautifully. Amy rode him first, but now he happily lets Will ride him, and is enjoying being hacked around without any pressure - he is going to run in points to begin with to get his confidence back up and see how his leg holds out. He looks a very promising prospect.

All the other horses are working really well. Eeyore and Spider are still in the field and are going to get an extended holiday until the Spring as we just haven't got the time to do them as well. Cloud was ridden today and squealed and bucked her way around the menage - the only time she concentrated was when we put a jump out for her - she simply gets bored with the 'same old stuff'. As she is so young and not as strong as Doris we have decided to wait until she is four before we really get serious with her. She is the sort of mare that once she is in training needs to be doing something different all the time and then raced as soon as possible as she gets bored so easily and then behaves very badly! We are delighted with Doris who goes out with the older horses every day and takes everything we throw at her and more. She loves her work and you would never know that she is just three years old.

Skye is now back with us after being out on loan to Lucy for the summer. Jay who is back on a short break had a brilliant ride on her today and I'm looking forward to having some fun with her hunting/blood hounding and team chasing before sadly we have to sell her on as we really should sell something this season...hmm, maybe, maybe not...?! I am rubbish at selling horses, especially a little cracker like Skye who absolutely loves jumping and is a really gutsy little horse.