Shade (left) and Oaka have arrived!
The new additions to the family have arrived and have eaten their tea and are settling in really well. They have seriously exceeded expectations and look like proper horses. They've done all the road work and are in very good condition but at the moment look like very nice hunters. There is plenty to work with and Oaka (5 year old gelding by Alflora) looks like real class although Shade (7 yr old mare by Terrimon) although quite a bit smaller, looks as though she could be rather a nice racehorse too. Very Exciting and I can't wait to see what they are like to ride in the morning.
We have had a fun week-end with the Warwickshire Hunt Ball on Saturday and then a Sunday lunch with the same group on the Sunday (having not got home until the early hours). really good fun and a lovely bunch of people.
All ten horses went on the gallops this morning - it was completely frozen on the way there but the gallops were perfect. I rode Leon first lot who still felt a bit stiff at first but then loosened up and was very nice, and then Laverty second lot who is really enjoying his work now. He just attacks the gallops and continues to impress me with his dogged determination. Haunted House had a day off as a precautionary measure as we thought we felt a little spot of heat in his off fore on Thursday, It's gone now, but he is too nice a horse to risk and while the ground is frozen we are playing it safe.