We were up at the crack of dawn this morning for swiimming training..... In a 'loose' moment I agreed to help raise money for Cystic Fibrosis by swimming a mile upstream in the river Thames at Henley.I wanted to do this as good friends of ours, Nicola and Sam Burton have a gorgeous son called Henry, who suffers from this awful condition. Although, when I agreed, I didn't know that the date of my knee operation was going to be just a couple of weeks before, and it is unlikely to have healed enough for me to be able to take part, However Doug said, (before the date of my op was confirmed) that if I couldn't do it he would take my place - so we are holding him to it - he certainly wasn't very enthusiastic this morning but quite enjoyed it and is now up for the challenge. So PLEASE sponsor us as it is a really good cause.Thank you!
All horses are very happy to be on holiday although the season ended with a tinge of sadness as we had to make the awful decision to have Frog euthanised. We took her bandages off and it was quite clear that her leg was never going to recover and she would have to spend the rest of the year on painkillers and in the stable, which she would have hated. Even after all that if it did mend at all she would never be able to race again anyway. Sadly, she was a racehorse through and through and too highly strung to give to anyone as a 'happy hacker' . I tried all the retirement homes for racehorses to see if they would have her but they all said that they hadn't got the resources and that it would be the kindest thing to do to have her put to sleep. It was terribly sad as she has probably been the most difficult horse we have ever had to deal with, and she has taken an enormous amount of patience to get her to trust us but we had almost got there and then this happens.....She was always very 'troubled' and we can only assume that she was treated very badly as a youngster in Ireland, so as sad as it is we know that we have made the right decision and she would never have settled anywhere else. No more worrying now Frog. Rest in peace.......
All horses are very happy to be on holiday although the season ended with a tinge of sadness as we had to make the awful decision to have Frog euthanised. We took her bandages off and it was quite clear that her leg was never going to recover and she would have to spend the rest of the year on painkillers and in the stable, which she would have hated. Even after all that if it did mend at all she would never be able to race again anyway. Sadly, she was a racehorse through and through and too highly strung to give to anyone as a 'happy hacker' . I tried all the retirement homes for racehorses to see if they would have her but they all said that they hadn't got the resources and that it would be the kindest thing to do to have her put to sleep. It was terribly sad as she has probably been the most difficult horse we have ever had to deal with, and she has taken an enormous amount of patience to get her to trust us but we had almost got there and then this happens.....She was always very 'troubled' and we can only assume that she was treated very badly as a youngster in Ireland, so as sad as it is we know that we have made the right decision and she would never have settled anywhere else. No more worrying now Frog. Rest in peace.......
