We have a couple of new ponies! One very nice mare called Popaway who was trained by Holly Campbell. Sadly Holly has a bad back and wanted to reduce her work load, so suggested that she should come to us and luckily the two other owners Robert and Roy were similarly keen (Robert already has a share in 'We Never Give Up') and Joe Docker, who rode her last season has also bought a share so that he can retain the ride. We picked her up on Wednesday afternoon and I rode her today in the pouring rain - She was as good as gold and even with rain dripping down my back gave me a great feel.
Our other purchase was a friend for little Dove - We went to the NH foal sale at Doncaster yesterday and came back with a lovely filly foal by Black Sam Bellamy, who's mother is half sister to Dunraven Storm and of the same family as Red Marauder and Red Striker, just a nice solid National Hunt family and Little Dove is over the moon to have a playmate - we thought she would hate to share her food as she is incredibly greedy but she loves her new friend so much that she actively encourages her to feed with her. It's very sweet to watch.
We had a few owners in this morning to watch Lady Barfad, Ponty Pandy and We Never Give Up. Juliet rode Lady Barfad (Goody) as she is the main owner and had a lovely spin and rode really well. Ponty Pandy has now been syndicated by the 'Duck Club' and is in memory of the duck that Bill squashed when he was driving like a maniac around our yard. Doug made him feel guilty enough one evening in the pub and a Duck syndicate was started - They were going to call it the Squashed Duck Club and the colours were going to be khaki coloured (she was a Khaki Campbell) with a tyre mark across the middle but we thought that wasn't very sensitive.....!
All the horses went really well even though the weather was foul. We then all huddled up in the barn by the barbecue where we had bacon butties washed down with port. Great fun. Toby said afterwards "Can we have owners around every day?"
Our next race won't be until the 28th December. We're not sure yet which horses will be going as it all depends on the ground.
I am just doing this whilst listening to the news and horrified to hear the news of the 18 children and 8 adults shot dead in the US whilst at school. Sickening. Surely now they are going to review their gun laws?
Our other purchase was a friend for little Dove - We went to the NH foal sale at Doncaster yesterday and came back with a lovely filly foal by Black Sam Bellamy, who's mother is half sister to Dunraven Storm and of the same family as Red Marauder and Red Striker, just a nice solid National Hunt family and Little Dove is over the moon to have a playmate - we thought she would hate to share her food as she is incredibly greedy but she loves her new friend so much that she actively encourages her to feed with her. It's very sweet to watch.
We had a few owners in this morning to watch Lady Barfad, Ponty Pandy and We Never Give Up. Juliet rode Lady Barfad (Goody) as she is the main owner and had a lovely spin and rode really well. Ponty Pandy has now been syndicated by the 'Duck Club' and is in memory of the duck that Bill squashed when he was driving like a maniac around our yard. Doug made him feel guilty enough one evening in the pub and a Duck syndicate was started - They were going to call it the Squashed Duck Club and the colours were going to be khaki coloured (she was a Khaki Campbell) with a tyre mark across the middle but we thought that wasn't very sensitive.....!
All the horses went really well even though the weather was foul. We then all huddled up in the barn by the barbecue where we had bacon butties washed down with port. Great fun. Toby said afterwards "Can we have owners around every day?"
Our next race won't be until the 28th December. We're not sure yet which horses will be going as it all depends on the ground.
I am just doing this whilst listening to the news and horrified to hear the news of the 18 children and 8 adults shot dead in the US whilst at school. Sickening. Surely now they are going to review their gun laws?
