Still cold and horrid...The uphill gallop is snowbound so we have been using the round gallop which is great for getting the jockeys fit, let alone the horses! We normally do two circuits one way and two the other which is about three and a half miles -on a horse that pulls it seriously tests your fitness and your ability to settle a horse.

We are not sure of our plans for the week-end, it rather depends on what is on and then what the ground is like. We don't want to run first time out maidens on horrid ground so may just leave Ben and Button until we get the ground we want. The same goes for Dolly, Eeyore and Goody.
I am just about to leave the office and walk back to the house and I very much look forward to this time of the evening as I often see a barn owl which swoops silently over my head as it hunts in the yard.

We have put a nesting box in the barn where we have seen him/her roost and we were very excited to see two owls come out the other day. I have just ordered a web-cam which we are going to put up near the nesting box so we can see what they are up to. It will be amazing if they decide to nest there as it is so close to the house.Three years ago I put another box in a tree in the meadow by the river but they haven't shown any interest in that one and a pair of kestrels nested there last year. They are such magnificent birds it would be such a privilege if they decided to make our yard their nesting site.