Saturday 19 October 2013

We took most of the horses around the round gallop yesterday to do a slow canter as they are feeling very well and trotting around the fields wasn't quite getting the fizz and pop out of them - Needless to say my legs are aching somewhat as I'm not quite match fit and Doug can barely walk at all! They were plenty strong enough, even horses like Jess and Flash who last season were easy to hold. Standing up in the irons for seven minutes and effectively playing tug of war at the same time is pretty exhausting at the beginning of the season, but it is amazing how you get used to it after a few weeks, it is very good for both equine and human fitness... The third lot schooled in the menage with Toby and Tara, there was Rosie, Button, Varkala, Goody and Eeyore. All jumped well but in particular Goody, Rosie and Eeyore. Button is a bit under the weather at the moment and has been on quiet duties. He had his blood taken to see if we can get to the bottom of his problem and Varkala has been suffering from a nasty rash caused by rain scald which has got quite sore and which she is now on a course of noradine for .

Goody (Lady Barfad) and Eeyore (Wild Dove)
In the afternoon Doug went with Hamish, the Estate farm manager. Ben Case and Alex Hales to look at some new all weather gallops. The hill gallop on the estate is very uneven as the drainage is so bad, and even though they have spent a lot of money trying to fix it last season it is getting worse so Mr Allen, the owner of Edgcote has very kindly agreed to put a brand new gallop in. They looked at a few different surfaces but the best one by far was the new gallop that Dan Skelton has put in. It is called an Equavoid gallop and is designed by Andrew Bowen who put the surface in for the Olympics at Greenwich. It uses reinforced plastic crates as the foundation which ensures complete drainage and consistency. All being well it should be in before Christmas which is very exciting and we are incredibly lucky to have such a supportive and generous landlord.
The heavens have just opened and all the horses were very happy to have been bought in from the field into their cosy stables with their big fat hay nets.
Must go as we are off to the Young Farmers Harvest supper - Yes, I know what you are thinking and yes they allow 'wrinklies' to go too!