Ted is much better as he managed to dump Billy this morning (twice!) - We had Yogi Breisner in for our riders Ben on Craig, Lucy on Kingsley, Paige on Pasta and Billy on Ted. Ted was a bit spooky at the poles and stopped suddenly with Billy gracefully flying over his head but somehow managing to land on his feet and he then spooked at something on the way home with the same result - He is normally my ride so he has obviously been sick for sometime as he has been very well behaved. He had Sarah off three days ago and very nearly Paige yesterday - He always has a really innocent expression when he is being cheeky and you can't help but love him...
It was a great lesson though and you could see the improvement in the jockeys and the horses. Yogi is quite extraordinary at spotting a tiny little fault with a jockey, correcting it and then you can see the difference in the way the horse jumps instantaneously. It is a real gift.
We have just walked Edgcote and the course looks fabulous but the ground is very quick. We had a huge thunderstorm at the beginning of the week where you would have thought that the ground would have been perfect but with the frosts and the drying wind it is now fast ground.
Unless it softens between now and Sunday (they are watering) we will probably only be running Jess in the members, she doesn't go fast enough to hurt herself, and surprisingly actually likes firm ground.
We had some bad luck with our lovely mare Secret Getaway yesterday who did a fabulous piece of work up the hill, happily hacked back and then went hopping lame behind.. She was X-rayed and found to have a hairline fracture on her cannon bone. We couldn't believe it as we have been so careful with her and have only been working her on good ground or the all weather but Doug remembered seeing Jess kick her in the field a couple of days ago so possibly it was weakened then. She is undergoing surgery at this very moment and we are just very grateful that we had the warning without actually running her, where the leg would have most certainly broken.
It has been a pretty awful season up until now - both Murphy and Budge have got tendon injuries , Garry has had a niggle in his foot (hopefully now on the mend and going to Garthorpe) Craig has had a bad back, Kingsley and Ted the virus and Pasta had the bad hock at the beginning of the season so all in all a season to be forgotten. Hopefully now our luck will change although if we don't get some rain soon I am inclined to rough them all off and write this one off!
It was a great lesson though and you could see the improvement in the jockeys and the horses. Yogi is quite extraordinary at spotting a tiny little fault with a jockey, correcting it and then you can see the difference in the way the horse jumps instantaneously. It is a real gift.
We have just walked Edgcote and the course looks fabulous but the ground is very quick. We had a huge thunderstorm at the beginning of the week where you would have thought that the ground would have been perfect but with the frosts and the drying wind it is now fast ground.
Unless it softens between now and Sunday (they are watering) we will probably only be running Jess in the members, she doesn't go fast enough to hurt herself, and surprisingly actually likes firm ground.
We had some bad luck with our lovely mare Secret Getaway yesterday who did a fabulous piece of work up the hill, happily hacked back and then went hopping lame behind.. She was X-rayed and found to have a hairline fracture on her cannon bone. We couldn't believe it as we have been so careful with her and have only been working her on good ground or the all weather but Doug remembered seeing Jess kick her in the field a couple of days ago so possibly it was weakened then. She is undergoing surgery at this very moment and we are just very grateful that we had the warning without actually running her, where the leg would have most certainly broken.
It has been a pretty awful season up until now - both Murphy and Budge have got tendon injuries , Garry has had a niggle in his foot (hopefully now on the mend and going to Garthorpe) Craig has had a bad back, Kingsley and Ted the virus and Pasta had the bad hock at the beginning of the season so all in all a season to be forgotten. Hopefully now our luck will change although if we don't get some rain soon I am inclined to rough them all off and write this one off!
