Monday 22 April 2019

The hot weather continues which is lovely for swimming in the river, but not so good if you want to run horses. No matter how well they have watered the course with this hot drying day the moisture will be coming out of the ground as quickly as it is going in. If Ted was in the first race we might have risked it but he is in the last and the ground can't be anything other than firm by then The weather is set to change at the end of the week so we will save the horses until then. We are very lucky this season in that we have owners who haven't put any pressure on us to run horses and have put their welfare in front of getting a run. Whilst this season has been dire as far as winners are concerned we still have all the horses we started with which is the most important thing.
What we want is for the horse to have an enjoyable experience racing so that they still want to race when they are older. Jarring a horse up on firm ground could put them off at best or break them at worst. I take my hat off to trainers who take the risk and get away with it but I'm not brave enough or possibly a bit too soft!
Anyway, it has been absolutely stunning here. Yesterday we had a lovely lunch with my family in the garden. Roast lamb with all the trimmings and a jug or two of mango cider and you can't go wrong...
Today the horses have been on the walker and are now enjoying the sunshine in the field and I am going to do the same. I can feel the river calling....