Happy New Year to you all!  A very different one now as most of the UK is now in tier four which is almost a complete lock down. We had a quiet but very pleasant one with a very nice bottle of Champagne. Doug cooked our New Year's supper (three courses!!) and took great delight in making the booziest sherry trifle ever, and watching me going cross eyed whilst eating it.  Needless to say I felt somewhat shabby the next day.

Reveley Park has been forced to cancel as it is now in Tier Four and cannot host a race meeting. Very frustrating as the horses are fit but there is nowhere for them to go. Larkhill is still going ahead but I have seen too many good horses break there and just don't trust the chalky ground as there is so little topsoil. A lot of horses run there and get away with it but it would be just my luck not to. I'm not prepared to take the risk. 

Ella's new mare, Field Exhibition (Flo for short) is going really nicely. She is very keen but has begun to trust Ella and drop her head into her work. She absolutely loves jumping and is a real pocket rocket going over the jumps in the menage. They will have a lot of fun together once there is a point to point for her to go to. 

However, I've really enjoyed the Christmas break. It is surprising how much of a difference it makes to our stress levels not having HS2 working on our doorstep and also knowing that we won't be getting any nasty, bullying emails from them whilst their offices are closed.  We will be back to the battle lines on Monday no doubt...