Hello!

Sunday 17th February

First things first - a big hello! Thanks for taking the time to have a read of my very horsey blog. My name is Sarah, and for the last five summers I have worked as a groom at a harness racing yard. This summer will be my sixth, and final, summer with the team that I would describe as my second family (animals included!).

I suppose I should introduce you to the members of the team who are constant: The Boss, Mrs B, Robbie and Ted. Before Ted, there was Tam, but now it's Ted. The horses that are broken, trained and raced may change, but these four are always there. The Boss is our trainer and driver; he drives us to and from the races, and drives the horses at the races. He's got amazing Bobcat skills (spotted some two-wheel action earlier when he was mucking out) and is very good with young, nervous horses. Mrs B is the driving force behind the whole operation. Without her we would get to the races and then not really know what to do. Mrs B is responsible for entering and declaring the horses we've brought, collecting any prize money and generally keeping us in order (an often difficult task). Robbie is...in my experience, a nuisance and a pest. He is also Mrs B's beloved Shetland. He always seems to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and very often appears from nowhere and moving at some speed. This is inevitably because The Boss has found him doing something he shouldn't be doing, somewhere that he shouldn't be.

Finally there's Ted. Ted is the worst guard dog in the world, a Corgi-cross-Terrier of some sort. I can't help but smile when I arrive and he's there to greet me :)

So today was my first day of the 2013 pre-season. I arrived after lunch to muck out and meet this year's class. The first meeting of the season is at the beginning of May at Tregaron; it's a meeting that attracts a small number of Irish and Scottish competitors, as well as the regular English and Welsh crowd. February is about the time that horses return from their winter breaks ready to get back into training, and the horses that have been broken during the winter months head home to fill out before trying their luck at racing. At present, none of last year's class (Sammy, Hamish and Jingo - you will meet them at a later date I'm sure) have returned. There are however nine stables full - three yearlings (two owned by The Boss and one on livery), one broodmare, two horses being broken in, three horses beginning their training for the summer, and Robbie (who is bunking with one of the racehorses!). This afternoon's job was to clear out the deep litter system in four of the stables and fill with straw. Now that I am back, each stable will be skipped out fully twice a week and just the mucky stuff emptied in between. The Boss put his Bobcat skills to good use to clear out whilst I groomed the horses whose stables were being mucked out in the cross-ties. While I refilled the stables with straw, he emptied the muck spreader in the field behind the shed. This is how the set-up works. I'm pretty sure he could manage just fine without me, we just get things done quicker when I'm there because we can do different jobs simultaneously!

Today was the first time that I'd met some of the horses. I speak to The Boss and Mrs B on a regular basis and have seen them several times in the last couple of weeks, so have had the lowdown on the horses that are in. They bred some of them themselves in the time that I've been working there, so I have had the pleasure of knowing the horses since they were born. For your benefit, and because I like talking about horses, I'll introduce the current tenants one-by-one:

M C Kelvy (pronounced McKelvy) - Big Mac, as I call him, is at least 16.2hh by our brief estimations, and is absolutely enormous! Every part of him seems huge; his bum, his head, his legs, even his back looks like you could sit around it and eat your dinner off it! He's also really long. There was a bit of a struggle in the beginning to find a rug that would actually do up around his chest, although this has now been resolved! The Boss told me today he's now got him in 63inch hopples. For reference, the length of a hopple on an average racehorse would be 57/58inches!

Meadowland Maverick - Maverick was bred by The Boss and is now three years old. He was a bit of a handful in his younger days, despite being regularly handled and by people who are excellent with nervous horses. All this changed the minute he was gelded! The change in him was shocking. He's still quite a fiery chap - just today he was jumping and squealing in his stable when he could hear the tractor starting up - but to handle now he is a true gent.

Meadowland Melinda - Mellie is Mrs B's filly. She was due to head to the sale in Builth as yearling, however only a couple of weeks before got cast in the stable and was diagnosed with a suspected fractured hip/pelvis. She is now three and has been broken by The Boss, who took things slowly with her after she'd been turned away for twelve months. Mellie shares a large stable with Robbie, and they appear to be inseparable. Today whilst we were mucking out, I tied her down the bottom stables in front of the yearlings. When I went to fetch some straw, Robbie had planted himself between her and Toby the sheepdog, who was watching her with mild interest. I think he fancies himself as her knight in shining armour! Bearing in mind she's around 15.3hh, I'm not really sure she needs protecting, but she seems happier when he's around.

The Fuffer Man (?!) - aka Derek, is currently being broken in. He's a very friendly chap, quite nosey too. The Boss told me he's seen him chasing the chickens around his stable (he's in one of the foaling pens which is massive), and he's also caught him chasing his tail! If anybody else has a horse that does this, please get in touch! All the horses I've seen come and go, and I've never seen one chase his own tail before!

Buckland Iscom - This fella is also in the process of being broken in. I'm not sure about his stable name (unlike most of the others I can't go making one up because his owner's family have usually assigned them names - they also own Sammy, Hamish and a horse called Bongo!). For now I'm calling him Bucky, although this may change in due course. We're all hoping that a previous owner will buy this chap, as he is currently racehorse-less, and keep him with us for the summer to have some fun with :)

Then there's the three yearlings, Meadowland Eryn, Meadowland Olympic and Honorable Lad - or Eryn, Olympic and Laddie :)

                               

And last but not least, Meadowbranch Mama, the Irish broodmare. She's Mellie and Eryn's dam and a lovely old girl.

I'll keep you updated of any new arrivals, and our journey to the start of the racing season. Once the racing starts we'll be into the full swing of things, and I'll be able to regale you with stories from the track :)

I hope you've enjoyed the first instalment; it can be a bit quiet at the start of the pre-season but I've introduced you to the team and I'm sure I'll find plenty of information to give you on the ins and outs of harness racing as we come across them!

Over and out, Sarah (#1 Groom)