'Jingo Bells, Jingo Bells, Jingo all the way...'

Monday 18th March


Jingo has returned! The Boss went to fetch him yesterday from his owner’s place, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, it was a completely smooth collection and journey (I’ll explain more in a bit). He’s in fantastic condition, he looks great! I said to The Boss I thought he’d grown, which sparked a challenge to guess how tall he is (The Boss and Jingo’s owner measured him yesterday with a stick of some variety). Now Jingo is a bit of an optical illusion; he’s bigger than you think he is. It’s because he’s so wide and stocky, it fools you from a distance into thinking he’s quite small and square – and yes, I’m aware that from a ‘distance’ every horse will look small, but you get what I mean – but I managed to guess right, and he currently stands at a very respectable 15.1hh. That makes him the same height as Maverick, who I never thought would get past 15hh. They couldn’t be more different though, Maverick is a racy looking little fella, and Jingo looks like a cob.

Woodstone Jingo is a brilliant example of how, if you treat a horse right from the start, you can get them to do anything no matter when you start handling them. Jingo was weaned late, and then kept in a field on his own with near to no human contact until the age of two. The Boss was approached by his owner about breaking him in, however the first real challenge was catching him. His owner started feeding him in a stable, but for the first few days he had to leave the food in the stable with the door open, because he couldn’t get it shut behind him. Once Jingo was happy with the eating arrangements (there appear to be very few eating arrangements that he is not happy with), his owner finally managed to get the door shut and The Boss was called to collect him.

Cue the second challenge: transporting him. The partitions were taken out of the lorry and the plan was to run him up the ramp, close the gates and travel him loose back to the yard (it’s not a particularly long journey, and much safer than tying a basically wild horse). Everything went to plan to start – Jingo ran up the ramp, the gates were closed – however, before they could get the ramp up, Jingo turned around, jumped the gates and disappeared down the side of the ramp. Fear not, he was absolutely fine and for future reference, quite a nice little jumper! Breaking him proved not to be as difficult as expected…perhaps his minimal human contact meant that he had no reason to fear people? Whatever the reason, he seemed to take it all in his stride. He was packed off back to his owner with strict instructions to get him gelded, and then he could return as a three year old to try and get him qualified to race.


Jingo came back to us last summer as a short, stocky little gelding. From my vague memory, I don’t think he was much trouble at home (then again, very few of them cause me trouble…it’s The Boss they cause trouble for up the track!). Jingo was very well-behaved at the races, which can be quite daunting for a young horse. There’s a lot of hustle and bustle with lorries arriving and horses being led up and down ramps, tied to lorries and walked out onto the track. Then there’s the PA system, the races themselves (Ammanford in particular creates a lot of noise as it’s a hard surface), the start car whizzing around, (at Ammanford again) the tractor and water tanker, the children…there’s so much to scare and intimidate a horse that has never been to the races before. Jingo wasn’t bothered by any of it. Don’t get me wrong, his eyes were
out on stalks at times, but he stood by the lorry like an old pro to be harnessed up and led out onto the track.

To cut a long story short, Jingo didn’t race last year outside of qualifiers. Despite being able to pace a full mile, and on several occasions within the permitted time, The Boss was concerned about a few things and felt that he wasn’t ready. For example, one day at Allensmore, he’d clocked where the exit from the track was and going into the first corner dived for the way out. Embarassing! He also had a few tantrums at Ammanford where he would be travelling really well and then suddenly shoot off, or shy at something and break. Towards the end of the season though, he really started to get the hang of it. The Boss said sometimes it felt like he was thinking too much (the horse, not himself…) and watching what was happening around him. You almost want them to switch off and do as they’re asked, instead of trying to think for themselves. At the rearranged Boughrood meeting in September he romped home in his qualifier in a time that was faster than the maiden race that followed. Aside from that, he also did it foot-perfectly, and The Boss felt that at last he understood what was being asked from him.


Now he’s back. Four years old, absolutely shining and ready to roll. He had front shoes put on this morning and went on the walker for a while; he’ll have back shoes on before the week is out and the jogging will commence. Hopefully he hasn’t forgotten everything he learnt last year!

In other news, tonight we had the saddle on Big Mac, and we did the girth up! Unfortunately that’s as far as we got, because The Boss couldn’t find his reins. After much searching, he put Big Mac on the walker, saddle and all, and then resumed his hunt for reins. I can report that the reins were not found, but he did come across plenty of other bits and bobs that he’s been looking for! I can feel a spring clean coming on…

The Boss’ and Mrs B’s daughter, who won the last saddle race that was held in Appleby on Principal Dancer, has already been checking out the prize for this year’s race - £300 to the winner and a racing saddle kindly donated by Dave Wilson (http://www.davewilsonharness.com/). Obviously at the moment, Big Mac is the only one who’s had a saddle anywhere near him, although Sammy & Hamish (who are yet to return) are both broken to ride and have been ridden during the winter. I may have suggested, whilst possibly dizzy from inhaling straw dust, that we get the saddle on Jingo as well, seeing as he’s such a nice size and shape and temperament. Secretly I just want to keep him as a riding pony! My joke about getting the saddle on Maverick now doesn’t seem so farfetched…we might as well get them all going under saddle and be done with it!

Over and out,

Sarah (#1 Groom)

Back in the saddle...?

Thursday 7^th March

So tonight I may have volunteered to do something a bit stupid. Upon my arrival, The Boss informed me that he had ‘had the saddle on Jumbo’ (Big Mac).

Two things need to be pointed out here:

1. Big Mac has never been broken to saddle;
2. When he said ‘had the saddle on’, that is literally all that he did.

It turns out we don’t have a girth big enough for the large one. So the saddle has been ‘on’ Big Mac, but it has not been done up. And nobody has sat on him, yet. The first stupid thing I did was offer to root around at home for the longer of my two girths, to see if that would fit him. The second stupid thing I did was offer to ride him.

I’ve had a bit of difficulty in the last six months with confidence issues whilst riding. Fortunately my ex-racehorse is a plod-along so I’m slowly getting it back, and my racing friends Emma and Rachel, who I visited last week to ride with, are quick to offer me horses to ride. The more I ride, and the more horses I ride, the more confident I’ll become. This was part of my thinking when I volunteered to ride Big Mac. I also have a sneaking suspicion that The Boss has some fancy notion that I’m going to take part in the saddle races which have been reintroduced under British Harness rules. For the record, and I know he’ll be reading this, I AM NOT! As I have already explained to him, I am not the right build – I’m more second row forward than jockey-type. Even if he provides me with a whomping 17-hander to do it on!

* The British Harness Racing Club (BHRC) is the main governing body for harness racing in the UK. It acts as an umbrella committee, overseeing the work done by the regional racing committees. The BHRC has established a set of rules which must be adhered to by all licensed owners, trainers and drivers. There are other racing bodies, such as the Irish Harness Racing Club and Wales and Border Counties Racing Association, however we race under BHRC rules.

** Saddle racing has been reintroduced in 2013, with the meeting at Appleby at the start of June holding the first saddle race for a number of years. A licence separate to that of a driving licence is required, and anyone who has not held one in the last five years must perform a saddle test on a track in front of an official steward (from the BHRC). There’s a minimum weight of ten stone, including saddle, numnahs and crupper, but excluding helmet and body protector, and there is no upper weight limit. This coming year, saddle licences will be issued for free, subject to completing the test.

As a team we are agreed that training at least partly under saddle is nothing but beneficial to the horses. Aside from using and developing different muscles, it keeps the horse active mentally. One thing we all want to avoid is making the horses ‘stale’ and fed up of training and racing. The benefit with Big Mac will be a way of getting him fit and pacing without hopples, as the 63 inch ones he’s been wearing are still a little on the tight side! Who knows, if things all go well with Mac, perhaps we’ll have Maverick in the saddle as well?!

Monday 11^th March

The girth fits Big Mac. This means riding him is imminent. I must admit, I’m more looking forward to it than worrying about it now. After all, he’s just a horse, and a pretty laid back one at that. The nights are getting longer, so I’m sure the opportunity will present itself sooner rather than later.

In other news, I took the big step of posting this blog on the STAGBI Facebook page. STAGBI is the breed society that administers passports for Standardbreds in the UK and Ireland. I was a bit concerned that ‘trotting’ folk would read it and think I was a bit of a div, because I don’t actually know that much about training or racing. I wasn’t born into the sport, I just accidentally fell into it after I was bought an ex-racehorse who was a bit…loopy, for want of a better word. I persevered with her in Pony Club and out hunting and The Boss must have thought seeing as I was mad enough to ride her, I’d be mad enough to work for him. He was right! I was bought my first pacer when I was 13; ten years later and I work at a racing yard, my family breeds and races their own Standardbreds, I met my ‘significant other’ through racing, as well as two of my best friends Emma and Rachel. With harness racing, it doesn’t seem to matter that you’re an outsider, because you don’t stay an outsider for long. It’s like one huge travelling circus. Of course there are people who don’t like each other, and I’m sure there are long –running feuds between various people, but generally everyone sort of gets along. Once people have spotted you racing once, they’ll be saying ‘hello’ to you every time they see you after!

Anyway, the whole point of this blog was to show people who haven’t ever been harness racing what it’s actually like, from within the sport itself. So I’ll try to explain everything as best I can, but if you’re a racing person reading this and you think ‘oh what is she talking about?!’, then stop me at the races and correct me! After all, I’m still learning!

So back to the horses; we’re still awaiting the arrival of the racehorses. Maverick and Big Mac are only ‘qualifiers’ at the moment. They are required to run in qualifying races, whereby they must complete the race within a certain time (dependant on the type of track and the conditions, i.e. hard tracks I believe the qualifying time is 2.14, whereas grass tracks are 2.18, or slower if the conditions are slow). The horses must also complete the races without making any mistakes, such as breaking stride and galloping. If the horse completes the race without mistake and within the required time, they are not automatically qualified to race. In some circumstances the driver or trainer may feel that the horse needs to gain more experience before entering a maiden race, particularly if the horse is young or hasn’t shown the driver/trainer that they are ready. Safety is of course paramount, and these qualifying races are a great opportunity to teach the horses important lessons that they will carry through into their (hopefully successful) racing careers.

Oh, before I sign off, The Boss and Mrs B have read the blog. The fame is clearly going to The Boss’ head, as he has now started referring to himself in the third person as ‘The Boss’, i.e. “The Boss would like you to get some more straw Sarah”. It just confuses me, because now I don’t know if he means he wants me to get the straw, or if he’s saying that in fact Mrs B wants me to. It’s almost too much for me to cope with; we’re in danger of having too many chiefs and not enough indians. I think to clear up matters from this day forth I shall be the boss!

Friday 15^th March

Things are all change around here…Jingo is hopefully returning on the weekend, so we had to move horses around to make room for him. We shifted Mama from the top shed and tied her down the bottom while we cleared that out. My amazing sweeping skills did not go unnoticed, as The Boss said if I carry on working so well I’ll get a promotion to Head Girl. I know that sounds good, but seeing as I’m his only employee, I kind of figured I was Head Girl already?! If that wasn’t the case, then I am just ‘Girl’. Hmmm. What he doesn’t know, but will once he’s read this, is that I’ve already self-promoted myself to ‘Stable Manager’ (according to my CV anyway…). So I see your ‘Head Girl’, and I raise you ‘Stable Manager’!

Once the top shed was filled with straw, Eryn and Olympic were put up there together. Laddie is staying down the bottom with the racehorses, so his opinion of himself will no doubt shoot through the roof. He doesn’t seem to care one bit that he’s quite small; the way he struts around his stable he must think he’s as big as Big Mac!

The Boss cleared the yearlings’ stables out with the Bobcat then disinfected them both. I only had time to bed down the one, into which I moved Bucky from the foaling pen. Mama is now down there until her baby appears, although I’ll clear her out properly before that happens.

The Boss informed me that Big Mac’s owners popped over to see him last night, and despite the fact he’s been pacing all week with no mistakes at all, he thought when they were there to watch that he’d just throw in a few breaks to keep The Boss on his toes. Bucky has been improving quietly too, and Derek has just been carrying on being a bit of a dude and getting on with things. Maverick is coming back into work next week as he appears to be 100% sound now, so we shall see how that goes.

As I said, Jingo is hopefully going to be there the next time I go over. The Boss was going to fill the stable between Bucky and Maverick with straw and then fetch him on Sunday. I’ll tell you more about lovely Jingo once he’s arrived :)

Even though I was short on time this evening, I managed to find a few minutes to mess about with Mr Fussy Knickers, Maverick. I’ve never seen so much jumping and prancing around in a stable, he must think he’s taking part in Strictly Come Dancing with all the spins and turns he does in there. All he’s ever after is a bit of fuss. I’m quite happy to oblige him, because even though he’s a total show off, he’s actually a real softie underneath.

Over and out,

Sarah (#1 Groom)

Busy busy busy!

Thursday 28th February


This evening was finally time to tackle the mammoth task of clearing out Derek and Bucky. Their stables were dry, but being foaling pens they are absolutely huge and the deep litter system was very…deep.

The Boss set about clearing out Derek’s stable first, whilst I crosstied him and we had a bit of a bonding session. The more time goes on, the more I think Derek believes he is a dog. If the story of him chasing his tail wasn’t enough, on the walk up from the bottom shed to the crossties he sniffed the ground the whole way, in the same manner as that of a dog. While he was tied I tried to find his ‘soft spot’ (I reckon every horse has a spot that they love having scratched and sends them to heaven and back). It turns out Derek likes having under his chin scratched! So much so that he stretches his neck out fully, extending his head down to the ground – he looked ridiculous but he absolutely loved it. I groomed him then while The Boss whizzed around in the Bobcat. When I brushed Derek’s neck, he stood with his head in the air, but the minute I moved down to his back and sides his head dropped as low as the crossties would let it, and he seemed to be in a bit of trance. This led to me having some fun brushing his neck then quickly moving to his back, then rushing back to his neck again (and yes, he did stick his head up and down accordingly!).

After Derek’s stable was cleared out and bedded down again (which took well over half an hour), we shifted Bucky up to the crossties for The Boss to do the same in his stable. Poor Bucky is a bit of a nervous chap, so I figured a bit of one-on-one might do him some good. He has that wary look in his eye all the time, although he stands perfectly happily to be groomed. I chatted away to him and gave him a good brush all over, and he didn’t seem quite so jumpy on the walk back to his stable.

I had intended to muck out Mama again fully but the evening had gone on and both The Boss and I were tired so we decided to leave it until the next time!

Sunday 3rd March


Today I was visiting my friend Rachel, who runs a harness racing yard in south-east Wales. She lives on-site at the farm where her boss, who is the breeder of all of the horses they race, also lives. Rachel and I planned to take two of her horses in training out for a ride, but first we had to skip out and bed down eleven horses. They say there’s no such thing as a free dinner, as I found out! Fortunately, the stables all have rubber matting and Rachel uses wood shavings as opposed to straw, so the task itself wasn’t too time-consuming or tiring. I mucked out while she followed behind with the shavings. Once everyone was bedded down and happy, we tacked up Wellfield Earl (Early Wurly) and Wellfield Official (Fish) and went on a three and a half hour hack around the country lanes.


Rachel is responsible for getting the horses fit, which she does by jogging them most of the time around their track, and then riding them the remainder of the time (either one at a time on her own, or two at a time with the help of a friend). The two lads had been jogged and ridden during the week, so our hack was just an opportunity for them to have a really good stretch. We had a couple of shorts bursts of trot, but the majority of the hack was walked. Earl spent a lot of his time stretching his neck between his
front legs and Fish, despite being a stallion, was walking on a loose rein the whole time!

When we got back, we untacked them both and rugged them up, then I helped Rachel give all eleven horses hay before heading home to my own two. It’s always nice to visit another yard to see how things work; the set up gave me plenty of ideas for when I eventually have a small racing yard of my own!


Monday 4th March


Today’s visit to the yard followed a really awful day in the office. I wasn’t in a particularly good mood when I arrived, but I knew that getting stuck in mucking out with my fork and barrow was exactly the tonic I needed. I’ve always found that hard work gets a bad mood out of my system!


Maverick and Big Mac very obligingly provided the content needed for me to work hard and tire myself out! I shifted Maverick out first, whose eyes were out on stalks as we walked up the yard because the lorry was parked smack bang in the middle of it. He’s seen it hundreds of times before but I get the impression he’s going to try and keep me on my toes this summer by being a bit on the sharp side! Four barrow loads of muck out and three barrows of straw back in from the top shed; in the meantime The Boss and Mrs B were busy tending to the sheep in the shed and moving straw and haylage around with the tractor.


Big Mac then got tied by the yearlings’ stables whilst I cleared another four barrows out of his stable too. I put two barrow loads of straw back in and The Boss very kindly dumped a bucket full of straw in as well using the Bobcat. Derek and Bucky were still living a life of luxury following the clear out on Thursday, so I then chucked a big wad of straw in with each of the yearlings, swept up outside their stables and then went in with each of them to shake the straw out. Eryn was curious, Olympic seemed terrified of me and the straw and Laddie just stood in the way the whole time!


I moved Mama down to the bottom shed while the Boss cleared out her stable with the Bobcat – it turned out to be not much of a job although would have taken me a lot longer had I been doing it myself! Before I moved her back into her stable full of straw The Boss suggested we chuck some straw in with Melinda and Robbie. He went to fetch a bucket load and I waited for him to return before I opened the stable door. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, Robbie made a successful bid for freedom and disappeared down the bottom shed to scavenge for any haylage that had been dropped. I held Melinda in the stable as The Boss emptied the bucket of straw, which coupled with Robbie’s disappearance turned her into a right stroppy mare! She struck out with her near side foreleg and caught my arm, but when she tried the second time I was already out of her way thankfully. The Boss and I found her behaviour a bit daft considering she isn’t very nice to Robbie when he’s with her anyway! I then had to go on a Robbie-hunt, and found him stuffing his face with the sheep. Cue some comedy chasing around the shed, him diving between Mama’s legs as she stood patiently by Maverick’s stable door, me trying to cut his escape route off (with some colourful language thrown in). I made a well-timed lunge for the little so-and-so and grabbed a handful of mane just behind his ears – thankfully he’s not very big and had partially decided he’d like to go back to Melinda anyway so I half-walked, half-dragged him
back up to his stable and slapped him on the bum as he trotted in through the door to dive into the deep straw bed we’d shook out.


I headed home feeling thoroughly worn out but better for it! Back to the yard on Thursday for more mucking out, bedding down, sweeping up and chasing the Shetland!