Guess who's back?!

Tuesday 2nd April

Don't get too excited, it's just me. I've been away for a week and a bit, hence the lack of blogging. But I'm back, and despite the snow putting a halt to the training regime, I have plenty to report on from the yard.

I flew to Scotland a week last Friday, knowing that the plan was for The Boss & Mrs B's daughter to come over that day to back Big Mac. However, due to the weather, that plan didn't materialise. Don't panic, avid followers of our quest to have a horse to race in the saddle race, Big Mac HAS been ridden for the first time in my absence! The Boss' daughter has had her hunting horse, a thoroughbred named Jake, over to use the walker all week, so on Good Friday she rode Jake and The Boss rode Big Mac. The Boss told me that after they'd ridden part of the way down the lane, they cut back to head over a stream and up onto the road that runs parallel to the lane (up past the neighbouring farm). Jake was making a bit of a fuss about going through the stream, so The Boss and Big Mac took the lead and let Jake and Julie follow behind! From the sounds of it he behaved impeccably, although couldn't decide if he wanted to trot or pace so did a combination of both. Hopefully if the weather stays nice I'll be able to climb on board (stepladders at the ready) in the coming weeks and see what all the fuss is about!

In other exciting news, a new member has joined the team. It's a straight swap, Bucky has gone home and in his place his owner has sent another of his horses, Bongo. Bongo's registered name is Buckland Fox Trot, by The Cammissioner out of Foxys Girl. He is a full brother to Bucklands Foxy Boy (aka Hamish) and a half brother to Buckland Foxglove (by Hasty Hall). Their owner's first racehorse (who is still racing and is the yard's old favourite) is called Dark Fox (aka Sammy) so as you can imagine it gets quite confusing when there's more than one of them at the yard as The Boss insists on calling them all 'Foxy'. Bongo was broken in by The Boss at the end of last year as a 2yo, and has returned to hopefully make a start on his racing career this year at three. He's a nice, big, strong horse who looks nothing like his brother Hamish, and despite not having the typical Cammissioner head, there is a hint of his long neck about him. Tonight I caught The Boss 'bonding' with him over the stable door. This is a favourite trick of mine, I like to get them to realise I'm not a big monster who's going to eat them alive. I know The Boss had a few issues with him when he was being broken in, so they're obviously trying to put the past behind them and move on!

As ever it's a pleasure to see my boys Maverick and Jingo. I can always find time to get their rugs off and give them the once over with my new compact grooming kit. I also managed to muck out and bed down Derek, Jingo and Maverick, then The Boss mucked out messy Melinda with the Bobcat and I chucked straw in for her and with the two fillies, Eryn and Olympic.

I don't know if it's become apparent to you yet, but I absolutely adore horses, and in particular, Standardbreds. No other breed could give you such a variety of different horses. They come in all shapes and sizes, all sorts of temperaments, but most importantly they come with an additional gait. It's their ability to pace that makes them different from other horses in this country. I love them, and I love working with them. Mrs B must have realised this, because for Easter her and The Boss gave me this:

What a thoughtful gift :) I can't wait to wear it at the races this summer!

Thursday 4th April

When I first started writing this blog at the start of the pre-season, I told you all about Mrs B's ability to have tea on the table by the time I arrived, thus causing me to have no choice but to eat cake and be late getting on with my work. Well, I have something to admit. Mrs B's cakes are so good that it's now not a matter of having no choice but to have a cake before I go outside, but one of me wanting to eat as many cakes as I can before I start my work! It's a good job I decided early on not to take part in any saddle racing; trying to get down to as close to ten stone as possible would be a frankly impossible job with the quality of Mrs B's baking as it is. I feel I made the right decision - cakes over dieting like a jockey any day!

Tonight The Boss reminded us both of a slightly alarming fact - it is now just over a week until the first workout day at Ammanford is scheduled to take place. Various tracks in the weeks leading up to the first meeting at Tregaron put on workout and qualifier days to allow trainers to put the final touches to their early runners, or give horses a chance to practice racing at a track they will visit later in the season. Qualifiers allow unraced horses to qualify to race, and new drivers to complete their provisional drives and take their driving tests in front of official stewards. Some tracks even hold 'gate practice', whereby young horses or horses who haven't raced before can complete several laps of a racetrack behind the start car. The behaviour of horses behind the start car is important because due to the width of the carts and the harness the horses wear, misbehaviour can cause accidents. Also, in the UK, most tracks can only fit five horses behind the start car in one line, and with races very often fully subscribed with ten runners, this results in two lines of five horses. If a horse refuses to get up to the gate on the front line, he impedes the horse behind him. All of the British and Irish tracks use a mobile starting gate; the race starts with the horses lined up behind the mobile starting gate which accelerates up to roughly 30mph until it reaches the start at which point the car accelerates away and the race begins.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJEk4FbMT6I

So back to the alarming fact that workout days are nearly upon us. We think we may be one of the lucky yards that has a horse ready(ish), but our concern is the fact they look like it's still the middle of winter (let's face it, it feels like it's the middle of winter). Big Mac is certainly fit enough to take to Ammanford, but he has feathers that a Shire horse would be proud of and quite an impressive beard! I think the scissors may have to come out...Maverick is in the same boat as well. Both of them were partially clipped earlier in the year but their summer coats don't look like they'll be making an appearance until August! 

Tonight they both went on the walker while I mucked out. The Boss took Bongo out which left Derek and Jingo in the bottom shed. Jingo, having spent a summer at the yard last year, understood that his friends would come back, so stood watching me muck out the whole time. Derek on the other hand turned into a colt again and spent a good hour squealing, jumping and snorting because his next door neighbour had gone. I tried to tell him repeatedly that Bongo would be coming back, but it made little difference. It sounds as if he's staying with us a little while longer yet, and The Boss informs me he's still progressing nicely and pacing well.

After I'd cleared the three empty sheds, I spent some quality time with Jingo. He's my real life My Little Pony! All long, flowing mane and shiny coat. He let me fuss around him for a while, but then when he realised that the food wasn't forthcoming in return for his patience he began to fidget. That's about the time The Boss came back with Bongo and we decided to fetch Maverick and Big Mac off the walker.

I quickly chucked straw under Mama and Laddie, and caught Jingo making some absolute corkers of faces at The Boss when he walked straight past him and fed Big Mac first! I couldn't believe my sweet, polite Jingo could put his ears so far back or buck so high in a stable! 

Over and out for now,

Sarah (#1 Groom)