Happy Christmas 2023

I hope everyone enjoyed a very Happy Christmas whatever you may have been up to. It as an early start for me, feeding up the horses before I popped back to the house for present opening with the children.  Thankfully, now they are a little older it is not quite as early a start as in previous years but with Martha still only seven there is plenty of excitement!  It was then back to the yard and first lot was out at normal time. 

We had an extra rider for second lot…me! It’s been a few years since I was last in the saddle but I have been improving my fitness of late and I tried my boots on Christmas Eve and they fitted and so it was all systems go!  It is true what they say, riding a horse is like riding a bike and you don’t forget how to do it even if you are a little rusty!  Kingofthewest looked after me well however and I rode upsides Ashley Farrant so it brought back plenty of memories from our riding days!  Both the horse and I returned in one piece and I enjoyed it, though am feeling a little stiff and sore this morning!  I’m not sure me riding out will be a regular occurrence but it was nice to get back on board and may not leave it as long next time!

There were 13 of us around our Christmas table and a lovely lunch was prepared but Leanne and her mum and brother.  Along with the family we had three members of staff who are away from their families and a good time was had by all before I fell asleep on the sofa!

I was up bright an early this morning to get the work all done before heading to Wincanton.  I am at Chepstow tomorrow where we have 2 runners in the Welsh National, Only The Bold and Iceo Madrik.  Both are big prices but in a race with there are several out of the handicap it will be interesting to see how they get on.  The weather does not look great for tomorrow with plenty of rain about but neither of our horses will mind that.  If you are heading to Chepstow tomorrow, don’t forget to leave plenty of time to get there – the traffic will be queueing over the Severn Bridge! 

We have no runners on Thursday and will be pretty quiet on Friday before the weekend gets busier again.  On Saturday we have entries at Haydock, Newbury and Taunton, on Sunday at Uttoxeter and on New Year’s Day we have entries at Exeter.  Keep checking the Daily Blog for the latest news on all the stable runners.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for reading and supporting the yard throughout the year and wish you all a happy, healthy and winner filled 2024!