It has been a quiet week at the track with only two runners. Exopuntia ran disappointingly at Kempton on Wednesday, she is quite in and out with her runs and it's hard to rack up a line of consistent efforts with her as she needs everything to go right in the race. The same day little Lea Valley ran the race of her life to finish second at Southwell, she has been struggling to get competitive, but now off a rock bottom handicap mark she gave us a little hint of what may be to come.
With few runners I've had a bit more time in the yard so I thought I'd show you a few things that we do. Below is something that very few trainers do nowadays which is feed linseed and barley or 'mash' as it's known in racing. It has probably died out because it takes a long time to prepare and not really practical enough to have the time to feed in a big yard. Firstly you soak the linseed, barley and corn in water overnight, then it is cooked for about 6 hours the next day ready hot and steaming for the evening feed. It is a nice change for the horses and we feed it twice a week. The term 'the horses have more hot meals than me' springs to mind!
Next we are very lucky to have alot of land around the yard, about 30 acres all in all. It is a beautiful sight in the summer when most of the horses get turned out, especially on Sundays, we separate the fillies and mares from the geldings as some of the boys can get a bit competitive over the ladies! It is a good way of letting horses be horses and bond with each other like they would in the wild.
A gadget that most trainers have these days is a mechanical horse walker. Ours takes 5 horses at a time and the highest speed it gets up to is about a trot. Here is No Such Number waiting to go on this morning, they all enjoy it as it is a chance for them to stretch their legs and have a bit of a buck and kick.
As we are a little way out of town in Exning, we have to commute a little to get to the heath. It takes around 15 minutes to get there but makes a good warm up and warm down for them. Here is the walking ground that runs along side the A14 aboard Sail Home, many a motorist have been bemused by the sight of a string of horses seemingly walking along the bank of the motorway but all the horses learn to behave when noisy vehicles pass.
Talking of Sail Home (below), she will be our only runner next week at Lingfield on Friday. She has been a great yard stick this winter and has given us and her owners some real fun, hopefully another star effort is to come.
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