A Trying Week

So this week has been a particularly testing one, we have had two runners and niether ran like they were supposed to. Mr Fitzroy got bumped and stumbled after a hurdle, he pulled a shoe off and looks like he got kicked by either himself or another horse on his hind leg, his blood was also wrong the following day, poor Mr F.

The it was off to Ludlow with JB for a spin over fences, I have lost count of the number of fences he has jumped at home without a mistake, however after a few novicey mistakes he looked to be getting the hang of life and then overjumped and his backend propelled him forward on landing, he did everything he could to stay on his feet and James so nearly stayed on. However he seemed to hurt himself behind by trying to stay upright, it looks like he has torn some muscles in between his back legs. He will have intensive physio and all the time he needs before he runs again. If I had the choice I think I would have done the same thing again, he was travelling better than I have seen him go and was the most relaxed he has been in a race, really enjoying it.

We have had a good time this week with a new horse called Spanish Danser and she has really turned a corner, having come to us with a number of problems. I am actually starting to think that she will be a nice hurdler if we can maintain the progress. She has finally built some topline and has slowly been learning to carry herself so she is getting some strength in her core muscles, anyone who says "they're racehorses, why do you bother with flat work?" needs to look at the following pictures:

The first one was taken on the 28th October and the second one was taken today.

Finally here are a couple of pics taken today, what a lovely morning!