Filming at Greatwood

ITV West Today came to see us yesterday and filmed us for a couple of hours.
Rebecca from ITV is running a feature on what happens to racehorses when their racing days are over. We explained that whilst our work is predominantly rescue, we do, from time to time, help those owners that wish to secure the future of their well loved racehorses by sending them to Greatwood.
We invited Dan from Elite Racing Club to talk about New Seeker. Elite Racing Club are exemplary in their care for their retired club racehorses, amply portrayed by their insistence in paying for the recent and expensive operation on New Seeker.
New Seeker remains on box-rest following his operation but he has begun to be walked in hand. Mikey brought him out of his box and New Seeker hurtled off down the aisle like a bullet....well held by Mikey. New Seeker proceeded to try and kick any horse that had the audacity to become too familiar. He is clearly feeling very well and recovering!
Dan and Forgery (Newbury Spring Cup Winner)demonstrated a couple of training exercises, and Hettie, Robbie and Lucie rode Minnie, Pateley and Proprius in the school. Although it was one of those horribly dull and misty days, I think that the little film will be interesting. We will let you know when it is going to be shown.

Tony McCoy and Deano's Beeno

Having just written a few words about Deano's, we have just realised that Deano's has been under our care for five years. He is now seventeen. Tony McCoy, has received great acclaim over the last couple of weeks, not least because he has just achieved his 3000th winner.
It is therefore, a great testimony to Deano's that Tony wrote the following in a recent article in the Daily Mail:
'I've been lucky enough to ride some fantastic horses - Brave Inca, Master Minded and Best Mate to name a few. I've said I thought Gloria Victis was one of the best but, believe it or not, Deano's Beeno was one of my favourites. He was a hurdler many racing fans will probably remember, he ran 57 times in some of the top races and won 13. He was a real character and not often the most co-operative. I was suspended for giving him a crack with the whip before the start but I admired him.
He'd keep going and never give up. If I was a racehorse, I would be like him, a bit tricky but if you encourage me enough, I'd keep going!'
We would like to add that even in retirement, Deano's remains a real character and from time to time, is certainly not the most co-operative.
We are planning to parade Deano's at the annual Lambourn Open Day on April 10th, it is a wonderful day out for all the family and you will be able to witness Deano's in his full glory.

Deano's Beeno

As the snow is slowly receding, we decided that it would be a great opportunity to take some pictures of the horses in the snow. The idea being that we could use a good one for our Christmas card this year....as it transpired the horses had a different plan.
Sue plaited up Deano's and out he went. The moment he stepped out of his stable, he clearly expected an audience, on he charged up to the school area, looking all around him, maybe for applause or flashing cameras? who knows what? he then proceeded to become irritated that he had to stand still and pose and did his level best to drag Sue around the district.
We then went on to photograph Transpique, he behaved with decorum, and listened to everything that Cody asked him. He is a really clever little horse, Cody has taught him a few bits and bobs to show on our Open Day, one of his tricks being to lay down, having just had a small tap on the fetlock. He was a bit unsure about all the white stuff, but obliged with great aplomb.
However, Mighty Mini and Pateley proceeded to let the whole show down. We only asked them to step into the post and rail field...just how scary was this? Minnie had a fit of mild hysterics as she stepped onto the snow and then proceeded to unship the intrepid Robbie in some sort of order. Pateley, was a little better behaved, but did treat Mikey to some spectacular twists and turns.
The Chrismas card picture will have to wait for another day. Having said that, none of us are in any rush for more snow.

Nearly Back to Normal

James, our neighbour has just come up to shovel the snow off the road with his tractor. We are now in the lucky position that people can actually come and see us without ending up in the front field, or in the bungalow sitting room. The weekend has been pretty horrid, with perhaps the worst blizzard on Friday....but still everyone made it in. I think that tempers may be a little frayed now, especially as it looks as if we may be in for more snow at the end of the week. The horses are in a better frame of mind because they have been able to get out for a kick, a roll and a buck, although we can't exercise yet because the school and the lanes remain under a thick blanket of snow.
We had been alerted to 30 racehorses that perhaps needed our care but thankfully, it appears that they have now been successfully placed in new homes.
We have a full house in the office, and all the yard staff came into the classroom for our Open Day meeting (being held on June 14th), so lots of organising to do.. March 21st Raceday and then of course the Great Sunday Lunch on November 1st. It should be added that Lara the Rhodesian Ridgeback nearly cleared the whole meeting by leaving a rather large calling card in the cloakroom, which then wafted breathily into our meeting. Nevertheless, everyone was terribly polite and didn't point an accusing finger at anyone until the actual perpetrator was found.
Lara left the room to recover, and we were left with the aftermath.
We must remember to take Lara to any meeting when we fear it may go on too long.

ASBO Day

Robbie has just walked into the office to announce that as a senior member of staff, it was with great reluctance that he had to declare an ASBO on Hettie....
Anti Snowball Behaviour Order. It seems that everytime he has his back to her, a snowball whizzes past his ear.
He also declared that Leguard Express had been given a verbal warning (for tipping over his water bucket) and also that the likes of Fifi, and Charlie had automatically been given yellow cards for repeated offences..(again tipping over the water buckets).

And More Snow!

Three cheers for all our intrepid team! despite the heavy snowfall over the last couple of days everyone has still arrived for work. This is no mean feat when there seems to have been some shortage of gritting and snow ploughs. Maddy abandoned her car yesterday along the drive and she slid to a grinding halt but was aided by Robbie and Mikey armed with grit and brute force. Robbie and Sue have had the worst journey each day, coming from Andover but nevertheless have made it and even full of good cheer. We did have a celebration a couple of days ago, because Sue, our Equine Welfare Manager has been here for two years, that together with Laura's birthday the day before brought a little cheer into all hard work that is needed when the weather is really bad.
After all the yard had been finished, everyone had a snow ball fight, Hettie coming off the worst as she was submerged into the biggest snowdrift in the yard. Nick and Alex (the farriers), joined in and even Greg our vet was treated to a barrage of flying snow.
The geese have been behaving rather strangely, we had to trek over a couple of fields yesterday to retrieve them. I think that they had forgotten where home was due to the blanket of snow.
We haven't been able to get the horses out, and they are becoming a bit grumpy now, but we couldn't possibly get them into the yard because it is about 2 foot deep in snow. We are lucky this morning because at least some of the water drinkers are working, which saves us having to cart loads of buckets of water around.
No-one from the office has made it in today...the schools are closed.

Snow Falls on Greatwood

The snow has been steadily falling all morning. For some reason, the snow has drifted into one of the barns, and we have had to use our outside rugs for the horses on one side of the barn. We haven't been able to get the horses out at all, but they are perfectly contented looking out as the snow falls all around them. They are lucky, they are warm and well fed....we aren't so lucky because we have had to fill all the water buckets again from just the one working tap! I wish we could afford to place electric wiring on all the pipes to prevent them from freezing.