John, Natalie and myself visited Shilpa this morning, as always we were made really welcome by Simon and Katie even though it was a very busy morning at the yard.
It was fantastic to see Shilpa and I was very pleased to see she had settled in really well and looked very happy. She is now turned out with a gelding called Prince and they are getting on really well, she is going to be moving in to the stable next door to him shortly.
We watched Simon ride her first schooling session in the outdoor, over jumps. Simon likes to school over jumps and teach the horse to sort themselves out, Shilpa was a bit 'oOo' at the sight of the jumps but settled down to work really well. It's a lovely set up, the outdoor school is a few minutes hack away up a quiet country lane, Shilpa left the yard happily on her own and wasn't bothered by cars, she does however have a bit of a dislike of cows but I'm sure she will get used to them.
A couple of pictures from this morning:
Simon Earle has put up a very nice blog entry about Shilpa on his blog here http://simonearleracing.blogspot.com/2011/10/shilpa.html
I have shamelessly stolen the photo he took of her working on the lunge. Luckily for me Simon agrees that her feet look very nice and it bodes well for her to successfully transition to barefoot. For the non-barefoot readers there are many benefits to having a horse unshod, not least because the lack of concussion caused by shoes means that shock is absorbed more effectively by the whole horse, leading to increased soundness particularly over harder ground. I have several customers in the Endurance world where horses are trained for 50Km competitions, barefoot or shoe-less has really taken off in this environment because the horses are sounder and their heart rates are lower. Horses are the same as human athletes, a fit horse generally has a lower heart rate and their recovery times are quicker. The endurance riders know that barefoot gives them an advantage over the competition which has to be good, their horses are often awarded best condition which is a prize awarded to the horse in the best shape at the end of the ride.
Shilpa currently is still wearing shoes so it will be interesting to see the difference in her movement once they are removed. JTB and I are visiting her on Wednesday and I am taking my high speed camera with me that allows you to make a gait analysis, we will do the same once the shoes come off.
Simon reports that he has started a little bit of work with Shilpa, just walk and trot while he awaits the resultrys of her blood test and she has the dentist and physio. So far she has had a schooling session which went very well, a bit of a hack around the hills and also spent some time on the horse walker.
All being well she will be introduced to her new pals this weekend. Simon says she is proving to be a real hit on the yard and he is excited about working with her. We are due to visit next week and we will get some more photos then.
Simon reported that Shilpa travelled well and was enjoying some time out in a little 'new girl' paddock they have at the yard. Plan for this week is to take bloods, get her a good going over by the physio and get her teeth looked at by the EDT dentist. Once all that is done she will be introduced to the girls in her herd. She's going to have a busy week, luckily she is the type that likes a lot of fuss and attention. Once she has got her MOT out of the way she will start some schooling. She is actually fit as she was due to race a week or so ago so fitness wise she is ok, she just needs some schooling and introducing to Simon's methods.
Simon spoke to both the previous trainer and jockey for some of her races, both said very positive things about her and Simon is pleased that she has joined the yard. He thinks we have made a good purchase and is looking forward to getting on with her.
So, exciting times ahead, all the members of the Partnership are very pleased.
Had a long and exhausting, but ultimately fruitful day today. First time I have ever been to Cheltenham Racecourse, boy is it big and what a different atmosphere to Wincanton yesterday, and this was a quiet day. We spent the morning going around all the lots marked in our catalogue, and the afternoon not picking any winners at the races, I hoped this was a sign that we would get our good fortune at the sales rather than at the expense of the bookies.
I am pleased to say my wish came true and we bought a horse. Shilpa was the last lot of the day and a wildcard entry. JTB had previously pointed her out to me saying she was a syndicate horse being sold to settle a debt, we joked how funny it would be if we ended up buying her .....
There were some really lovely horses at the sales, prices were probably not as high as they could have been, nothing went for six figures as in previous sales, but some horses were getting up to quite scary amounts (eg more than I paid for my house). We were not sure therefore that we would be going home with anything. Luckily for us, Shilpa the horse that we had previously looked at and both liked, was to be our horse.
Because of the late finish (and because we had not tempted fate by driving to Cheltenham in a horse box) Shilpa is spending the night at Cheltenham, she seemed quite happy about this and was busy munching through a mountain of hay when we left. Spending this time with her, taking her plaits out, checking her over and generally settling her down for the night, has shown her to be a lovely mare with good manners in the stable and easy to do. I think she will soon become a firm favourite in the yard, her previous trainer and her lad were certainly very sorry to loose her.
No photos at the moment, we will take some in the morning in daylight. So exciting, we can't wait to get started with her.
This is Let Her On:
ERR Let Her On
Let Her On has been rescued as part of the excellent work that Equine Rescue and Rehoming do. ERR is a not for profit organisation that this year has rehomed many horses from Ireland, several of which have been ex-racehorses.
Let Her On is a 6 year old bay mare, 16hh, by Dushyantor (USA), Dam Fontaine Lodge, Dam's sire Lafontaine (USA). She has never raced, considered by her connections to be too slow. As a yearling she went through Tattersalls in Ireland for 7,500 euros, she was sold again in August 2009 for 1,700 euros.
I don't know anything about her connections, I do know however that the economic crisis in Ireland means that many horse breeders are struggling, at Ascot Racehorse Sales last week there were many that had made the journey, none were in the condition that this mare is in however.
Let Her On (Heron) is one of the lucky ones, ERR will always make sure she is in a good home, she is young, in a few weeks time she will be unrecognisable from her picture above, I expect she already is.
Many racehorses in this country go out of racing to an uncertain future, unfortunately not everyone who owns a racehorse appreciates that they are living animals and not commodities and that ownership brings responsibility for the welfare of the horse, not just during it's racing career but afterwards as well.
EPDS is a racehorse partnership that takes it's responsibility to the horse seriously, we are currently looking for our first horse in training but we absolutely guarantee that whatever we end up with, it won't become a scrap heap horse.
If you are interested in supporting the work that ERR does, you can find them here http://www.equinerescueandrehoming.info/
The Cheltenham sales catalogue is online, I was very disappointed when I downloaded the spreadsheet as it looked like there was only around 30 horses in the sale. Was a bit surprised therefore when I was about to sneakily print the whole thing off at work and it was around 200 pages long!! I am hoping they sort the spreadsheet out because I much prefer to look at that first.
JTB I think is going through it page by page, last time we took two different approaches we both pretty much ended up with the same horses on them, obviously my way is much quicker however ;)
The agent who bought 'our' horse at Ascot has still not returned my call about others they have for sale, shame really as they seem to like the same stamp of horse as us and are not too far away.
Getting a bit excited about tomorrow, although it is 'only' Ascot sales, it is our local sales so a good chance to see a number of horses all in one place. Some good horses have gone through the sales and it will be a chance to see what our money can buy.
I don't have a good history at sales, once famously went to Reading to sell three saddles and came back with five saddles and an ex-racehorse. I'm hoping John The Boss (JTB) will keep me in check, as a horse owner myself they are pretty much all lovely. Who knows though we may just spot something really special and come home with it.
JTB has two he likes the look of on paper and me one, have bought the other half (a lifelong techno-phobe) a mobile that does MMS so I can take loads of photos and text them to him for his thoughts.
