Road To Newmarket - John Starts To Learn To Ride

The more time John spends around racing life, the more he harbours a secret desire to learn to ride.  Not sure whether this stems from his childhood with female relatives doing riding and ballet and the boys doing cricket and football, or whether he has worked out that in riding stables the ratio of females to males is about 20:1 and horsey men are (sometimes physically) fought over.  Anyway he wants to learn to ride, he really would like to do a race and ultimately I think he would like to do a jump race (!).


Those of us that have been riding since the age of about three chuckle at this, there is no doubt it is easier to learn to ride when you are young, particularly as there is that weird phenomenon that ground increases in hardness for each decade you get to.  Also, as a child you are completely unaware of 'what might happen' and you haven't yet got to the stage where as an adult you are completely in control of your own life, but you are never fully 100% in control of a horse.  Learning that you need to work with a horse and become part of it, a bit like two dancers moving in a foxtrot, or maybe an Argentine tango when it comes to jumping, comes hard and it is a skill that some people never learn, that is the difference between a rider, and a good rider.  Technique can be taught but feel is harder to achieve.


I know of four men that have learnt age 30+ two of them in their 40/50's so it can be done, what it takes is a good teacher, a good horse and in the early stages a pair of well padded jockey shorts.  Nowadays you can start to learn on a mechanical horse, people may laugh a bit at this but for the sake of a horse I think it is a great idea.  My friend Sally works in Hyde Park and regularly sees the new police and army recruits learning to ride in the park, this seems like far too much an expanse of grass for my liking.  Sally says she can tell when it is going a bit wrong as the riding master gets them all to circle a tree while they get back under control.  If they get to the next tree and start circling again it's really not going well.  It's not unusual for the new recruits to be riding an hour and not get past three trees.  


John had his first lesson yesterday at Cullinghood in Pangbourne, Cullinghood has a Racewood simulator, these are the people that make the simulators the jockeys use for technique and fitness.  Theirs is a dressage model which I also think is good, get the foundations correct before pulling your stirrups up, if your foundations are good you should be able to ride any style.  Cullinghood's simulator is a deluxe model, it is a cross between a simulator and a Wii game, the horse has sensors so it can check whether you are sat central in the saddle and how you are using your legs.  It also has a neck that flexes so you can steer and it shows how much contact is on the reins, and any uneven contact.  When you have a lesson you can have automatic mode, where the horse is set to move in a particular pace (walk, trot or canter) or you can have manual mode where you apply the aids and you get what you ask for.  John had some trot to halt and a couple of times possibly extended trot with an inadvertent application of a leg, it also has a mane that is great to hold on to (we've all been there John, there is no shame!).

John had a 30 minute lesson and by the end of it was quite red faced and sweaty, he rode in all three paces but not surprisingly it was the rising trot that proved tricky.  Personally I would have dropped his stirrups down a couple of holes, it will also be easier when he is wearing riding boots, chaps and jodhpurs as this will help the position of the iron on his foot and also stabilise the lower leg a bit.  I reckon he needs at least four sessions on the simulator before being introduced to a real horse.  It was a very positive start however and plan is now for him to knock up some hours on the sim before getting on a real horse and going out for a little pootle with an instructor.  The yard is near Yattendon forest so there should be no shortage of trees should the need arise.

EPDS Racing Welfare BTO Results - 2

Today was the second leg of the EPDS Racing Welfare best turned out series at Warwick.  Warwick very kindly gave us another race as the previous meeting had been abandoned, luckily the weather was glorious for racing today so there was no chance that it would not go ahead.


I think word had got out about the series because the standard of turn out in the 3.10pm was very high, the judges had a lot of deliberation before they were able to pick 1st, 2nd and 3rd.


The results were:


1st Freddie Green - Thomas Crapper/R Dickin
2nd Heather Bishop - Queens Grove/K Bishop
3rd Judith Jones - Al Sirat/M Appleby


Well done to all three grooms and yards.  A photo of the winning trio along with John Powell from EPDS Racing and Stephanie King from Racing Welfare presenting the prizes:

The yard league table currently stands at:

15pts - C E Longsdon

15pts - R Dickin

10pts - W Greatrex

10pts - K Bishop

 5pts - Miss V Williams

 5pts - M Appleby

BTO Series - Second Leg Tomorrow

Good luck to everyone in the second leg of the best turned out series, the 3.10 at Warwick tomorrow (the European Breeders Fund "National Hunt" Novices' Hurdle (Qualifier).


There are 14 horses entered so it is sure to be a difficult choice for the judges.  Warwick very kindly gave us another race when the previous meeting on 11th February was abandoned due to the bad weather.  Charlie Longsdon and Warren Greatrex both have runners in the race, their yards came 1st and 2nd last month so this could be a chance for one of them to pull ahead.


We will report the results here tomorrow. Further information can be found on www.epds-racing.co.uk and www.racingwelfare.co.uk.

Poppy - Our New Filly

We went along to Ascot sales yesterday to see some of the horses we had marked in the catalogue as of interest.  This was for a horse not so much to replace Maisey as she is irreplaceable to us but I suppose it is ok to say to replace her as a horse in training as we are pretty much certain she will be going off to be a broodmare shortly.

When we bought Maisey we liked the fact that she had not done any jumping before, taking that a stage further we started thinking about a horse that had never even raced before that was a completely blank canvas.  I had to say this idea came from our visits to the studs where we were introduced to some wonderful youngstock.

We were not particularly worried about a filly or gelding (psst, I wanted a filly) but did want something that was mature for it's age that hadn't been over worked as a youngster and so given time to develop without too many stresses and strains on it's joints.  There were several in the catalogue that we liked the sound of but the horse that caught our eye was a filly by Strategic Prince, unnamed but with the stable name of Poppy.

Poppy posing after the sale, if only she was looking at the camera

Poppy wasn't left with any hay or water but we managed to 'borrow' some from Ascot

Her eyes really aren't that shade of green

I'm not sure what John said to her but it may have been a bit rude for a young girl

What I liked about Poppy was her confirmation, she is also eye catching and will be more so when her summer coat has come through and she has matured a bit more.  I also liked her manners in the stable and she is the sort of horse that likes a bit of fuss which I think is important in a partnership horse.  When she was walked and trotted up for us she showed she had a bit of a sparky side to her once she got her feet on the grass which I was pleased to see.

The catalogue describes her as:

A lovely, kind filly with no soundness issues. Out of a winning dam by a top young sire who in turn is by Dansili (GB). This filly is good to shoe, box and groom. Also a good ride for a girl. Has been allowed time to mature and has seen Lingfield Park racecourse for an exercise gallop. A sure fire winner in the future with ability to match. Present trainer would be delighted to train this horse for the new owner and sadly for sale to help recover a debt.

Poppy has come from T McCarthy's yard and he said exactly the same as the catalogue, we also spoke to the groom that was with her and she was very positive as well.  I think they were slightly bemused by my excitement in seeing that she wasn't wearing shoes, they also don't turn the horses in training out so was a little confused about my questions regarding her temperament with other horses in a paddock.

John liked her breeding, Strategic Prince (8 y o standing at Coolmore Stud) is a stallion known for adding speed and himself the son of the famous stallion Dansili; this certainly is something that promises a real turn of foot but could be considered a weakness for a National Hunt horse. However, we looked closely at her dam side, and her dam sire (Josr Algahoud) is the sire of several well regarded National Hunt horses, including Charlie Mann's respected novice chaser How's Business and the hurdler Daldini, with plenty of soft ground form in the breeding.

Luckily for us Peter from PFN Transport was at the sales and he agreed to take her back to Simon's for her, we had actually bought her by the time he arrived at Ascot as the traffic was bad.  Peter handles the horses really well and gives them a good journey.  We decided we would put the lorry on the bank where there is a gate that can swing behind, we had been told she was green at loading but would go in in time.  At Ascot you can only handle a horse out of a box with either a bridle or chiffney on, Peter leant us a chiffney while he went to wait his turn to get the lorry in to position.  Once we were good to go I led her out, she posed for a couple of photographs and then we walked through the car park and up the bank.  Everything was good up until the point I was on top of the bank (with a four foot unshielded drop on to concrete either side) and the guys decided a block of wood was needed to stop the ramp from wobbling on one side. Standing on the top of a bank, with a young horse, is not the best place to be, particularly when people helpfully started dragging wheely bins around and generally clattering about.  At this point I decided we needed to get off the bank before a nasty accident occurred.  The chiffney had a long rope on it but I hate them with a passion so we spent an interesting few minutes with me trying to move her feet but not pull on the chiffney and her going 'oh my god blue wheely bins, oh my god bits of paper flapping about, oh my god everyone is leaving me and I am on my own .........'  Good learning point for me, always make sure I have  rope halter in the car with a long rope so I can use that instead of the chiffney.

As they said she would be she was a little sticky to load but we bought the gates behind her and she went in without getting wound up about things.  Peter had given her a large box instead of a partition with a big hay net so she travelled loose to Simon's and he didn't hear a peep out of her for the entire journey.  Of course she walked back down the ramp as cool as a cucumber and in to her stable so that was good.

Simon rang an hour or so later to say she was settling in ok and that he liked her, she will be in the overflow yard for a week or so before she moves in to the main yard, she will have bloods taken and will generally be checked over.  We usually get the teeth done and a visit from the physio at this point to give them a bit of an MOT, she will also go on the horse walker and Simon will start to assess her, we are already talking about the possibility of Junior Bumpers for her.

We now have the fun part of marketing her for the new partnership, I am hoping as she is barefoot already she will be of interest to some of the barefoot community.  We also get to think up a name for her, we like the prefix Loxley and her dam is Haiti Dancer so I suggested choosing the name of a dance beginning with 'L', sadly neither John or Ian liked 'Loxleys Lambada' I have no idea why ;)

More info can be found on our website www.epds-racing.co.uk or via email of info@epds-racing.co.uk.

EPDS Road Trip

It seems like John and me have done nothing but drive around the countryside recently looking at yards and horses.  I never thought I could reach saturation point but I think yesterday may just have finished me off, especially as we were driving for about 8.5 hours.  It was a very positive day however and another where we met some great people and horses.


First stop was Dunraven Stud to see Dr Massini.  Dunraven is a great yard which is getting more facilities all the time, hidden behind a little unmade road and mill house (or at least that is the way the sat nav took us) it opens up into fantastic farmland with converted farm buildings of welsh stone and slate.  The Head stud groom is a lady called Jess who is a diminutive person and it was great to see the sympathetic way she handled both the stallions (we also saw Bach who stands at the stud).  Dr Massini was a little up because it is the start of the season for him, spring is in the air and the three horses coming back from exercise could just have been three mares coming in his direction ........ :)  Jess takes everything in her stride and for me it proved that women are just as capable of handling stallions as men and actually good horsemanship is about timing, skill and empathy and not brute strength yanking down on the end of a chiffney.  Dr Massini was looking stunning and for me is heading the leader board of stallions for Amazon at the moment.  While we were there David and Jess kindly showed us around the rest of the yard, we saw the foaling boxes which had the deepest straw beds I have ever seen in my life, cctv cameras, heat lamps and monitors for the mares.  The mares that come in overnight at the moment live in large barn sections which gives them loads of room to move around and doesn't make them feel they are shut up in a stable.  We also saw some yearlings, those that were in were also in small social groups in the barns, all the horses including the youngsters were very friendly and chilled out.


While we were there we mentioned that we were going on to see a potential new racehorse for us so David and Jess took us through to the training part of the yard which we didn't even know existed before we visited to see some of the four year olds they are working on at the minute.  The yard has great facilities to cope with the bad weather and keep the horses in work, indoor horsewalker and a small indoor school as well as similar facilities outdoor and a gallop around the fields.  We got introduced to loads of horses by a variety of stallions including two by Generous who were lovely.  Having spent a lot of time at the sales recently it was great to see well mannered horses who you could run your hands over and not be in fear of them lifting a foot up at you.  One horse, a young chestnut mare called Betty we were particularly taken with which caused a lot of conversation in the car on the way back out of Wales to the next yard.


Next stop was Wriggle Valley Thoroughbreds, this is a small family business run by Doug Proctor, we met Doug a few months ago at Wincanton and he kindly got in touch  when he heard about the retirement of Amazon.  He has also used Dr Massini in the past with his own mares and can offer broodmare boarding and foaling down facilities.  Lovely family yard on an organic farm with lots of mares looking like they could foal any minute which is going to keep them all busy.  Doug took us around the farm to see the summer paddocks and a couple of youngsters that they have, as ever I was in the back of a 4x4 sliding around in the mud and after John had put his foot down a bit in the journey over to the yard because we were running late I was feeling pretty car sick.  Luckily for me we walked back to the yard leaving the car where it was, I have now extended my 'don't get in to a car driven by a NH trainer' to include 'or breeder'!!


As ever while we were there we saw a horse that Doug is thinking of selling, a really cracking son of Tamure who is well built and looks ready to start doing some work on a racecourse soon.  He had a great temperament and should go on to be a chaser when he gets older.  This gives us a bit of a dilemma because at the moment  our business model is to buy mares to race, breed a foal when they retire if we can as future horse for ourselves and then re-school as a riding horse.  Obviously a gelding doesn't quite fit in to this model .....


We have a few more to see on Tuesday which I am sure will complicate things even further.


On the way back home we popped in to see Shilpa and Amazon.  Simon reports that Shilpa is coping fine with her newly barefoot hooves and she certainly seemed very well, I am sure her hooves have grown already and the shoes have only been off a little while.  Amazon just looks more and more relaxed and happy every time we see her, she really loves fuss and attention now whereas before she could be a little reserved.  Luckily for us she is a bold and relaxed horse because somehow when we shut her stable door behind us the kick bolt dropped down locking us in. I had to push her back out of the way while John hurdled over the stable door to be able to let me out.  Luckily only Amazon and Shilpa saw our embarrassing situation, I am sure they were laughing their heads off when we left the yard however!

New Horse Shopping (Maybe)

Had a really interesting day today, we had been told about a few horses for sale via Twitter so today was spent at two trainers yards having a look at them.

The more time I spend around racing yards and with trainers I realise how generous these people are with their time, and also what fantastic stories they have to tell and how great their sense of humour is.  I guess being around horses you have to have a good sense of humour as they all have a way of cutting you down to size if you start taking things just that bit too seriously.

First yard today was in Lambourn village, living not that far from Lambourn I have visited a couple of times but I never realised how tucked away the yards can be, what looks like a house from the road can hide a yard of 30 stables, a couple of paddocks with a gallop going around the outside of them.  The trainer we met was Roger Curtis along with Dawn, amateur rider Freddie Tett and jockey Hadden Frost.  The yard was very friendly, including having the smiliest German Shepherd I have met in my life who likes to bring you presents of stones which was very funny.

Roger had kindly organised things so we could see the horse up on the gallops and we went up in the car to see them work.  Roger then drove us around on a tour of all the gallops in Lambourn which was fascinating, I had no idea there were so many gallops in such a small place.  We drove up what was a Roman road and Roger kept saying it was normally a hard track as we bottomed the car and at one point I thought we were going to have to get out and push.  It's amazing what you can drive a small family hatchback over and not get stuck.  We returned to the yard with a very muddy car and me making a mental note not to get in to a car being driven off road by anyone involved in NH racing again.  We really enjoyed meeting everyone and really appreciated the time Roger took out of his busy day to show us around.

Next stop was Fergal O'Brien's yard in Glouctershire, this is a very different type of yard to Roger's, a combination of newly built American barns and converted buildings on what was an arable farm, it is owned by jockey Timmy Murphy and Fergal has not been there very long.  Lots of work still going on and you can see when it is finished the facilities will be really great, Fergal said he will be able to take about 70 horses when everything is finished.  Again Fergal had kindly arranged for us to see the two horses working, and as we were running late this meant both had had their lunch held back and possibly the two grooms had missed theirs as well.  However again everyone was very friendly and Fergal invited us to jump in the Land Rover to drive over to the gallops to see the two horses come up.  At this point being in the back of a Land Rover I felt safe that we were not going to have a problem with the ground and so when Fergal invited us to go on a bit of a tour of the property to see the training paddock, hunt jumps and hacking routes around the fields I felt sure that we weren't going to get stuck and would be absolutely fine.  One power slide towards a ditch later and I was revising my opinion and reiterating the NH trainer + car + off road = wear seat belt and hang on.

The three horses we saw were all very different types but all lovely. John and I have some thinking to do now about our next steps with EPDS, we will have firmed up our plans for Amazon by the end of this week as well so exciting times ahead.

Shilpa Goes Shoeless

Because of all the bad weather we have been having all of the meetings we had entries for abandoned unfortunately.  We had always said that we would run her until the end of January after which she would go on her break and the shoes would come off.  Following her excellent run at Taunton where she came fourth we pushed the end of Jan deadline back to the first week or so of February however unfortunately this coincided with the really bad weather so it was not to be.

Our last chance was Plumpton on Monday which was called off due to a frozen track so that was that really, Shilpa prefers good going so now is a great time to give her a bit of a break and she will be ready for when the going firms up a bit.

Always liking to strike while the iron is hot my partner and I nipped over to the yard on Monday to take the shoes off.  This was definitely a two person job, not that I needed to hold Shilpa, she was quite happy tucking in to her haylege, my role was more as tool passer and receiver of nails as each one was removed one by one before the shoe came off.  In the average horse shoe there are six nails, usually when a shoe is taken off it is levered away from the hoof, nails and all, however this can damage and tear the hoof wall.  Because Shilpa is going to be barefoot we wanted to protect the hoof as much as possible so each nail in turn was lifted on the outside of the hoof wall with a hammer and a tool called a buffer, this lifts open the end of the nail called the clench.  Once the clench is loosened you can then use another tool called a nail puller to grab the head of the nail on the bottom of the shoe and pull it out, in effect you are taking it out in the reverse of the way it went in.  Simon's farrier Chris is an excellent farrier which meant that this job took a lot longer than it should of done because the shoes were on really well.  Farriers often laugh when they see a shoe being removed in this way but by the time the shoes were off we were left with perfect hooves with no chipping.  All we could really do was run the rasp around to apply a bevel which will help stop them chipping over the next few weeks.

Shilpa was great to work with, she spent a lot of time trying to see what was going on and at one point helpfully took all the tools out of the tool box and rearranged things a bit.  We left Simon with some hoof boots to borrow while hers are on order, she is between sizes in Easycare Gloves so we left her with the bigger pair with pads in to make them a bit smaller and give her a bit more cushioning.  Plan is for her to spend a few weeks getting used to her naked feet on the horse walker and some time in the school improving her muscle tone.

Racehorse are fitted with racing plates as they are lighter and this gives them an advantage, we hope that with nothing on her feet at all she will get an even bigger advantage.  Also any shoe can cause concussion which is not good for the joints, because Shilpa prefers the firmer going lack of shoes will really help with this, it also gives them better traction in the snow, so if we get bad weather again I can see Simon cantering her up the road that goes up the hill to keep her fit!

EPDS Open Day

The Sunday before last we had the first EPDS open day at the yard, unfortunately this was the day after the heavy snow fall that a lot of us had in the South East and a couple of the members were unable to make it over due to the road conditions.  Luckily enough the major roads were not too bad and the small lanes around the yard were also passable so all of us coming up from the South managed to get through ok.


It was a really great morning, it started with a tour around the yard and meeting all the horses, and hot drinks to warm everyone up.  Then Sam, Luke and Holly tacked up Outside The Box, Shilpa and Opera Prince and hacked the 10 minutes or so up to the yard where Simon had booked the indoor school for a bit of gridwork and a schooling session for the three horses.  I have been up to the yard many times, and seen Shilpa working with other horses on the gallops, but this was the first time I have seen her working in a school with others so it was a really good experience for me.


The guys started off with a bit of a trot and canter around to warm up while the jumps were put up.  Simon always likes to start with some poles and inviting cross poles before upping the height just to get the horse flowing over them and enjoying themselves.  The indoor school is not as big as the outdoor so they weren't motoring as much as I have seen them, there was one point however when Simon asked them to follow round in a good canter and all three horses got a bit yee-haa and had to be asked to steady up a bit.  I think Shilpa has decided that she is an old hand at this schooling lark and was treating the smaller jumps with a bit of disdain, was making a lovely shape over them when they got a bit bigger however.


It was great to compare the jumping styles of all three horses as they are all very different and I think all the guys in the partnership enjoyed being up close and personal with the horses and getting to see something a bit different to watching the horses on the gallops.  Simon as always was happy to answer all our questions about what was going on and the plans for Shilpa.


We all then returned to the yard where I quickly reflocked Shilpa's saddle before we all headed off down the local pub for drinks and Sunday lunch.  The Angel is a lovely pub with big open fires, just the thing for warming up after a cold morning.  The yard staff all came over as well after they had sorted the horses and it was great to get a chance to chat to them, everyone in Simon's team works really hard looking after the horses and both Shilpa and Amazon are flourishing in their care.


Unfortunately the weather continued to go against us and despite Simon boxing the horses over to gallops in Devon which managed to stay open, all the courses where we had entries abandoned their meetings so our plans for a second race for Shilpa did not come to fruition before she went on her break.