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!
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