And didn't the weather let us know it! If you peer into the gloom you can just about make out Charlie having jumped an enormous hedge with drop. And yes. all the others went over it too.
Sadly Pip had to withdraw. Her horse is poorly so Smem and Ruby were straight in there as back-up. Poor Smem was very nervous. The Winwick novice course is between 3' and 3'3 and has some quite forbidding hills. On the way there we talked about visualisation and how the fences wouldn't appear so big once she was on the horse. Anyway, she'd recovered enough to manage a bacon buttie, a cup of tea and a chocolate hob-nob.
The weather was bitterly cold and it was raining fairly heavily. Ruby's clipped out now so we kept her rugged up in the box for as long as possible. She did look a bit worried though. I don't think she quite gets it! They set off at quite a pace and managed to get over the first few fences without incident. Then Charlie stopped at a piddly little post and rails and everyone else stopped too. Then Ruby had to wait for Ramin to clear a hanging gate but apart from that, they all did really really well. They were all puffing quite heavily by the time they got to the finish. Apart from losing an over-reach boot and Smem ditching her silk because it kept falling down over her eyes, they all got home safely and that's what really matters!
Unfortunately when we had loaded up ready to leave for home, there was an almighty commotion. Someone's horse had fallen in its trailer and got stuck, wedged between the front ramp and the jockey door with his head bent round under him. There were two vets at the event but by the time one of them arrived, after what seemed like an age but was probably about 10 minutes, we had already managed to get the partition out and finally extracted him. I was really worried he would start thrashing about and injure either himself or one of his rescuers but he managed to stay really calm. I'm not sure how but Smem ended up trotting him up for the vet while Annie comforted his owner. Apart from some cuts on his back legs he seems unscathed. He wasn't even lame but boy, is he going to have a sore neck in the morning! Apparently the vet had only seen him the week before and he'd tried to kick him! Bless him, once he had been checked over, Smem walked him straight into the trailer to go home.
I really wish people wouldn't leave their horses unattended in their trailers. Last week Annie found a horse that had got its front legs over the front bar and was panicking. It took ages for her to get someone to help because every time she let go of him to attract someone's attention, he started kicking off again. Eventually they managed to lift the bar out with him on top of it. I don't think they realised that one of the safety features of Ivor Williams trailers is that you can take the bars down from the outside.
And if you think horses are dangerous, the boy Thos has completely destroyed his cruciate ligament. He did it in pre-season in August but no-one realised the extent of the damage until he went to see the specialist last week. He's going to have it re-constructed on 20 December then it'll be 12 months rehab. I just hope it's fixable. It's the sort of injury that could end his Rugby career!
Unfortunately when we had loaded up ready to leave for home, there was an almighty commotion. Someone's horse had fallen in its trailer and got stuck, wedged between the front ramp and the jockey door with his head bent round under him. There were two vets at the event but by the time one of them arrived, after what seemed like an age but was probably about 10 minutes, we had already managed to get the partition out and finally extracted him. I was really worried he would start thrashing about and injure either himself or one of his rescuers but he managed to stay really calm. I'm not sure how but Smem ended up trotting him up for the vet while Annie comforted his owner. Apart from some cuts on his back legs he seems unscathed. He wasn't even lame but boy, is he going to have a sore neck in the morning! Apparently the vet had only seen him the week before and he'd tried to kick him! Bless him, once he had been checked over, Smem walked him straight into the trailer to go home.
I really wish people wouldn't leave their horses unattended in their trailers. Last week Annie found a horse that had got its front legs over the front bar and was panicking. It took ages for her to get someone to help because every time she let go of him to attract someone's attention, he started kicking off again. Eventually they managed to lift the bar out with him on top of it. I don't think they realised that one of the safety features of Ivor Williams trailers is that you can take the bars down from the outside.
And if you think horses are dangerous, the boy Thos has completely destroyed his cruciate ligament. He did it in pre-season in August but no-one realised the extent of the damage until he went to see the specialist last week. He's going to have it re-constructed on 20 December then it'll be 12 months rehab. I just hope it's fixable. It's the sort of injury that could end his Rugby career!
After all that doom and gloom here's a piccy of the girls taken on a sunnier and much warmer day at the Grafton team chase. You can see the difference in size and how difficult it makes it when someone forgets a bit of kit!
Annie and I were having a chat and we've decided not to send Ruby to stud until the spring Team Chase season is over. We could still end up with a fairly early foal but she's so good at it, it would be a real shame for pregnancy to get in the way!
