Hello everyone and welcome to blog issue 2, I think I had every good intention of doing this on a monthly basis however the best intentions  sometimes remain undone!
I am very happy to report that all is reasonably well on the horsey front and they all seem to still have 4 legs, although with the summer weather the youngsters feet are not as good as I would like. They all seem a little sore on the gravel which I am sure is due to the constant wet conditions we have had.
Eli and mum are very well, he has turned into a rather nice foal who moves as well as he needs to, bearing in mind that his future will hopefully be on the race track rather than show ground. Grace, his mum is not in foal this time as I seem to have fields full of horses and I need to get rid of a few rather than add to them. I am making very little effort to address this problem as I never think the time is right to sell any of them.
The 2 yearlings, Carrot and Milly are enjoying themselves doing very little in the field, I have put the 2 year old Percy with them so that he could tell them what is like to do a bit of lunging with a saddle and bridle on. He took to it like a duck to water and I hope it will make his life easier next year when he will be backed. I like to do a little bit with them at 2 especially if I think they are going to be quite big.
Ollie the 3 year old is now backed, He went up to Clive Storey in the Borders for 4 weeks as I am now too old and infirm to be doing such silly things. I have been doing a bit of work on him every day in the school and he will shortly be turned away for a couple of months.  He will come back into work in the new year to start his grown up life.
Lottie the 4 year old is also now broken and is now in training for the Gold Cup. It may take a couple of years to get her there but I am very patient, she is cantering now and enjoying herself far more than when she was at grass. She always wanted to be doing something and would stand wistfully at the gate whenever the others were working. I do not remember ever having a horse who was so keen to be part of the party.
Cassie seems to have turned over a new leaf in her competition mind and as a result has been placed in her last outings at Richmond and Hutton. I have no idea why the transformation unless the threat of Death Row has finally sunk in! Anyway long may it last or at least until Aske which will be her last event this season, after which she will do some dressage before her holiday at Christmas.
Striker is also in work and ready for the hunting season, he will do some dressage as well, for a black and white cob he does have good paces and the judges always like him.
Friday has been to a couple of local shows now and been very good, he now needs to learn to go over  and across his fences as up to now he just seems to get higher and higher which shows lots of ability but Craig may be getting altitude sickness! He will continue at local shows for the winter and hopefully start grown up eventing next year.
Will let you know how things are going soon.

Fiona

Hi

We’re starting something new, Fiona (Mother T to Ralph and Lindsay) is going to write a blog each month to fill you in on the going ons with her numerous horses she has managed to collect over the past few years.

We’ll use this one to introduce her and her gee-gees…over to you Mum..

Hello everybody, we thought you might be interested to know what we’re doing with our own horses at Silvermoor. First of all I’ll tell you about each one. Starting with the youngest let me introduce Eli, born before Chris Evans’ Eli (what a copier!) he is a chestnut colt by the thoroughbred stallion Lucano and is bred to win the Gold Cup but we’ll settle for a bumper at Newcastle. Born on the 28^th April this year his Mum is Grace; she was quite a successful point to pointer and has three other children – Lottie, four years old, she is in the process of being broken. Lottie is very pretty but missed out on the Miracle Grow in her youth and stands at about 15.2hh. We still have high hopes that she will be the next Battleship who won the Grand National and was only 15.1hh! If anyone would like this horse I am trying to give her away to a nice racing home!!! Oh she is by Overbury (I promise she won’t take anyone’s thumb off like her Dad!).

Lottie has a younger brother, Percy who is two. He is by Kayf Tara and is another of Grace’s offspring. He’s much bigger than Lottie and we’re hoping he forges a successful career in National Hunt racing. And finally from the Grace line is Carrot, so called because of her disappointing colour however we like to compare her to carat gold rather than carrot top. She is a tall, leggy red-headed yearling by Lucano.

Carrot is never seen without her best friend and fellow yearling Silly-Billy-Millie. She’s very sweet buy an Irish sports horse and we hope will be my last homebred hunter.  Millie has a full brother, Ollie so named as he was born on the day Oliver Townend won Badminton. He is three now and has been lunged and long-reined ready to be backed in the autumn.

I also have Cassie, 16hh, 7yo, partbred warm blood, bay mare who is trying to event at the moment. Like many of you it’s been a very frustrating season. I keep Cassie at home and Craig Anderson rides her at competitions because my children tell me I’m too old to event myself and I do admit I have many broken bones. Cassie is very beautiful and moves like a dressage horse however she has a slight problem with her tongue in so much as she likes to wave it to the judges all the time. They do not see the funny side of this at all and consequently do not give her extra marks for being friendly. This is an ongoing problem, if you have any suggestions to stop it I’d be most appreciate as every trick we’ve tried so far has sadly failed.

The next is Striker who I have on loan. He doesn’t quite blend in with the flock being a black and white cob. He does have delusions of grandeur and keeps everyone else in check. He’s a great little hunter, jumps everything he’s pointed at which is just as well as I haven’t a hope of stopping him.

Finally we come to Friday (today how apt). He is co-owned with Craig Anderson, 4yo by Primitive Proposal he is just starting his competition career and is 16.2hh. He is trying to get to local shows this year as his apprenticeship and we hope to get him to BE next year.

So that’s the ‘small’ collection. Next month I will tell you if I’ve put them into the ark or we’ve managed to leave the yard. I must also say that they all love their silvermoor haylage and I am sure it wasn’t the feed that stunted Lottie’s growth!!

Fiona