Freezing, fresh and festive

12/12/22  It’s been a cold and quiet week for us in Greystoke.  The gallop was frozen solid so we had to resort to walking and trotting in our indoor ride.  We had no runners as most of the racing was abandoned, we’re all dying to get back at it!
The staff working on the ground had an especially tough time with the taps being frozen.  They had to carry buckets of water across the yard for the horses which I’m sure any other equestrians will agree is not a task anyone particularly enjoys!
On a brighter note, the boss got us all bacon rolls on Wednesday.  It was a lovely mid week treat and definitely made up for (some of) the hardship that comes with the cold weather.

Frozen paddocks on Tuesday morning

19/12/22  After what felt like an eternity we managed to get back up the gallop on Monday and to say the horses were fresh would be an understatement.  There were some thrills and spills but luckily all horses and riders came away unscathed.  To be honest with you all… two of the four fallers were me, thankfully the only thing I hurt was my pride.
Despite the rain, we’ve all enjoyed being back out in the fresh air and the horses seem to have come out of their quiet week happy and fresh so it didn’t do any harm.
We had a schooling morning today with some of next weeks entries getting their final prep and a few of the younger horses got to jump the hurdles at the gallop for the first time.  Everything jumped well so we have plenty to look forward to.
Duke of Navan came to visit us today with his new mum, Kelly Harding, which was a lovely surprise.  He enjoyed seeing his all of his old pals at the yard.

Kelly and The Duke

Since I don’t have any winners to report I thought I’d introduce one of our horses and carry this on with a new one in every blog.  The first horse I’ll introduce is Kajaki.

Danny treating Kajaki

Kajaki is a 9 year old grey gelding.  He started his career as a flat horse with Ayr Gold Cup winning trainer Kevin Ryan.  He came to Nicky’s in 2019 and he’s been a fun horse to have around.  He’s a cheeky little thing but we all love him, except when he’s kicking his stable door waiting for food!
His first win came in 2016 at Haydock in a 1m 3f handicap.  He has since won 6 races, his two most recent wins came at Sedgefield for Nicky under Danny Mcmenamin.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and an exciting start to the new year.  I’ll be back in two weeks with more news.

Amy