Up a bit, left a bit, down a bit

On Tuesday afternoon I returned to Neville Layt's stables and had another chat with him, and spent some more time with the flaxen maned filly, Karuta Queen.  At the last minute, as I got my camera gear out of my car, I locked up, then thought better of it, unlocked Dan's boot (Dan's my car by the way), and put 4 of Freelance's sugar cubes in my vest pocket.  Just in case.  Neville had already told me she didn't know a carrot from an apple, but there's no harm in trying, right????


So down I went.  Everyone was there, and it was a nice and friendly environment. My good friend Susan Archer, from Arrowfield, had already emailed through the link to this Blog's story and photographs from the morning workout, and Neville commented on this, and said they all loved the photographs.  Because she'd worked this morning, and had the float trip, Neville wasn't going to get her out of the box this afternoon unless I was desperate to do so.  I never like interrupting the usual routine of horses, so this was fine with me.  I had such glorious images from this morning, and was happy just to take whatever presented itself.  I wandered over to the filly, and fetched one of the sugar cubes out of my pocket, and proceeded to patiently stand there, as my hand became coated in sugar, but had a small sense of triumph and pleasure when her very first sugar cube was consumed.  Atta girl!  She's not sure about them, but they are an acquired taste, and I have time on my side!


One bonus was being there for the little chiropractic session she had.  I took the images below, although it made me wince on occasions!  I have a bad neck, and have had the odd session, but admit that I grimace and brace against being 'cracked' and don't really enjoy it!  I played with the other ponies there, gave a particularly lovely individual 2 sugar cubes, who again, had never had one before, but we worked through that just fine!  Most horses have sweet tooths, and is only a matter of time when it comes to sugar cubes.  After all, if the mighty Phar Lap loved them, what more is there to say!!!!!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Legacy of Eight Carat: From the Vault Volume I

Image
We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks.  After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists.   'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!  A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad.  The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks.  Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby.  I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay.  This week we took our first tentative steps out of ...
Read more

Vale Sadler's Wells - champion stallion dies in Ireland.

Image
One of the most important racehorses, and later stallions of our time, the great Sadler's Wells died in Ireland on the evening of Tuesday 26 April 2011.  He died at Coolmore's Tipperary Stud in Ireland, his home since his retirement in 1984.  The stallion was retired from breeding in 2008. His legacy worldwide is immense.  He has left sons and daughters,  and three of his stallion sons, in Galileo, Montjeu and High Chaparral, are leading stallions in the Northern Hemisphere.  In Australia, Galileo and Montjeu had less success, however the impact of High Chaparral was immediate, and immense.  While the horse still has to repeat the success he achieved with his New Zealand bred runners, from which the Group 1 winners, and champion So You Think, were conceived, High Chaparral is still leading the Australian General Sires Title with only a couple of months of racing left. In Europe, Montjeu and Galileo have both sired Epsom Derby winners, in Authorized and Ne...
Read more

The physical drain of riding horses

Image
Most people agree that the life of a jockey is a difficult one.  There are a handful that rise to the top, and do extremely well out of the Sport of Kings.  The vast majority however struggle with their weights, and do their best to avoid and/or overcome injury.  Anyone who has ever been pelted off a horse would know that it doesn't tickle!  And of course the older you get, the more it hurts!  We used to fang around on our ponies, bareback, in headstalls and leadropes, never wearing a riding hat.  Completely fearless, and I am sure that on the odd occasion I parted company with my horse, I used to bounce.  In fact I rarely used to fall off, unless the horse came down as well, I guess all those years of galloping around bareback meant my balance and ability to swing my body with the horse was pretty good.  I'd like to say that I could still ride the same, but age and the maturing mind catches up, and you start thinking of the consequences of 'what...
Read more