13th April 2020

Last week was spent taking horses off to grass. I maybe criticized for driving around the country in the current crisis but it is a necessity and in the best interest of the horses’ welfare. They can’t be locked up here when we have destroyed our paddocks throughout the winter and have no grass. What I did notice on Friday was the number of cars on the road again, prior to yesterday seeing cars was a rarity, the roads were all but empty excluding lorries. On Friday, I got the feeling that people were starting to move for Easter which was rather worrying. We have been meticulous in our social distancing when dropping horses home and have hand sanitizer in the lorry.  

The sand gallop has been turned and this morning sand started to go back on it, the steam cleaner is running flat and various other jobs are being seen to once we have dealt with the horses that are in work or being broken in. 

Much has been written about restarting racing but my overriding fear is that if it starts back too soon and we get stopped having started, I dread to think how long it could be before we get going again. I have no complaints but my god I feel for the flat trainers and those preparing horses for sales. 

Twitter is my choice of social media and I’m beginning to seriously dislike some people I have always respected with their political opinions. Given it appears that they think they could run the country so much better than any government I am surprised that many of them are only journalist. The fact is many have never run a business and have no understanding of doing so. I only have to think what is best for 60 horses and that causes enough issues let alone thinking what is best for 65 million people.