Buffy's puppies are growing fast and turning into right little characters. They are nearly four weeks old and it is just getting to the fun bit! They have just started to be fed some milk and weetabix and it is really amusing watching them, especially when they know the food is coming! Some are real pigs and others a little more polite! They should all turn out to be easily trainable though as Buffy is obedient and so is their dad Tim. I certainly hope so as we are keeping one for Zoe to train.
Poor Mary King had a terrible day at the Express Eventing Challenge at the Millenium Stadium on Sunday. Weeks of practice and preparation had gone into the event which saw all three phases - dressage, showjumping and cross country - taking place in the stadium. She was lying second on her Olympic horse Call Again Cavalier when he slipped late on the course and broke his leg. What should have been a fun and groundbreaking event struggled to regain its momentum after the tragedy, which of course took place at close quarters to the spectators. Call Again Cavalier, 16, had won individual silver at the 2007 European Championships and team bronze at the Olympics this year.
Well, anyone who braved Blackforest Lodge on Sunday was treated to some great racing - one even finishing in a dead heat, virtually unheard of in point to pointing. But despite the biting wind it was great to see friends again, some of whom have not been spotted since Umberleigh in June (Martin Harris, that's you!). Nerys Dutfield, who trains NH horses near Axminster, was the only Devon winner during the whole day, her Man of Leisure (Merv Woodward) taking the second division of the young horses two and a half mile maiden.
The rest of the prizes went to Wales, the welsh being great supporters of these early meetings due to the ease of transporting horses down the M5. It may be very different at the next meeting though, on December 13 at Wadebridge. The course is a bit further south and local trainers often prove difficult to beat. Love or hate the Royal Cornwall Showground track, there is always good racing there.