Sam was in and all the horses cantered on the woodchip, obviously we are unable to school due to the frozen ground. I am beginning to lose my sense of humour with this weather, if we aren't up to our knees in mud we are frozen. It is frustrating to say the least, the weather seems to be better near Larkhill which is my second favourite location on the BBC weather site. I am surprised it hasn't gone down as I am constantly checking the updated forecast either on my phone, ipad or PC. They are forecast plenty of snow but it doesn't appear to be getting as cold in that neck of the woods.
Tomorrow we could be waking up to a good covering of the white stuff, we will get as many horses out as we need to. I trained Cavite Beta in 2ft of snow one year and he won by a distance when he ran, he loved jumping around in it, there is an old picture of him on the right of this page.
There is a national shortage of shavings in the country and I have been told today that ours are increasing by 50 pence / bag, an increase of 6.5%. Bedding is the second largest expenditure I have behind wages. 4,700 GBP's worth of shavings arrive on Monday and in 7 or 8 weeks I will be out. My accountant has been suggesting that I increase my fees for a while now but I won't be doing that this season. If things continue to spiral upwards I will be left with no choice next season to increase them a little. As much as I love doing what I do I can't do it for nothing.
I have just collected Tilly from school who told me on the way home that she had spent the day trying to fly, she also told me in doing so she had hurt herself more than once! I told her she needs to flap her arms faster..............
Given the forecast I will have to arrange a trip away for Billy Biscuit, Full Shift and Trouble Digger, we may look to go somewhere on Sunday. I don't want to work either of the runners any closer to Saturday when Billy and Trouble Digger will hopefully be heading to Larkhill.
