White Rabbits

by Hayley 

November 1st already... it won't be long before we're swallowed whole by Christmas, but for now we have a busy 11th month of the year ahead of us. Starting today. 

We have three runners at Newcastle this evening, the first of which will be three-year-old filly Symphonic who has been slow to mature and hasn't put her best foot forward at the races just yet, but, she does have plenty of potential and may be one to run over hurdles in future. Two-year-old filly You Little Beauty will be our second runner of the evening, with Highly Focussed  drawing the evening to a close in the last. We've had a lot of second places recently so we have everything crossed that one of them can go one better tonight. 

With the weather getting colder (temperatures have not reached double figures for a few days now) there's one or two horses that have dipped into their winter wardrobes and put their fluffy jumpers on. It's not quite hat, gloves and scarf weather yet but it won't be long before we need to start clipping as a few have started to change in their coats. Since the clocks went back and the evenings are drawing in earlier, the horses (especially the fillies) are feeling the benefits of our Equilux lighting, which mimics sunlight and prolongs daylight for an extra couple of hours. 

Gorse is especially happy with himself and enjoyed cuddles with a little visitor yesterday. Sired by 'Zebedee', Gorse always had the strong characteristics of the stallion: fresh, playful and effervescent. Even though he has really matured recently, it still goes to show what lovely, gentle animals they can be when in the company of children.