George, and a whole lot more besides......

What "did" George do on this day 50 years ago? The answer came via Anaglogs Daughter‏ @AnaglogsDaughtr

on TWITTER when they tweeted "50 years ago, On This Day at Yarmouth 15 June 1967, GEORGE @AnnDuffieldnews rode his first winner, Syllable, in the Burgess Apprentice 1/4-it was so long ago even George took a moment or two to recall past events! It is safe to say a “lot has happened since then”.

Roll on fifty years and he is still loving every minute, still gets a thrill when galloping a nice horse and still working all the hours God sends in his beloved garden. My days of grass cutting are more limited thanks to ever increasing and constantly demanding office related work. I used to enjoy cutting the grass around the yard, the roadside and the gallops and have many happy memories of tipping the tractor mover upside-down, ramming it into hedges and trees and sliding down banks so steep that it shouldn’t have been there in the first place. One day it tipped over on top of me after slidding down the bank at the entrance to Sun Hill, luckily the roll bars stopped it from doing any serious damage but I was still left covered in fuel. I still enjoy doing a bit when I can but, for some strange reason George never seems to trust me with machinery?

Today I left him to it as he strimmed around trees, Craig topped the grass gallops and Allen cut and trimmed acres of conifers around the horse walkers and house while I went off to the pub for a very nice lunch with Mayleen’s owner “Trevor Ingham” where I ate a goats cheese salad whilst wishing I had had Trevor’s fish and chips.

Most of the horses enjoyed a day out in paddocks with twenty odd of them going out for some fun in the sun, Anna had her head down in the office catching up on work she missed out on while on holiday. Issey spent the morning with two vets who were doing a small wind procedure on a filly who has been sounding like a steam engine on the gallops. She has won and run creditably despite her billowing soft palate so hopefully the small operation today will help her win far more races.

James and the others went about their usual Thursday routine while Agar and the captain put 25 horses through the water treadmill. ”The captain” (Aslam) had great news today when the post arrived with a certificate confirming he had passed his English test but sadly Agar did not but a very nice lady from the Adult learning and Skills’ service arrived to offer training for staff in various skills, including English courses and office skills. I have signed up our Hungarian friend Ferenc, three Indians - Agar, Pardeep and Aslam as well as Issey and Hayley on office related courses. Naas (stable lads association) are paying for all staff to have the opportunity for this training and must be congratulated on doing so.