by Hayley
It is hard to know whether Sun Hill is more beautiful in the winter or the summer; winter sees the Dales transform into a Narnia-esque landscape, hills topped with snow and trees silver with frost, whereas summer ensures that you enjoy a sea of green, flowers and wildlife aplenty with the views boasting the very same hills, this time golden under the summer sun. Today was a lovely summer day, 20+ degrees with glorious sunshine bouncing down on the horses backs - they all look great and the sun always makes the fillies very happy! One of the two-year-old boys was feeling very well indeed when he made a post-workout bid for freedom. He didn't get far, he took himself to the treadmill! With a fair few of the unraced two year olds queuing up to run, stalls work is just about a daily ritual at the moment and we did more of this today. As you know, the horses are well used to the stalls having been driven through them as yearlings, then ridden through every day once backed and continually ridden through once in full work. The last stage before they can go to the races, requires a horse to be locked in the stalls, stand sensibly, wait patiently while one or two of it's pals are loaded before jumping out upsides.
As an example of this, we've dug out this short video, depicting the more experienced 'Charming Power' and the grey 'Troop', who was having his first time jumping out of the stalls with company.