Bliss and Misty’s Horse Trainer gave me a choice of what time did I want to be collected from my Hotel the following morning. The first training session on the gallops started at 7.am. I decided that I would get ready for the second session, being picked up from my Hotel at 8.30am. I would have needed to have got up at 6.am (5.am UK time) to have got ready have breakfast and book out of the Hotel. After the wine tasting the night before, there was a good chance that I might have ignored my alarm call.

I arrived at the stables just as Misty was going to be shod, only trouble was Misty didn’t like that idea at all, she was really playing up not allowing the Farrier to pick up her feet and moving quickly around her stable to get out of his way. After ten minutes he stopped trying and went on to do Bliss. Misty had never had shoes on her feet, so there was a fair chance that on the first attempt she might have been a little difficult. Bliss have previously had front shoes put on at Denbury, after she was a little sore on her feet when she had an infection in one foot, she didn’t bother about having shoes one bit. Misty will have to have a mild sedative so not to upset her on her first shoeing. For the work that she was going to do it really was not a problem for her not to have had shoes for a couple of days.

The first Horses that I was to see on the gallops, were fifteen older Horses that had previously raced. We met the Horses and Riders at the gallops, a very short distance from the stables. I have seen training facilities and gallops in the UK that have been very good, but these French gallops were in a different league. We walked through a gate into fenced off woods of many hundreds of acres. The first part that the Horses used was a circled warm up area, to loosen them up, the surface was deep silica sand. After the warm up we walked to the gallops. There is a photograph on the new photo page of the gallops. The photo gives you an idea of what they are like. I saw four lanes, there may have been more, that are as long as your eyes can see, each one partitioned from the next by the woods, again the surface being deep silica sand that a tractor and machine levels every fifteen minutes. The sand is soft and has a lot of give, that will protect the Horses legs when training and galloping.

We went with another group of Horses to watch them train before the Yearling the same age as Bliss and Misty went out. When we got back from second training session, Bliss and Misty were in a Horse Walker. This is a large fenced circle partitioned into six cubicles that the Horses are put into. It turns as a carousel, making the Horses walk around. This was the first time that Bliss and Misty had ever uses a Walker. I would have expected them to have been very wary of it. On the contrary they looked very happy in the machine. It was probably because I was standing at the gate, for as they pasted me, both stopped for a few moments. The partitioned areas that the Horses walk in are large and they are able to stops for a few moment, walking on before the partition gets very close.

After using the walker Bliss and Misty were taken back to their stable to be saddled for their first ride. Not knowing how well Bliss and Misty had been broken the Trainer needed to see them being ridden on a lead in a small sand school. The Trainer is responsible for both the Horses and the Riders. If the Horses had not been broken properly either could have been injured. I was a little concerned that Bliss and Misty may not have been broken to the standard that the Trainer expected. Both Fillies were mounted by their riders outside of their stables and walked to the sand school. This was the first time that they had been walked out with each other, in fact with any other Horses at all. They didn’t let me down. Although being led on lead ropes, both were calm and well behaved. Within minutes of being in the sand school it was obvious that both Bliss and Misty had been broken well and were allowed to ride on their own, walking, trotting, turning and stopping impeccably. So well that the Trainer allowed them with another older Horse in company to be taken to the woods for a ride.

Bliss and Misty with their riders were led by two of the stable lads along the road to the woods, just in case they spooked at things that they had never seen before. I walked behind to watch them. Once they got to the woods there was very little for me to see of Bliss and Misty, as they turned into the woods, as in the photo, they were taken off of their lead ropes and they disappeared. I stood around for nearly half an hour waiting for them to return, so that I could take some more photographs. Initially I thought that I would get bored waiting for their return, but it was quite busy with other Horses using the woods on the silica sand paths especially made for Horses. When they came into sight I was a little relieved, I was unsure how they would react in unfamiliar surroundings. They were looking around as I would have expected, and by the look of it they had needed to be pushed on a bit. They walked from the woods back to the stables without being led, a large lorry and a couple of cars passed them. Bliss and Misty took no notice what so ever, just going in to a little trot now and then to keep up the lead Horse. This again was a first for them. Riding in company with new riders in unfamiliar surroundings. I as so pleased with the both of them.

It was 1.30pm and time to say goodbye to Bliss and Misty. I spent more time than I should in their stables, spoiling them with the herbal treats. I should think that the next time that I make a visit to Chantilly, both Bliss and Misty will have changed so much that I will hardly be able recognise them. I know that I have sent them to the right place. If they are good enough to win races, in Chantilly is where they will get a great opportunity to do so.

During the coming week I will change the photograph over. They will relate to today’s Diary.

It is cloudy with a bit of drizzle at Denbury tonight. At this time there will be no Astro Cams. If the weather changes I will turn them on.

It took an hour and a half to load Bliss and Misty on the Horse box this evening. They just didn’t want to get on. I thought that they may not be going to France today. We tried to entice them with herbal treats, their feed but nothing was working. With one person on the lead rope and two behind holding hands and pushing still got us nowhere. A number of times we managed to get Bliss up the ramp with her two front legs in the box, but she wouldn’t go any further, and would just push back making it impossible to stop her getting herself off of the box. Misty wouldn’t even put one foot on the ramp. I had gone to the Veterinaries this morning to get them a mild sedative in case they played up on the journey. I gave them that hoping that it would sedate them, so that they would not realise what was happening to them. I just as well had not bothered, for it hardly touched them. We led Arnie on to the Horse box hoping that the Fillies might follow him up, even with Arnie calling out to them, they wouldn’t follow. Three more people from the Horse box yard came to help and by brute force pushing and pulling from behind we got Bliss into the Box. We thought Misty would follow Bliss straight on, but no way was she having any of it, so we needed to push and pull as with Bliss. It was well gone the Badger feeding time by the time they were on the lorry. Now they are on their way to a complete change of life.

We really did believe that Bliss and Misty being so laid back would go on the Horse box without any problem. You can practice boxing with them, but that can back fire on you as the Horses know what is going to happen to them, and know what the open back of a Horse Box is, and wont even go near it. Or you can try what we did this evening, hoping that not knowing what is was, they would be curios. You just cant tell with Horses.

A couple of years back we had a couple of Horses here for a couple of days. They must have boxed on a number of occasions previously to get here. They were collected from Denbury from a Horse transport company from Newmarket, so there was no way that they could not be collected. I was out when the lorry got here, but by all accounts they would not load. There was only the Driver and one other person here to get them loaded. Under no circumstances would I have let it happen if I had been here, for the Driver whipped the Horses on to the box. It took a long while to load Bliss and Misty, but they were not hurt in doing so.

I may not have told you about Indy, when he was sold earlier in the year. Jim a friend of mine had purchased him. He came to collect Indy in a two horse box. In between the lorry cab and the partition was a gap so that you could go and check the Horses. Indy was like Bliss and Misty not wanting to load. We eventually got him loaded, and as the ramp was lifted all hell let lose. Indy seeing the outside from the cab window decided that that was the way he was going. He tried to jump over the partition breaking a part of it and getting stuck. He broke Jim’s Wife’s nose who was try to stop him from getting over the partition, and finished up in a position that if we were unable to get him back, he would have broken his legs and would have been put down. Indy was eventually released none the worse for the experience, but it was close. Jim came back a few weeks later with a different box. To make sure that it didn’t happen again he was sedated and boxed alright getting back to Jim’s without any problems.

I will let you know when and how Bliss and Misty arrived in France in tomorrows Diary. I must admit it has been very hard to let them go and we will really miss them both. We are all bit choked up that they have gone, but they need to go on from here, to try to do what they have been bred for.