It is with great sadness we report the lost of Captain Kurt this week. He unfortunately broke a hind leg in his race at Kelso. Losing a horse is never easy regardless of what you do with them – Kurtis was breed locally, in Alford, and we had fully produced him from the age of 3 and he really started to show improvement in his most recent hurdles. It all seems very unfair, a young and strong horse who had so much to give. This will hit the yard hard as we haven’t been the luckiest over the last year. We lost a few horses in 2018 for various different reason and for a small yard it makes you question why you keep going, with numbers depleting, the days just seem to get longer and for what reward? The reward is seen throughout though and sometimes you need to remind yourself that happy horses are the biggest reward. Caring for these wonderful animals and getting to watch them race and do what they love, giving there all for you until the end and forming bonds with them is a feeling that can never be replaced. Each horse is special and here we like to take the time to get to know each horse individually, one of the benefits we believe of having a small yard. The yard will be a strange place without Kurtis and his funny little quirks and he will be sorely missed by everyone at Conglass.
Last week we also had Lovely Schtuff and Bermondsey Belle at Newcastle. Unfortunately, this was not a particularly great day either. Lovely Schtuff unseated his rider at the third fence so we could not tell much from his race, other than the fact he enjoyed himself jumping and running upfront without a jockey! Bermondsey Belle ran in her first hurdle, having run on the flat previously, she jumped great but pulled up when the pace quickened and she didn’t love the heavy ground. This was a great learning exercise for her as since coming to us last year she has been off with injury so we were keen to get her jumping and out to the racecourse. Nevertheless, we should always be grateful that both horses returned to the yard in one piece and will go on to race another day.
Pictured below: Captain Kurt flying a hurdle, Captain Kurt show off his teeth, Captain Kurt drying off and Bridane High having a snooze.
