It’s been an eventful few months since my last blog post and a lot has happened since I finished my assignment as the Bidpoint man in June. I had the rest of the summer off but the free time wasn’t wasted as I managed to get to grips with the garden. I also had a gin or two, did some decorating, and managed to get on the wife’s nerves a fair bit – Mrs S will confirm that I’m quite good at that!

As summer turned to autumn the search for a new career commenced, although doors were slamming shut left, right and centre and the self styled coolest 51 year old in Warwickshire was starting to get a bit concerned. Then a surprise lifeline arrived from G&T Ellis Racing.

How did that happen? I had never put a rug or a head collar on a horse and thought that mucking out three stables an hour was quite good so when I was blowing out of my arse on the first morning I can only imagine what Tom and Gina were thinking!

I know what I was thinking, I’d found a new lease of life and by the Tuesday of the first week I knew this was for me. I loved my new ‘office’, I was just hoping that Tom, Gina and the team felt the same way!

It took four days before I was issued with my first bollocking, although it was quite a mild one as bollockings go! I had managed to get a couple of horses mixed up and popped them in the wrong stables. An easy mistake to make you might think with a barn full of brown horses… except one was black and the other was brown. Anyway, no harm was done and there was plenty of ‘banter’ the following morning.

One week has turned into four and I’m working hard and learning something new every day. The soft office hands are a thing of the past and I love being part of this team – it’s also finally helped me to leave the ‘AGA man’ behind (I’m ‘big bear’ now).

There’s plenty for me to write about so my blog posts will be a lot more regular as I give an inside view of life in a busy point-to-point yard – with lots of photos of course! There’ll also be lots of stories about standing in a field watching horse racing, plus, there will be news from the trainer and the champ about our plans for the season ahead. Gin might also get a mention from time to time but there will definitely NOT be a blog about the yard Christmas party!

Check back later this week for an update from the trainer about our plans for the busy festive period.