Rolling fields, raising dreams

Spring brings dry fields, quiet sunrises and the patter of new hooves – for Lucy Procter, it’s the season of hope for the futures that may lie ahead

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”

• Charles Dickens

Having watched the foaling cameras all night, Himself is now asleep – I’m watching the sunrise through the window, visible behind the stables on the screen … and wishing for rain.
Living in the countryside, BV readers will be aware of this phenomenon: farmers are never happy about the weather. It’s either too wet or too dry, too cold or too hot, too muddy or too dusty. The sun may be warm on our backs at this time of year but, out of direct sun, the air is cold, the soil is cold and, combined with being so dry, the grass has not started growing yet. Fabulous news for me, as it means I do not have to be mowing the expanses of verges around the stud. But not great news for our horses, desperate to enjoy munching fresh grass after a winter’s diet of dry hay.

Despite this, most horses are now out during the day, picking at what grass they can find. The lack of rain has at least enabled us to roll the fields, removing poaching from land that was grazed during the winter when the ground was soft and hooves – supporting half a ton of horse – sank deep into the rain-softened earth, churning it into deeply pocketed mud. Left unrolled, the fields would not only be full of leg-breaking holes when dry, but they would not grow good grass.

Tricking nature’s calendar
Our mares are still coming in at night, either to keep them under pre-foaling camera observation or to help promote an early reproductive cycle.
A mare’s reproductive system ‘shuts down’ through the winter: nature’s way of helping ensure that foals in the wild are born in summer after an 11-month gestation, when weather and grazing are at their best, to give a vulnerable newborn the best chance of survival.

At a stud farm this is not an issue – we can keep foals born in late winter sheltered during inclement weather and their dams well-fed.
The primary environmental factor causing mares’ reproductive systems to cycle normally is increased hours of light. Using artificial light, we can trick the mares’ reproductive systems into thinking that it is late spring. This means that they start cycling earlier and we will be able to take them to a stallion earlier. The goal is to have a foal born as soon as possible after 1st January – the official birthday for all racehorses, when their racing age increases by a year – the following year.

We are predominantly now breeding foals to race on the flat as two and three-year-olds: therefore the earlier in the year they are born, the more well-grown and forward the foal will be by the time of the November/December foal sales and by the time they go into training a year later. When a foal is destined for National Hunt, they will not go into training until they are three or four years old, thus time will have ironed out any growth differences between an early and late born foal. This is no different to the child born in September, who is almost a year older and more forward when they first start school, compared with the child born in August. Usually, by the time they are at senior school, there is unlikely to be any difference between them.

Everything feels possible
Although at this time of year the days are lengthening and there is a lot to do, it is always a time of dreams and possibilities as we watch our new-born foals galloping and leaping with energy and joie de vivre.
What will each youngster make at the sales? What racecourses are these young legs destined to gallop? What races will they win?
There is no guarantee that any of them will even get to a racecourse, let alone win any races, but for now, each and every one of them carries our hopes and dreams.
We look forward to watching them grow and develop over the coming months.