Kayf Aramis continues to enjoy his roadwork around the local village lanes.

After that it's back for some well earned rest

After the wet summer holiday, Kayf Aramis was glad to get his new shoes on 

 and start doing roadwork this week.

Kayf Aramis and the gang continue to enjoy their holidays!
They are lucky to enjoy a 10 acre field full of grass courtesy of a very kind farmer and while away their time sleeping and eating and generally enjoying each others company.


Kaylina Aramis, who sustained a life threatening injury to her knee in March, continues to improve.  There is a small scar left, which is remarkable considering the extent of the injury.  There is still swelling around the knee, which although worrying, does not seem to affect her and hopefully will go with time.  She is putting the weight she lost after the surgery and developing into a lovely horse. 


Zayfire and Berlayf are both looking extremely well, they have grown and have lovely shiny coats.  Zayfire must be getting on for 16.2 now!  He's a very imposing horse and will be really impressive once he gets to the track.  Berlayf is very different to his half brother, smaller but  power packed, his sire being the sprinter Bertolini.  


Their sires were all successful at Royal Ascot:-
Kayf Tara won the Gold Cup, Zafeen the St James's Palace Stakes and Bertolini was third in the Jersey Stakes and the Kings Stand.

Kayf Aramis has raced 78 times, won 7 races and been placed 22 times, winning over £152,000. He has raced every season since he was 2, both flat and hurdles, winning at the Cheltenham Festival and the York Dante Festival.

This is a remarkable record - he is a remarkable horse.
In the summer he is reunited with his dam and other family members for his annual holiday.

Kayf Aramis

All quiet in the field this morning after yesterday's escapades.  The calm after the storm.
The horses were very relaxed and had a communal sleep!

Diary of a racehorse on holiday

Kayf Aramis has raced 78 times, won 7 races and been placed 22 times, winning over £152,000. He has raced every season since he was 2, both flat and hurdles, winning at the Cheltenham Festival and the York Dante Festival.

This is a remarkable record - he is a remarkable horse.
In the summer he is reunited with his dam and other family members for his annual holiday.




When I check the horses in the morning, I start with a head count - 7.  This morning there were only 3!  A neigh from the neighbours field soon showed that they had joined the alpacas in their rich tall grassy paddock.  


The wind had blown down a heavy branch onto the fence lowering it and 4 of them had jumped over.  Kayf Aramis, being very sensible, was still in the field, or perhaps he didn't fancy jumping!


I caught Zayfi and Berlayf straight away and put them back through the gate.  That left the little filly Kaylina and pony companion Merlin who proceeded to have a great time for the next 2 hours running around with their new alpaca friends!  All this time Kayfi watched over the fence bemused.     




to be continued ...

Diary of a racehorse on holiday

Kayf Aramis with his dam Ara

Kayf Aramis has raced 78 times, won 7 races and been placed 22 times, winning over £152,000. He has raced every season since he was 2, both flat and hurdles, winning at the Cheltenham Festival and the York Dante Festival.


This is a remarkable record - he is a remarkable horse.


In the summer he is reunited with his dam and other family members for his annual holiday.


Today he took cover with his dam under the trees as the rain lashed down.  He seemed quite content to rest for a while out of the wind, until his full sister Kaylifa came and moved him on so she could stand with Ara.  He then went back to grazing with the others who seemed not to care about the rain.  


to be continued ...

Holiday time!
It's been a busy week! Hard to believe that just a week ago Kayfi was in the hustle and bustle of the York Dante meeting - he couldn't be further from it now!  


A very kind farmer has let the horses use a 10 acre field nearby. He had been letting them stay in the paddock behind his house, but after all that rain a few weeks ago, they managed to trash the field! Last week John Hughes horse transport managed to squeeze all 5 into his horsebox and moved them to their new home.  On Tuesday I went with John Hughes to pick up Kayfi.  Becky was on hand at Grange Farm to give him a tearful send off with the promise that she will come and visit him at home.
On the way back, we picked up the injured Kaylina as I thought she was now ready to go back out in the field.  It was lovely to see Kayfi and Kaylina meet up.  They last saw eachother when Kaylina had just been born, but there was definitely a bond between them and they have been constant companions since being turned out in the field together.

Kayf Aramis received an Olympic welcome as he returned home for his holidays !


He is back for a a few weeks well earned rest after racing all winter.   

Kayfi at York with Becky, photo by a fan

It was great to be back at York - it is such a lovely track and everyone is so friendly. 

Kayfi looked fantastic, coat shining, so fit and well, you wouldn't have thought he had been running all winter or that this was his 78th run!  All credit to Nigel Twiston-Davies and the team and especially to Becky who looks after him.  He did his little jog around the parade ring which is always a good sign.  He was very keen to post and obviously enjoying himself.  Unfortunately, he did not get the run of the race, as the trainer put it.  He broke slowly and found a wall of horses in front of him and to the side of him, completely blocked in and unable to get to the front where he likes to be.  He was short of room and from there on in there was no way he was ever going to make up the ground.  He has never been the speediest and has to make the most of his stamina.  But he came back very pleased with himself and stood for photos from his adoring fans.  The kayfaramismembers who attended all had a great day, all backed winners and enjoyed meeting the star himself!  

 3 wins at the Dante Festival

Very exciting that Kayf Aramis is declared for the 2m2f race on Thursday at the Dante Festival.  


His second win at York was with Marc Halford who gave him a cracking ride to beat Great as Gold by 1 1/4 lengths.  


His third and most impressive win came after his Cheltenham Festival victory.  Johnny Murtagh took the ride and they were at the front the whole way until the home straight when Kayfi just took off and cruised home to win by 13 lengths!  Johnny smile when he got off said it all, he didn't ride an easier winner all week.  Even the commentator said "you don't see that every day".


So he's back at York again on Thursday.  This will be his 78th race - win, lose or draw, Kayf Aramis Racing will be there to cheer him on!

Kayf Aramis enjoyed himself on the gallops today!  The sun was shining and his coat gleaming!

Kayfi was entered today for the 2m2f handicap at York on Dante day 17th May.  

This is his favourite race.  He has won it 3 times with 3 different jockeys.  

The first time was when he was 4 and the distance of the race was 2m4f with Paul Quinn riding.  Kayfi had won for the first time coming out of the fog at Bath, went on to Pontefract for a good 2nd place in the marathon handicap and at York he came from last to first.

I have been very lucky to hire a laser from Equine Thor so I can continue to treat Kaylina's injured knee.  They were so fantastic they even posted it out same day so I start using it at the weekend!  Tim Bradford has been very helpful in advising on how to use it and he will be back out next week to see how Kaylina is getting on.  My job now is to get her to stand still while I treat her knee!

Kaylina's road to recovery continues with a visit from the physio today.  


He was recommended by the vet and I have to say before that I wasn't aware there was a physio for horses, but anyway he came today.  He was very thorough, took all the details of her injury,  examined her all over, measured the swollen knee against the other knee, measured how much she could bend the knee.  He then used laser treatment around the whole knee.  It was clear she still feels pain in parts of the knee, particularly around the back.  He suggested I try to hire a laser so I can do the treatment myself as the cost of having him do it everyday for the next 2 weeks would be prohibitive.  So I'm on the search for a Thor laser... In the meantime I will continue to walk her for 20 minutes twice a day using raised poles to make her lift the knee, I pick up her leg and make her bend the knee and then massage it.  At least she can go out in the paddock all day and luckily she doesn't mind the rain that continues to fall!

Kayf Aramis was in great form on the gallops this morning!  He looked super fit, his coat gleaming in the rare sunshine, relishing his canter work.


Everyone is looking forward to seeing him at York a week on Thursday!

The rain continues to fall in Gloucestershire and water levels are rising!  

I battled through the rain this morning to check the horses, who were very wet and muddy.  They have been taken in by a very kind farmer, as their previous field is being grown for hay.  When they moved in there about 6 weeks ago the field was bone dry, now there is standing water in parts - not a good time to find out my wellies leak!

The vet was out to Kaylina this morning and recommended physiotherapy for her knee which is still very swollen after her injury.  This sounds expensive but definitely worth a try. 

   

Today is officially the start of Kayf Aramis Racing!  I'm really looking forward to an exciting year!


I had a lovely message from Pontefract racecourse, where Kayfi started out his career on the flat back in 2005 :- "he's gone on to such great things! A lovely horse :)" 


He ran some great races at Pontefract, where they hold a series of long distance races including the Pontefract Marathon, in which he ran a cracking race to finish 2nd on his way to his first win at York.


I planned to go and see him on Sunday to give him an apple but it rained non-stop Saturday night and all day Sunday, really miserable.  I'll try and pick a dry day!


The young horses are getting better, bigger & stronger everyday although their field is waterlogged in parts, more a home for ducks then racehorses!  


Kaylina continues to go out in the paddock everyday for exercise, but her knee is still swollen and the vet is due back on Thursday to re-examine.  Hopefully it is just a case of needing more time.

10 years ago today Kayf Aramis was born, he had quite an audience as it was a Saturday morning and the farmer, his family and even their pony came to watch!  Kayfi was very small, his body seemed crumpled up and the tip of one of his ears was bent over. 

No one would ever have dreamed they were looking at a future Cheltenham Festival winner!

Kaylina went out into the paddock for the first time today since her injury.  She was so pleased to be out, almost as pleased as her owner!  She did have a gallop around, not surprisingly, so fingers crossed she shows no ill effects tomorrow.  

Until her injury, she had always lived out in a field with her dam and full sister and was inseparable from her sister's two foals, Zayfire & Berlayf until they went into pre-training. She even got to meet big bro' Kayf Aramis as he was home for his hols and was standing outside the field shelter watching when she was born.  In fact "Kayfi" refused to leave his dam's side, and it took several attempts to get him into the top field, so that mare and foal could be left in peace!  

Today received confirmation from the trainer that Kayfi is fit and well after a few days break and has suffered no ill effects from his run at Cheltenham.  He will be entered in the 2 mile 2 handicap at York, where he notched up 3 wins in the same race, the last by a very impressive 13 lengths!  Johnny Murtagh had a great big grin on his face when he dismounted in the winners enclosure! 


Kayfi always enjoys his outings to York and has a very impressive record there.  I also love York, having studied language and linguists there.  My pony Misty used to go up with me (she is remembered in araMIS)  and I once rode her to campus through a corridor past the library - some poor students must have thought they were hallucinating!

Monday 23rd April

Kaylina enjoying the sunshine!

  

Kaylina has made such astounding progress over the weekend  that the vet agreed she can start going back out in the paddock in the next few days.  

She has proved herself every bit as tough as full brother Kayf Aramis and we can once more dream of seeing her on the racetrack next year running for KayfAramisRacing.

On Thursday "Kayfi" had his 14th run at Cheltenham.  He has a fantastic record at Cheltenham and hopes were high, but with conditions changing overnight to soft and having to carry 11stone 8, he got tired and for only the 2nd time in his career was pulled up.  He looked awesome before the race, super fit and very keen on the way to post, so it was a shame he was unable to give his true running.  His faithful lass reports him to be very well after the race so he'll be back!

Overshadowing preparations for the start of the new Kayf Aramis Racing club has been the unfortunate injury to Kaylina (full sister to Kayfi and the last of the 4 Kayfs).  She sustained a horrible injury to her knee out in the field, caused by the severe cutting back of hedging by the landowner.  Over the last 6 weeks, she has been fighting for her life.  She was first stitched up and bandaged at home, but infection took hold and she was rushed to the vets for emergency surgery.  This appeared to go well, but when the wound broke down, she was sent home with strong antibiotics and a warning that she might not pull through.  After a sleepless weekend, the vet returned to re-examine and confirmed that Kaylina was responding to the antibiotics.  In the last 3 weeks, she has made terrific progress, the wound is healing at a fantastic rate (with grateful thanks to Hannah and her bandaging skills).  The challenge now is to reduce the swelling from around the knee and get the movement back, for which the vet has prescribed anti-inflammatories, bandaging and walking out in hand.

Yesterday  I walked Kaylina out of her stable for the first time and she enjoyed a pick at grass. She was so pleased to be outside!   When I checked on her later in the day, she was lying down fast asleep!  

This morning, there is less swelling around the knee and she enjoyed another walk around the school.  After so many weeks of worry and sleepless nights, I can now look forward to her rejoining the others out in the field, hopefully soon.