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.