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As requested by one of our regular readers (Possibly the only regular reader that I know of!) we are going to do an article on horses. It’s quite the email she sent me actually, apparently she was quite the hit at a Edinburgh speed dating event. Following several dates with several different men, she feels she made the right choice as the lucky suitor she choice bought her a horse! She is now preparing her horse for it’s first race, and wanted some advice.

First out, you should never just decide on impulse that you are going to enter your horse in a race. Before putting him in the starting gate there are several things you should know about your horse. An unprepared or inadequately prepared horse can not only be badly injured or worse on the track themselves, but they can also hurt another horse or rider.

So before committing your horse to a race, ask yourself a few questions:

• Is my horse ready?
• Who will ride my horse?
• Is the rider ready?
• Is my horse afraid of the gate?
• What will my horse do when it hears gun fire?
• Does my horse socialise well with other horses?

If you answered no to any of the above questions you should NOT enter him in a race. He’s not ready yet. Instead focus on training your horse until you can confidently answer yes to all of them.

By training on your own track, you can time your horse to see if he is ready to compete with others. Do your homework and find out what times are being achieved around the race track by other horses. This will give you a general idea if your horse would be able to compete against the rest or if you have a lot more training left to do before trying him out in a race situation.

If you plan on riding your horse yourself that’s great, but often you’ll need someone that is experienced depending on the rules. There are several reasons for this, such as the fact that your weight affects the speed your horse can achieve – that’s why professional jockeys are traditionally short and slender, the less they weight, the less their weight slows down the horse. If you need to hire someone they’ll need to have a little experience with your horse so that they are comfortable together as a team. Invite them out for a few tests on your own track; this gives you an opportunity to make sure that you are confident that the jockey is experienced in horse racing and won’t put your horse at risk.

Sometimes a horse has never been placed inside an enclosed area such as a starting gate, except when being moved from one location or another. Horses can get spooked or run off the minute they are released from the gate. One spooked horse can even spook the rest of the horses getting ready to start the race. This can also happen when the starting gun fires; a great way to test it is by occasionally using a starting gun in training sessions.

Have you ticked all the health boxes? Has your horse had a check over, it is ill in any way, do you have horse insurance in case something happens?
Once you’re confident that your horse is in tip-top shape, can handle all the situations that are experience during a race, and has a comparable speed with other horses of a similar size, then you can enter him into the race. You might not relax until after the race is over, but once it is you can take pride in knowing that win or not, you both did your best.

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Sheepdog trails in this country have been going on for a long time. They have become part of our history and heritage. Normally, in a trail the dog has to herd a flock of sheep in a controlled manor around fences, through fields, gates and enclosures in the fastest and most efficient way. These competitions normally take places in the farming and hillier areas of the country, they also are run in Ireland, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and they even take place in South Africa!

In order to enter the dog has to meet certain criteria. There is the usual list of paperwork items, such as proper vet registration and pet insurance to cover any injuries sustained, but the main things to think about are the condition of your animal, the age and health levels, and the breed.

These trails have probably been held for centuries, though there are no records proving exactly how long ago they began. They originated in the UK however, in the area that is now between England and Scotland. Infact, the name Borer Collie also originates from this area on the border. They were run as an opportunity for Shepherds to impress their friends with how well trained and skilful their animals were. More than this though, they doubled up as important social events that brought the local farming community together in one place where they could exchange ideas, trade, and more than anything kick back and enjoy themselves with old friends many of which they wouldn’t have seen since the last set of trails.

The different types of trails differ from place to place and event to event. They can involve anything from herding sheep through gates, through to full on treasure hunts that span across several miles of fields. How obedient the dog is plays a large factor into how well he/she scores, but by far the time it takes to complete the task is the most important factor to win nearly all trails.

If you are planning to compete in any trails this year, Show Hound would be more than interested to hear your story, and we will in fact to be happy to publish on this blog any personal accounts that are submitted. Please email me directly on (all one word) Sanjay Shelat at gmail dot com.

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Welcome to my brand new blog! With some luck - if you are reading this in retrospect - i will have a beautiful design, loads of great articles to read, and some top tips for all you readers who take your dogs to shows.

A simple beginning post to what I hope will be a blog to be proud of.

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