A longish sort of day...

hmm, things aren't really going our way at the moment, Contendo, having won the best turned out award (about the only thing we seem to have won in living memory), stepped at the 3rd hurdle and fell sending Lucy into the ground at some speed; she took the full impact with her head and was unconscious for a few minutes, further to examination in the racecourse medical room she seemed quite badly concussed and was then transferred to Ayr hospital where she will spend a few days under observation. Luckily Mrs A was present so she was able to accompany her to hospital while I nipped home with the horses, scooped up some bits & bobs and went back to Ayr to deliver them and collect Rose, Lucy seemed a bit better by that stage though still had her face covered in racecourse mud, I spoke to her this morning and she seemed a bit brighter however she needs to have a few easy days and despite her protests, she is best to stay where she is, the horse on the other hand has already been up the all-weather three times this morning and may now go to Kelso on Sunday.
It had been a delight to walk the course earlier in the afternoon and find the track back in such good condition, Scotland's grade one course needs a grade one surface and it was immaculate which is quite the revers of what it was like a year ago, let's hope the weather isn't too unkind to it this winter. All-in-all the racecourse & medical services responded very well to our little drama, there is something appallingly helpless about having to stand and watch as an incident like this is dealt with, I think Mrs A and I probably feel about 10 years older today (we're not used to late nights!) - Lucy has shown a glimmer of interest in going on a Ski Instructor's course after Christmas, right now that seems like a brilliant idea to me..