A NEW YEAR BEGINS...
Despite the white roof scenery first thing in the morning, the sun broke through to deliver a pleasant amount of warmth by the time I arrived at Tokoro. Indeed, having decided to do Jaguar's first mucking out of the year, I was actually quite hot by the time I'd finished getting his stalls cleaned up to a point where even I'd be happy to sleep in them!

Courtesy JRA

After all the muscles had been woken up, Louis took Jaguar around the outer track at a canter, while Sophie managed a nicely-paced fast trot. When he came in to have his saddle taken off, I brushed him down with my hand and asked him if he was in a winning mood again this year - his eyes told he was, so watch out everyone, 'The Difficult Horse' is on the warpath...

Couldn't resist adding this image, sent through by JRA to celebrate the New Year. It's the year of the snake, by the way, which explains the little fella to the left - 2014 will be the year of the horse, so expect some nice ornaments and artwork to come through at that time.