Louise has her say

Before I pick up where Thelma left off - what do you think of my baby picture? I don't know what big T is complaining about, I think I look sweet myself. How Thelma could even think of having her photo taken with a bit of straw in her hair is beyond me!

But Thelma's right about one thing - the journey was awful and I lost a lot of weight fretting and worrying (and yes, a girl can be too thin!). So I too came off the other end not looking my best,( the Gaffer said we came off the lorry as wild as monkeys) all ribby and stary in my coat (but then there was no food). But the Gaffer soon put that right with lots of decent grub and forage but I must admit I wouldn't want to do that again in a hurry!

But I'm glad we come over because this place is really nice. There are other, older horses here (a couple of lads too) who I can parade in front of and flutter my eyelashes at flirtaciously. I'd quite like some of the nail varnish the Vickster uses, but a French Manicure would be more appropriate for me I'd say! I think I'd look really good with my toenails painted - maybe at Christmas. I understand that the farrier's coming next week so perhaps he'll do them for me.

Nothing much to report really. We've both slipped into a nice routine and I'm learning how to balance on three legs - take if from me its harder than it looks! The only other thing this week, which I hope won't happen too often, was worming, when the vet - who is sweet by the way - shoved a syringe in my mouth and squirted this vile tasting slime down my throat - YUK! Growing up is not all sweetness and light.

Love Louise

The Journey

Well I promised to tell you how we got here - and it was a bit of an adventure I can tell you! But first though, I hope you like the photo of me at about 10 weeks old - you wouldn't recognise me now and why they have to show off embarrassing baby photos is beyond me - but back to the story.

Ireland was pretty relaxed really as I was out most of the time. But towards the end of the summer I started coming in and out of the yard a bit more and meeting people. I think I was good - but not too good if you know what I mean. Anyway, one morning we had a very early wake up call - in fact it was so early it was still dark in the yard, but I was alert as there was so much going on. In fact a huge lorry arrived and new people with it. To my suprise they opened it up and it was full of other horses and I heard someone ask if the weanlings were ready - I had no idea they meant us!! It was a bit of a shock really, as some rather large men loaded me and Louise onto the lorry with all these strangers from other studs - quite unsettling. After a bit of a chat it was clear that we were all going to England whatever that meant. Well I'll tell you what it meant - 12 hours in a lorry, bumping along roads, up ramps onto the ferry (luckily it was a smooth crossing), off ramps the other side and then we had to change lorries at Chepstow - why they couldn't have paid for a direct line I don't know - before we finally arrived at our new home - not before time as there was no buffet service on board our lorry and I know I was hungry and feeling a bit dishevelled after such a long journey.

There was lots of noise as the lorry was opened up - by now we were the only ones left on board - and when the big doors opened it was dark again. Now Louise was quite nervous at this stage and was being quite the little mademoiselle and didn't want to step off the lorry - but some nice people came on board (who I now know as the Gaffer,the Mrs and the Vickster) and having looked them over, I decided that someone better take the lead and it better be me - so I led Louise down the ramp and into our stables. I must say that despite feeling rather tired and emotional I liked the look of the accommodation, and the meal they had laid on wasn't half bad either.

Thank goodness after all the goings on at last we were left alone - Lou and I had a bit of a chat over the divide between our stables and decided that we were ready for bed after what had been quite an exhausting day! Time enough to see our new surroundings in the morning. I must say having adventures are all very well but they are quite tiring for a girl, and its hard to keep looking ones best all the time!

Next time I'll tell you about my first impressions, but for now over to Louise.

Bonjour from Louise

Bonjour - my name is Louise and I'm sooooooooooooooo beauuuuuuuuuutiful. I'm a gorgeous chesnut with blond highlights, a white star and one white foot. I think I'm named after a character from the film Thelma referred to, played by another gorgeous redhead called Susan Sarandon.

I like to think I'm French because my mother is called Francophilia and my grandmother, who raced in France, was called Entente Cordiale. I also have a half brother who is racing at the moment, with great success, and his name is Quai D'Orsay - so I would be very at home at Longchamps with time for a bit of shopping in downtown Paris afterwards! My Mum's Dad, Lomitas had a great career in Germany so with all these continental connections I'm definitely pro-Europe.

I was born on 26th April (star sign Taurus) so I'm nearly six weeks younger than Thelma and, as you can see from my photo, at bit smaller. She bullies me and bites my backside but I don't mind - I'll soon catch up and turn the tables on her because I'm not only beautiful but I've also got character (according to the Gaffer). We share the same Dad so I think I'm just as well-bred as Thelma but I take after my mother who is another gorgeous chesnut - is there a theme here?

My groom is the Vickster, a pretty slip of a girl, with whom I am bonding very well. I like to nibble the peak of her hard hat while she's grooming me and I play a game with her out in the field of walking off just as she's going to grab my headcollar. Its great fun - but it seems to get her rather cross, so I only do it occasionally now just to show her who's boss. She picked my foot up the other day and I lost my balance and sort of capsized - the Gaffer said with balance like that I'd never get around Tattenham Corner, wherever that is.


I'm in the box next to Thelma and we can chat and gossip over the divider but I find her rather dull at night. She tends to eat for England and likes to go to bed early - borrrrrring! I, on the other hand, nibble for France and am quite active at night, staying up late and making a terrible mess of my bedding. The Vickster complains every morning, wondering what I've been up to. I might tell you if you log in next week.

Au revoir - Louise

The story so far

Welcome to our thoroughbred diaries. We hope you enjoy what you read and, if you do, will tell other people about us.

Who are we and why should you be interested in us?
We are two thoroughbred fillies who were born in Ireland earlier this year. Just over 6 weeks ago we were brought over to the UK to be taught how to be racehorses, and we thought that you might like to come on this journey with us and follow our progress onto the racecourse and, if we are any good, into the winners enclosure. It could be quite an adventure.

At the moment we don't have proper fancy racing names and so our owners have given us what they call stable names.

Mine is Thelma - I'm the tall brunette with the white star and I was born on 6th March 2009 (star sign Pisces, which is quite appropriate given Mum's name). I'm the boss in our stable as I'm older and wiser than Louise, and someone has to keep her and all her 'french' ideas in their place. She will no doubt introduce herself later on.

People tell me that I'm well bred and I have no reason to doubt them. My dad (those in the know call him my Sire) is Primary who is a bit of a star at his Stud in Ireland (actually he's jet setting in Chile at the moment), and my Mum (Dam to the smart set) is Seaborne and actually I think I rather look like both of them. Dad did rather well on the racecourse until he got injured and I think that's where he picked up his rather jet-set ideas as he raced in Italy and America. He also mixed it up with some fancy types - I’m going to name drop here - such as Papal Bull, Ivan Denisovitch, Horatio Nelson, George Washington, Sir Percy, Red Clubs and Pressing just to name a few, so I suppose he's entitled to have a few grand ideas. Mum led a quieter life but won some races for a well known Trainer so she's no slouch, so I guess I’ve got what people call ‘potential‘. My grandfathers were a bit smart too - on Dad’s side is Giants Causeway who really was a bit of a superstar, and Mum’s Dad was Slip Anchor who won The Derby as did his Dad (Shirley Heights) and Grandad (Mill Reef). But as I overheard someone in the stable say the other day ‘handsome is as handsome does’ and I guess I have quite a lot to live up to!



Going back to my stable name, apparently it’s the name of the lead in a well known film - I don’t know about that - but according to what I’ve heard there was a tall dark one (Thelma - like me) and a smaller redhead (Louise, of course). They seemed to be a bit wild from what I understand and had some quite hair-raising adventures. We could take take after them - not sure myself if that would be a good or bad thing?

So who needs to be introduced - well there are our owners of course. I call her the ‘Mrs’ and him ‘The Gaffer’- they seem to be in charge of us - or is it the other way around - and there is the Vickster as well. The Vickster helps out at stables every day and mostly looks after Louise (spoils her a bit if you ask me) but sometimes we swap over - particularly if Louise is being a bit uppity! The fourth member of the Team we call the 'Mysterious Broom Man' because he's always walking behind us with the yard brush in his hand.

Our stables and fields are very busy places. There are other horses, people, dogs, sheep, geese, helicopters, tractors and even an Alpaca. I’m used to it now but, after the quiet of Ireland, it was all a bit of a shock to the system. But now that I'm starting to settle in it's actually quite nice as there’s always something going on, and something different to look at so I don’t get bored.

Next time I thought I'd tell you a bit about the journey over and my first week in England. I won't pretend it wasn't tough packing up and leaving home for somewhere new, but I'm here and I've heard people saying that I'm doing well, so it could have been worse!

Bye for now - Thelma.