Rocco makes history too!

The week before last witnessed the writing of another page in the History of the Horse.

The indomitable Yeats, an 8 year old stallion from Ballydoyle in Ireland, became the first horse ever , in 207 years, to win The Gold Cup at Royal Ascot for the 4th time. Despite going off at odds of 6-4, nobody - not even his trainer - really believed he would do it but he travelled comfortably through the race and, when asked for a little more effort 3 furlongs out, he opened up his stride and set sail for the winning post with almost contemptuous ease.

Everyone who witnessed it knew they had seen the stuff of dreams and history in the making.

Will any stallion ever better him? It is unlikely in our lifetime.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our own equine superstar has been busy and making his little bit of history too! In his guise as AKA Madonna's Child, Rocco last weekend came first and second (for the first time ever) in the open class at a local dressage competition.

And he picked up a third rosette in the same class for being the Best Turned Out. Which just goes to prove that all the time spent polishing and plaiting the pony does pay off!

And to prove that he's not just a pretty face, we turned out for a long distance (c. 20 mile) Pleasure Ride on the Sunday and picked up a rosette for completing that too!

What a Star! The first two pictures show him enjoying a well earned rest in the shade with Ritz and Max.

The 'stable' birds also continue to be busy.

Max's brood of swallows have now left their nest above his water drinker and are perched on the beam alongside. Which is very nice..... except that they excrete so much guano that they have made it impossible for him to use his drinker and he has had to resort to a bucket of water until they leave 'home' in a few days' time!

The blackbird in the 'towerblock' nest in Rocco's stable has hatched her third brood this week too.

Usually it's possible to see a row of little beaks above the rim of the nest but this one is now so deep that their presence is manifested only by the noise they make as their parents flit in and out with food.

It will be a few more days before they plop out onto the floor to start learning to fly and then, again, we will have the problem of protecting them from over zealous retrievers until they are able to get off the ground! Oh, the stresses of country living........