Brundeanlaws

Harriet Graham trains at Brundeanlaws set in the quiet and unspoilt Scottish Border hills, but only 3 miles from the main A68  Newcastle to Edinburgh road.

With the completion of a new stable block in 2005, we have 19 boxes in two separate yards. The new stables are used for horses that are actually racing, whilst the other block (built in 1999), is kept for new arrivals, horses resting between races or up and coming youngsters. We also have a horse walker, All-Weather gallop and All-Weather school as well as grass gallops and various schooling facilities.

Gallops

Having the Border Hills on our doorstep, we have access to a wide variety of grass gallops including short uphill spins, long undulating canters and a long, stiff climb. We have also just built an All-Weather gallop at Brundeanlaws in the field next to the stables that incorporates a 3f oval with a 2f up hill sprint. This will allow us to do long canters, short fast work and keep in full operation even in bad weather. We also have a superb, one mile, oval, flat grass gallop. This flat oval gallop is ideal for getting a serious bit of work into the horses without taking too much out. In particular, young horses enjoy it as they find it so much easier than the hills. All our gallops are an easy hack from the yard.

All of our schooling fences have been relocated to the inside of our new All Weather circuit next to the stables. These include 3 flights of hurdles, 5 chase fences and we also have a selection of logs, tyres and small cross country fences. We use the latter to start the youngsters over which also teaches them to jump quickly and accurately.

Where possible, we like to take young horses to shows and hunter trials to give them experience of an event as well as a jumping education. Some of the horses that we have trained have started by BHS eventing (for example Harry Hooly) and we are proud of the fact that several have been successful in that field after their racing careers have finished.

Hacking

We have access to thousands of acres of open hill land  over which we ride every day. The ditches, burns and boggy ground they encounter teaches young horses to look after themselves which should hold them in good stead on the racecourse. The amount of land at our disposal also enables us to vary our rides every day and to include natural obstacles to jump, which all helps to stop the horses getting bored. This is particularly useful for older horses and those that have come from big stables with limited facilities. In the winter, there is also always the chance of meeting up with the Jed Forest or Border hounds on some of our regular rides.

Grazing

We have six small paddocks and one large field to turn the horses out into when at grass. Whenever possible, we like to get the horses to be turned out for a couple of hours in one of the paddocks. This helps to keep them happy to have a pick of grass and a roll and a buck. In the summer they are turned out into our big 20 acre field to enjoy the lush grass and sunshine.

We also have a sandpit under cover to allow the horses to have a roll even in the worst weather.

Technology

Away from the horses themselves, we use technology to help us to find suitable races, using the Wetherbys internet service. This service gives us a list of races for a set of given requirements up to 3 months in advance which can be searched for specific things e.g. distance, handicap bands, novice etc. This saves us from wading through countless Racing Calendars looking or races. it also helps us to track the number of horses entered and declared in races to help us to decide in which race to run. In the past, this has helped us to pick up some easy place prize money.

The internet also helps us to analyse races that we have entered using the Racing Post's excellent form history and entries listings. We also use the race video history that can be viewed on both the Racing Post and At The Races web sites for pre and post race analysis.

We are great believers in giving better feedback to our owners and use e-mail and text messages to keep owners informed of entries, declarations, going conditions and the health of their horse.