Student Blog from Luke Buchanan (Australia) & Moa Sundstrom (Sweden)

Luke

This week I have been working at the sun chariot yard or the foaling unit. Each morning, we come in and turn the mares out with the closer mares to foaling being in the wood chip yards and closer to the foaling boxes and the further away mares out in the big grass yards, where they will spend about six hours before coming back in. At sun chariot they will foal down roughly 270 mares with roughly 34 being born to date. After turning the mares out, we hook in and get the boxes done, organize the feeds, do the waters and give the place a good clean before the stud opens for tours.

On Wednesday I was the allocated member of staff to do mare watch. Mare watch involves standing out in the paddock, monitoring the mares in the various paddocks for signs of foaling. Fortunately for me it was a nice sunny day but unfortunately there were no foals.

We have welcomed new mares to the farm who are close to their foaling dates and some of the mares who have foaled have left to go home back to their own respective studs. Therefore, boxes have had to been cleaned out, disinfected, and bedded down for the next mare to arrive.

This week we have had lectures from Dr. Kevin Corley and Ernan O’Donnell on foaling emergencies and the reproductive system of the mare. We have had a lecture from guest lecturer Joey Cullen, the director of marketing from Goffs and Kevin Blake the presenter of ITV Racing and race planner for Joseph O’Brien. As well as a lecture from master farrier Martin Leahy. The lectures have been what I have enjoyed the most so far being on the course with Joey Cullen and Kevin Blake being most informative about subjects I am vastly interested in.

The weekend coincided with the Dublin racing festival which most of the class attended. I had never been to a jumps race, but it was thrilling with the highlight being Galopin Des Champs winning the gold cup with ease, proving how good he and his trainer Willie Mullins are. The races drew a huge crowd, and they all went mad as the champ crossed the line before packing out the parade ring to catch a glimpse of the now three-time winner of the race.

The course so far has been great and I’m looking forward to the covering season which starts on the 15th of February.

Moa

The past week I had the opportunity to be on nightwatch in the Sun chariot yard over the weekend. We spent our time taking turns checking on the cozy pregnant mares doing their manes and getting the foaling kits ready for action. For my last night out of three I got to assist three foalings, under the space of two hours! The team and I got to foal two fillies and one colt. The fillies were by Havana Grey and Kodi Bear and the colt was by Awtaad. We (Carol and Peter) had a memorable first team effort together and got through the night making sure that the newborns and their mum’s got the best aftercare possible. It was like a love overdose being surrounded by those foals ! (Picture of me and Peter and a newborn foal ).

Once my foaling duties came to an end I got to work alongside Leona in Blandford, Black Cherry and the most exciting of all the Legends. It really makes you think more and more about the importance of the aftercare for racehorses. During this week me and Madeleine from Australia, went around Blandford and Black Cherry making sure that everything was nice and tidy so that all visitors welcomed could go for walks in beautiful clean areas and enjoy the beautiful sceneries of the Irish National Stud! (Photo of me and Madeleine with the blowers).

This week wasn’t all about the newborn foals or the beautiful aesthetics of the farm; we also had the opportunity to welcome two guest lecturers who spoke about their positions in the thoroughbred industry and their life stories. Joey Cullen joined us on Tuesday evening and presented his position at Goffs. As the Marketing director. Sharing the interesting history of Goffs and its evolutions through the years was a real eye opener! Our second guest lecturer was welcomed on Thursday evening. Kevin Blake joined us and spoke about his career that involved in the racing planning for Joseph O’Brien. He mentioned his farm and how he came to start breeding through a sales perspective and that was something I could really relate to.

I am looking forward to everything that is to come over next six months, what an opportunity!

 

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