De Barley Basket, trained by Ben Pauling, won 5 races and placed 5 times from 18 races, with a best official rating of 125. He is now a familiar face in the Plumpton Retired Racehorse Stable and he enjoys talking to his fans on a raceday!

He came home Monday night, feeling very tired after saying hello to nearly everyone at Plumpton’s January Jumps Race Meeting. Being a celeb is very exhausting! He had a nice roll in his straw bed, a nice drink and got tucked up in his pj’s. He was very happy to have his dinner!

Wednesday morning after breakfast he went out in his paddock to stretch his legs. Equipped with flippers and snorkel, he had a good few hours grazing in his field which is now more like a padi field! BB loves to be outside in all weathers!

His re-training starts now, and our brilliant farriers Rob and Jon are ready to come and put the horse version of Nike’s on his hooves.

BB has been out at grass since last July due to a small 10% tendon strain. The strain was caught early which is so important in recovery time and prognosis! He has now been given time to recover and is ready to start a new job out of racing.

To aid his retraining Barley is now going on the horse walker for 30 minutes a day. This helps to build up his strength and fitness before building up to long reining and then ridden work. After the walker, he goes out in his field to enjoy time in the open air before coming in at lunch time for more rolling in his deep straw bed and time to munch hay and enjoy chatting with his next door neighbour who currently is Millers Spirit from Gary Moore Racing.

I’m really excited to get him in and going. Having a plan for him and sharing his 

journey with you all.

-Alex