Month: March 2022

Why wait for that yearling purchased at the sales to come of age, come join the fun with us with horses that are currently at the trials, and will be racing in the next month. Dolly P is likely to resume racing next week, and you could be part of her ownership. She ran a cracking 5th at her last start, and was then turned out due to Maria having been injured and needed some time off from training the horses.

All Systems go now, Dolly returned to the workouts last Saturday at Pukekohe and didn’t disgrace herself finishing 3 lengths from much higher graded horses. With her pulling a bit hard in front she was entitled to get tired at the end, and just came to the end of her run the last little bit. Open class trotter Invictus, and the unbeaten Harness Jewels winner Double Delight came off her back in the home strait in the 3 horse heat, and she finished not far of them only 3 lengths behind, not bad for a maiden trotter.

Dolly has always shown ability, and now she has matured she has the best ahead of her, and is certainly capable of footing it in the next grade once she wins her maiden. Now is the time to get involved, be a part of her journey, along with her stable mate Gwyneth P.

To find out more register as a member of the website here and you will see more information on how affordable it is to become a harness racing owner and be involved in the racing careers of Placebo Effect Stables Horses. If you would rather not register on the website, you can use the contact form or phone Maria on 022 413 4123

Gwyneth P made a return to the workouts yesterday at Pukekohe after a 16 month hiatus with a winning run in the learners pace. She had been off the scene due to a fistulas whither, which took longer than expected to resolve due to antibiotic resistance of the bacteria involved.

After several months of trying different antibiotics from the vet, and the fistulas whither clearing up then recurring just as fast after antibiotics stopped, as a last resort when all else had failed, we tried Tea Tree Oil, and much to our delight it worked! Within a week of treating with Tea Tree Oil, the infection cleared up and Gwyneth was finally on the mend.

It’s hard to believe what seemed to be such a minor thing to begin with, could end up being such a big problem. After spending over $1200 on vet bills, which failed to resolve the problem, a $20 bottle of Tea Tree Oil killed the bacteria and the fistula receded within a couple of days, and fully healed within a month after that.

Gwyneth ended up being out of work for 10 months, and has been back in work for 6 months now. We have built her back up slowly to make sure the whither didn’t flare up again. We suspect her bursa (just in front of the whither) had been ruptured by the bacteria also, so it was important to be careful not to put too much pressure on her in the cart as the saddle and movement of the cart puts pressure on the bursa. So far so good, touch wood. To try and help her as much as possible, she has learned to go at speed with no overcheck, to keep the pressure away from the shoulder and whither area. She took a while to get confident at speed with no overcheck, but is happy as now 🙂

Gwyneth P will continue her preparation at the workouts for another month or so in anticipation of her first race day start. We will keep her in the learners for one more start since she had been off the scene for so long, then give her a couple of maiden trials before making her race debut.