"The frozen start to the year finally releasing us all from its hold by the weekend. The automatic water feeders are back in action, pathways are clear and the arena has thawed. With three energetic stallions desperate for a gallop and a barn full of heavily pregnant brood mares itching for a leg stretch, Sunday was a relief for us all.

The stallions' intelligent attitude to work and training paid off; all of them were impeccably behaved with just the odd light hearted buck and bounce. They enjoyed working through the paces using rhythm changes to work the whole frame. It was nice to see the look of pleasant relief on their faces at evening stables.

The broodmares are all getting quite large and tired and were much quieter during their first blast of 2010. They just about managed a slow gallop to the top of the field then a roll upon roll upon roll expressed their relief to be out.

With the thaw came a welcome return to a normal working routine. The first of the 2010 stallions for semen freezing would arrive at the centre on Thursday. The owner wants semen for his own use so it's a straightforward package. This stallion has a busy competition season ahead; the owner does not want his breeding commitments to interfere with his competition plans. That's very wise, although there are many other very good reasons for freezing and storing semen.

Semen, once frozen, lasts indefinitely, so it's a sound investment should the unthinkable happen. It's a good alternative if injury prevents semen collection - say, a back injury makes jumping on the phantom painful. Some stallions can present undesirable behaviour and even be unrideable when breeding so if the horse is required to stay in training but also meet his breeding comitments, then frozen semen is a perfect option. Once upon a time, using frozen semen was a very unreliable option but nowadays the vets are much more experienced and have good results with frozen semen.

Yet to confirm is the stallion for semen freezing for international shipping use. A change in EU legislation is holding up the confirmation of a place for him. It is a slow complicated process working through the ministry dialogue. By Wednesday, we still could not confirm a booking date for this client - all good reasons for stallion owners to make their enquiries in good time, especially for specialist procedures.

We have been advertising for a rider/groom. This position also covers handling the breeding stallions for semen collection, working around and with the broodmares and foals. Every day when the yard work is done, we are busy sifting through the many applicants. You want to give everyone a chance but there is one position only and not everyone understands what the work really involves.

More and more people arriving on the yard ask when the foals are due and which will be first. It seems everyone is now thinking of the year ahead. It's nice looking forward to the babies - it gives you something nice to look forward to as we shiver through the last part of the winter months. I now need to make my competition plans with Mooiman known soon - decisions decisions!"