"Hi everyone, hope you've all been wrapping up warm over the last few week in this very cold snap we've been having. Don't know about all of you, but this weather has been causing havoc with racing and even just getting the horses out for their daily exercise.

Cold snap

Firstly the weather was working in my favour. I was banned when the cold snap started, so this meant that when the first few meetings were called off, I wasn't losing out on rides - a little plus side to the bad weather. But this plus side didn't last long as on my first day back I had three rides booked for Sandown on 4 February but the weather put pay to that meeting too and there hasn't been a meeting since.

Fit to ride

In these last few week I've been keeping myself busy by riding out every morning, getting into some trainer's yards that I find it hard to get into regularly as they're not near me. I have also been going to the gym in Oaksey House, Lambourn every day. I'm very keen on my fitness and I think it is a massive part of being a jockey. Not only do you have to be very fit to ride a horse in a race but your fitness can help too with preventing and returning from injury, which is unfortunately part and parcel of our game.

No racing, no income

With jockeys being self employed, when racing is off because of the weather like it has been, it really affects our livelihood. If we can't ride we make no money, so let's hope they've got the weather forecast right and we are over the worst of it now. I'm really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things this week and getting back to earning some money."

William