RACY YET RELAXING

GETTING A FIT of the giggles is a tricky business when you’re perched precariously on a racehorse simulator, riding flat out towards tßhe winning post at 40mph.

The main problem is that when you laugh, you can forget to breathe – and when you do breathe, you don’t do it regularly or often enough. The upshot is, not enough oxygen gets through to your leg muscles and they rapidly turn to jelly.

I know, because it happened to me when we visited Newmarket’s National Horse Racing Museum during a long weekend in East Anglia. As a keen rider, I had an irresistible urge to experience what it feels like to be a jockey.

We were staying at The Camping and Caravanning Club’s site at Great Shelford,