As the three ladies are at Leradale – about 2 miles away – we visit them daily. I hate my horses being away from home but sadly it is a necessity.

At the moment, we are bringing a very small amount of food as part of Sóley’s early foundation training (and also we have a bag of Mare and Foal to finish).

Sóley has to have a headcollar put on (sorry, no photos) in the field, which is a big training step and one we don’t usually try to achieve so early.  She will be having her hooves trimmed shortly and I need to catch her in the field without fuss or worry.

Sóley is a good girl and, with the help of bowl of calories, very amenable to this part of her learning.

Hetja is also very keen on the food we bring, though she does not need it.  She has her own small bowl of “Mare and Foal” which she quickly hoovers up, not even coming up for breath, and then moves quickly onto her daughter’s bowl to polish it off.

Having filled up their water buckets (which Lilja insists on dancing dance about in) and kissed their collective noseys, we leave our beautiful Icelandic ladies to their field full of grass.  There is also other water about but I just think a nursing mother needs all the fresh water she can get.  I remember what it was like.

So all is good in their world.