The end of Hurricane Gonzalo, and we are having a “severe gale”. Enjoy this Revised Shetland Edition of the Beaufort Scale. It makes me smile smugly every time it does the rounds on Facebook.

Anyway, I have moved the horses and ponies to a field with shelter and long grass as it is a northerly and we all hate northerlies.  Cold bitter weather. Instead, I am looking at back at old photos of past glory.

Once upon a time we were a riding, driving and trekking school.

This is Haakon teaching Hannah how to jump.  First you show him the jump.

And then he refuses!  Mwhahaha!

We had horses and ponies of all sizes for our clients.

As well as lessons, we encouraged the sport of horse football.

If we were going out, we took everyone on either a one or two hour trek into the hill.

You can see Daisy (aged11) at the back who rode Andy as we had “sold” her horse to a punter. I remember her being furious with us for this.  Someone might’ve glibly said “well, ride Andy then”, so she stomped off, caught and tacked him up and did.  She still rides him!

This is a very young Flossie driving Andy.  She must’ve been just 9 years old here.  Andy is still going strong. He is loaned out to a family and enjoys wearing children.

Obviously all our horses were rewarded for their constant hard work.  This is Haakon having his 11th birthday cupcake.  Note the lit candle for him to blow out.

Sadly he hated the taste (minus candle) but luckily Celt, who is lurking on the right, hoovered it up on his his behalf.  Celt was good like that!