Breakfast for All and Cat TV

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There is an order to my mornings.

The older horses and ponies are last on my catering list, after the sheep and the other Shetland ponies.  However, they don’t mind and I leave them with their own bucket in a strategic spot in the field going back to collect the empty buckets afterwards.

My breakfast is considerably later – between 9 – 10 a.m. and sometimes I share the table with Monster which I do not approve of but he refuses to listen.  He likes to annoy or help, depending on his mood.

Today it was annoy.

And Monster was very unhelpful. I was trying to order Pepper some special food for her sensitive tummy (day off from eating again yesterday *** sigh ***).  Monster was having none of it and I think changed my password and probably ordered a little something for himself too.

To get him off my iPad, I put Cat TV (Youtube) on for him and he settled down to watch it while I ordered Pepper her special stuff.

This afternoon was, again, unhelpful in its own way. I had an emergency dental appointment in town and Pepper needed to have her stitches out too.  OH kindly offered to take Pepper to the vet, as dental appointments are like hen’s teeth around here.

The stitches are now out and everything looks healthy.  The vet, apparently, said these things take a long time to heal.  So Pepper is sporting a new dressing and bandage and we will continue with dressings for a little while longer.

And I’m glad I got to see the dentist too. Talking of teeth….. Lambie is on good form (thank you for asking).

A Funny Old Day

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Winter seems to have returned today and we are all grumbling.  It was 12°C with a mean F7 westerly so about 8°C.  Brrrr.

I spent my morning productively taking the internet to bits.  Our whole network had ground to a halt so I repositioned the router upstairs (for better signal), reset all the extenders and re-attached them to the network.  So far, I have tripled the signal strength around the house, and am praying it stays like this.  Our internet signal is my bête noire and in Shetland, without fibre, 22 Mbps is jolly well racing along.

In need of a break from argumentative, yet invisible, technology, I took to my shed after lunch to admire my one sweet pea flower that I have successfully grown from last year’s seeds.

I made another sheep – the white one on the right – to add to my latest bag of stock.

And then it was the turn of the real sheep.  They had spent their day in a field with deep thick grass – everyone’s winter grazing for when it snows.

The grass has really taken off this year.

I could barely find Lambie.

Rattling a packet of ginger biccies, they all agreed to come inside which means all my outside animal chores are done for the day and I need not go outside again.

Even Lambie cooperated.

This is always the tense bit as I can’t double back to close the field gate and the ponies are just around the corner eating their haynets.  They could so easily run into the field.

Once through the main gate, I ran back to shut the field gate so the ponies couldn’t go in.

And then there was my follower. Today it was Barrel doing his best for an extra biscuit but the packet was finished so I had nothing to give him.  Sorry Barrel.

Poor Monster (Sort of)

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According to Monster, there is a special place in Hell waiting for me.

OH and I were invited out to have a curry in town yesterday evening.  So we fed everyone early, I carried Monster outside as he hadn’t been out all day, shutting down the cat-flap (to prevent Pepper a-wandering) and we left.

It started to rain and it rained until we came home 5 hours later.

We found Monster outside complaining his little furry heart out and we all had to feel guilty.

While we were driving home, OH reminded me that Monster was still outside. I had forgotten all about him being outside. We found him yowling by the front door soaked through and very cross.

Mostly he was cross with me.

So I scooped Monster up, gave him a big bowl of his favourite munchy-crunchies and towel-dried him thoroughly.  I hoped this would make him feel better and happier.

But not really. Monster also took out his rage out on Ted by insisting on sleeping in his beloved bed upstairs by the heater.

So then Monster had to be evicted and there was growling (Monster, never Ted) because Ted wanted to go to bed now and Monster’s bad mood started all over again.  I couldn’t win so I gave up and went to bed too with a large grumbling white cat on my feet refusing to move.

 

Doing Everything Early

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I’m going into town for a meal later so have had to do everything early. It is raining so that is helping too. The sheep also wanted in at lunchtime and the Shetland ponies were in their containers sheltering.

I generously filled two small-hole double haynets and tied them into their boxes.

That should keep everyone occupied for a while and hopefully fill them up.

Pepper obviously was my constant three-legged companion.  She is managing suprisingly well on three, sometimes four, legs.  The slice off her front pad is healing nicely and she has day dressings and at night, when she can’t escape, a baby’s sock to keep the wound dry and clean while airing.  So far, this method is working. Her stitches are booked to come out on Monday, all being well.  Pepper is also grounded and not going on walks – only allowed outside with me doing chores.  Ted still has to go on dog-walks which he hates and runs straight home the minute he can.

The other support team is helpful to the extreme.

Not!

But he’s around and shouty if someone (him) might be starving.

In the big field, the horses and ponies are rotating the use of the shed.  Mostly it is a battle of wills between Kolka and Fivla and Vitamin, though I have seen Haakon briefly standing in there.  Iacs, never.  He is not that kind of wuss.

The never-ending feed machine continues, just earlier today.  Everyone probably thought it was their birthday!

 

Dentist Aftenoon

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Today the equine dentist arrived.  I had everyone all ready.

And gave them a pep talk mentioning good behaviour, and that I would be there, etc.  This was the first time the ponies had met our equine dentist, Stuart Lindsay, or had anyone look in their mouths.

First up was Waffle – I thought I would break the dentist in gently.  Waffle, though not thrilled, was a good boy.

The others were around and watching, which we felt was important, so they could see and hear the drills and dental gag.

Then it was Tiddles’ turn, who completely let the side down.  He reared and looked like a little chess piece, managing to make a fuss about everything.  Stuart worked with what he had and didn’t give up. We then discussed sedation for the next visit (oh, the shame).

Albie next – and, again, not great.  Maybe it is a skewbald pony thing.  He’s another candidate for sedation.

Silver objected right at the start and I thought “here we go”.

And then he settled down.  Although jumpy, he wasn’t as bad as the previous two.

I did lots of hanging on, scratching backs and saying encouraging/calming things to try and distract.  It seemed to work.

And lastly there was Newt who actually again wasn’t bad – not quite as good as Waffle, but definitely better than Silver.

I won’t lie, I expected better but it could’ve been a lot worse.  No one had any horrors in their mouths, just a few sharp bits and no one is a worry, which makes a change.  A huge thank you to Stuart Lindsay, Equine Dentist.