Today started badly but I took a shed-load of analgesia and hauled myself out to walk the dogs.  I like walking as I find it helps. 

It was a beautiful clear still Shetland day and I took Jack (elderly grumbling Patterdale terrier), Celt (16yo ancient but doitin (definition) lurcher) and BeAnne (perfection, of course) out for a walk.

We were pottering along, if slowly because of me, and I was admiring the amazing blue sky

…and the incredible scenery

when I noticed we had a follower – Wussums!

Now, I will fully admit that I have not been Wussums’ biggest fan.  To date he has stolen cold roast beef and a haggis.  He refuses to sit on a lap, loathes BeAnne and has bitten me twice.  He does sleep on our bed, comes when he is called (outside) and has a soft lisping purr when you pick him up but he just isn’t Fatsworth.  Fatsworth has left a giant hole in our hearts and Wussums is not really filling it.  But today, he made me smile with his dogged determination to be part of this dog walk.

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And so we all plodded over hill, bog and heather, a happy little family and it was perfect.  One of those days to remember forever.

I sat on a rock for a while watching everyone.  BeAnne and Wuss had their usual stand-off and no one was the winner.  It involves Wuss imitating a pufferfish while BeAnne pretends she has never chased him and doesn’t care.

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After that, we went home again, all the way down the hill.

I think Wussums could find a place in my heart.  I liked him coming for a walk with us.

(There were no sheep involved in the making of this blog – they were too busy looking on thinking we were all mad!)

My eldest daughter, Daisy, worked very hard on the photoshoot for VisitScotland.  She held important photographicky gizmos (yes, I want one), dressed and undressed Fivla and Vitamin and even moved them into various desired locations using the power of her mind (look, no headcollars).

The photographer, Rob McDougall, asked if she would mind being in a separate film he was making. I thought Daisy would say no as she tends to hide from my camera or immediately grab a dog to put in front of her.  But, surprisingly, she agreed and manned up to the task, ie stand in front of the camera, freezing, holding a pile of cards, which she had to drop one by one (like Bob Dylan).

 

This is her smiling-but-numb-with-cold face.  She was great and never complained once.

Luckily we had Robin from Visit Scotland around to pick up and put the boards back into the right order and, as usual, Fivla and Vitamin completely ignored what was going on around them.

I honestly think bombs could be falling and F&V would not bother to lift their heads.

So well done Daisy.  You were great and I am so proud of my beautiful eldest daughter.

This was the one perk of the job.  She got to mingle with the stars.

Enjoy the film.

I would love to say I feel wonderful, everything is fine and tomorrow I will be undertaking some Herculean task but I am not. 

My back is going, going, gone.  There are no words to describe how nasty the sciatic pain is down my left leg.  Exhausting.

I can just walk (albeit slowly), I find sitting difficult and am slowly giving in to the painkillers, which I hate. I can’t drive and I hurt sitting in the car as a passenger.  I will do this for emergencies, though.

One good thing – I can still ride Haakon and he, bless him, looks after me and seems to understand that I am his fragile passenger.  I do feel the clock is ticking on the riding front, though.

I am waiting for an emergency MRI scan in Aberdeen and leap on every telephone call in the hope it will be them with a date for me to travel down south.

Sorry for the whinge. I really do try not (I was told once that all I do is whinge) to but today got the better of me.

Things that cheer me up are nice emails, trying to sell my daughters into slavery, snogging my ponios and designing adverts for the Shetland Pony Stud-Book Society Magazine!

Folk are asking about Hammy’s nozzle (thank you for your interest).

Well, he is much better and it is healing up very nicely.  

Beautifully clean and dry (I am sure this cold weather has helped)

And it won’t be long before he is back to normal.  Well, when I say normal, I mean Hammy normal which is completely different from any other normal you or I might recognise.

(Hammy is a bit speshul like that!)

On another note.  This the yesterday’s stallion fashion.

Yes, I did feel sick because if there is one thing I hate, and my kids will tell you, it is liars, wet cotton wool, trotting downhill and sand.

But today was better.  An overnight gale and torrential rain have done a lovely job for me.

The equivalent of a Shetland power-wash.  He scrubbed up very well!

How many people leave their horses out overnight to clean them?

You know how some folk have this poster or a mug in their place of work?  I think I need one.

Today is a dark grey day, with intermittent rain and wind.

I am still riding daily to exercise my back.  Daisy has gone back to St Andrew’s so Iacs is not being ridden.  I really do not think I now have the strength to do this for her so Jeanette kindly volunteered. She lost her horse a few months back and is missing riding so this could be a match made in heaven. Jeanette wanted to potter around the school (bad back too) this morning and BeAnne was very insistent that she had her go too.I don’t think Jeanette quite believed me when I said that BeAnne would stay up there for the whole ride (except if she trots).

BeAnne has three riding styles, two more successful than the other.  The first is the forward approach, so you can turn around and talk to her, or tickle her chin.

The second is looking backwards, which she tends to favour as it is more secure and she can lean into the curve of your spine too.

And then there is the standing up and wobbling, which is just plain hopeless and usually the precursor for her jumping gracefully off.

Please watch the video and you will see BeAnne’s bottom bounce (it makes me smile every time)!

So, again, welcome to my mad world!