It has come to my attention that I have recently been ignoring my Shetland pony boys.

Have I gone completely mad? (don’t answer this, purely rhetorical).

Being the super well-brought-up chaps they are, they arrive everyday for a carrot and a chat and I have rudely ignored them being swept away with enthusiasm for all things Icelandic-horse at the moment.

I will admit, though, it is very difficult to actually ignore Bozz-Bozz as he is behind you at every step with his particularly unique talent of getting-in-the-way.  If I have reversed into him once, I have tripped up over him many times this winter.

But he and Arcturus are particularly loving and gentle little chaps.  They are their father’s sons with soft gentle mouths that never snatch or grab. They rarely push.  They are just there.  All the time.

 There, with their silly-frillies, and fuzzy bottoms which make me smile.

This winter has been just as I planned and all I could’ve wished for.  Everyone gets on fine. Four entire boys living together with 4 geldings.  All peace and harmony.

Bozz-Bozz shares nicely with his Dad

Bozz-Bozz shares nicely with Hammy

It really is a toss-up between which is bigger –  an Icelandic horse bottom or a Shetland pony one!

As you know, no more horseriding for a while but I was told to walk, so walk I do, every day, weather permitting.

To paraphrase someone’s famous quote (I did try to find out), “golf is a good walk spoiled”.  For me, a dogwalk is a good walk spoiled without taking a horse.

So today’s volunteer was Haakon.

BeAnne appeared just as we were leaving, having already been on a long walk with my OH, so I bunged on her hi-viz harness and she asked politely if she could ride.

With the wind in her fur, off we set and walked to Watsness gate and back, about a 30 minute slow wander down a single track road.  BeAnne did jump off later to go and look for the pesky wabbits so she wasn’t a complete coach potato (what is the horse version?)

Later, on our return, BeAnne asked to get back onboard and Haakon immediately slowed up while she adjusted her seat, which I thought was very generous of him.  He does care about his rider, no matter who it is.

This taxi service is not, however, free. Payment is expected which comes in the form of an unlimited fissle (thistle) grab for as long as I my legs can stand or work.

Haakon bites the middles out of each one, searching them out, like Eeyore.

BeAnne is very happy to sit on his back as she can get a much better view of her territory. (I love her expression in this photo)

She jumps off to continue her walk home after a while, when she gets bored of the eternal fissle search.

Haakon loves his fissles.  He always has.  It is the done deal we make at the beginning of the ride.  He takes BeAnne and I let him have fissles on the way home.

We left Taktur eating his grub, and Klængur and I went on a nice walk out in the hill.

I don’t think Klængur has ever been on open hill before.  He had no idea about the bogs and floundered his way, almost panicking, through them.  Shetland bogs are not horse-eating bogs at all.  At worst, you can lose a wellie but not a whole horse.

I tried to explain this to him but he didn’t believe me.  We had a wee sit down and a chat about it and I hope he could see my point.

The usual crew came too.  Celt, for a wobbly ancient 16yo lurcher, still managed to enjoy his walk, trailing along behind only catching up when we sat down.  BeAnne of course, looked magnficent and Wussums did his own thing.

We had a few stops, mostly for Celt and for my ankle and it was good to see everyone relax together.

Klængur was happiest walking on known tracks, no matter how stoney.  You could almost hear him breathe a sigh of relief.

Jack managed to maintain a dignified rage for the entire walk.  We are now not talking

.

I think Klængur enjoyed himself.  He got to see a bit more of Shetland and he listened and trusted me so together we made the right decisions, ie no one was eaten by any of these potential horse-eating bogs that lurk in the Shetland hills.

We had an influx of people, horses and dogs today.  It was wonderful.

Jo brought Hetja (my soon-to-be brood mare) and Essja (my yearling filly) to do their feet and some work.

Beeble and Snati also came along.

Fiona brought her two daughters, Arwen and Amber and they were quickly put to work brushing Haakon and Iacs.

I had the sudden urge for a bonfire (there is something very therapeutic about a good bonnie!)

Haakon fell in love with Hetja.

We tried the new saddles on Hetja and, after Jo had shod her fronts, she lunged and rode her.

Darling Hetja was just the same as ever, listening, relaxed and willing. She hasn’t been touched for 4 months.

Meanwhile, not-so-darling Essja was a spoiled little madam who didn’t want to be tied up (ok, it was her first time ever) and had a tantrum.

We decided on diversionary tactics for this behaviour so Fiona let Esja follow Hetja in the school and learn how to lead nicely.

This method did work well for a while, although there were some brattage moments which were ignored while the good behaviour was suitably rewarded.

It was so lovely to see everyone today.  The girls loaded like professionals to go home ….

….while Snati (oh, the shame) had to be carried to the car as he suddenly lost the use of all his legs and, possibly, brain!

I wrote a dreary miserable blog about myself and then WordPress started to be a bit wobbly which was a message to me to say FFS Frances get a ruddy grip!

This morning’s pictures consist of Wussums appearing out of nowhere on the window, which made me smile.  He was obviously walking the roof but when he sat on the window I laughed and laughed at his undercarriage.

He is perfectly suited to this house as he is obviously “a character”.

As the attention was off Her Maj, BeAnne maintained what she thought was a dignified sulk

and refused to co-operate in any way. This is the standard Patterdale Terrier sulk.

Then I was asked to do a small photoshoot for Outi Kater, who is my very talented knitting friend in Shetland.  I was happy to oblige, as boredom and misery were trying their hardest to take over my day.  Obviously I can’t show you the results yet, but it was good to get out to my favourite spot…

….taking my two hangers-on.  This is quickly becoming the norm, these days.

So we did the shoot, we admired the scenery and I hope the finished results are good.

Tis the little things, these days, that make my day.  I am not fussy…

…. and some times I need a kick up the arse to remind myself that all is actually not that bad. Please feel free to kick!