Well the blog is still technically limping along and my advisor cannot seem to get a clear answer as to why.  But I will leave it in his capable hands and hope for the best.

This morning another good friend sent me some photos of my ponies as she drove past in her car and I thank her hugely for that.  I always ask everyone to take photos if they see my ponies in Sandness (4 miles away) and this is the first person to deliver.  Lovely to see the Shetland ponies, even out of a car window.

Those bottoms look like Zoot and her mother, Melinda.

Fivla is standing guard while Lucky Charm (aka Dingo) and her mother, Finnister Nanook, are in the background.   Nanook is Fivla’s half sister.  They share the same Sire – Orgyll of Mousa.  We did not know this when we asked to borrow a mare and foal to be company for Zoot.  As sisters, the mares are not very similar in character or looks but having said that, they liked each other immediately.  I wonder if they know they are related.  They would never have met.  Fivla is 3 years older and she came to us when she was only 6 months old.

I have a wheelchair now so I am hoping to get out and about more next week.  I tried walking on crutches yesterday and although I can go faster, it hurts my back so much.  I felt it last night and could hardly move this morning.  I can’t wait to go and see the outside world.  I promise to take my camera.

Meanwhile, Nick continues to bring me horses which is perfect.  The instant feel-good factor for someone stuck indoors.

So life (and, dammit, my website and my blog) is slow at the moment but that is by choice and necessity mostly.  I need to get my arse outside again, I think.  I miss outside.

I am not getting on with building the Thordale Stud website.  I like the format yet it is messy.  I am toying with a new one now but I am just not sure and am just going through the basics first before I commit and really get building.

Have websites changed much in the past?  Is less more?  Do folk read what I write?  I just don’t know.  All theories gratefully received.

Old and original one – http://thordale.co.uk/ – which lives with the theory of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

New design below (ignore the underlines – I am fighting with the ruddy button things) ….

To make up for all this website kerfuffle, Nick kindly brought Haakon to me this evening for some therapy and fresh air.  Now this is much nicer.

Haakon was braver this time and accepted my predicament so he sniffed and licked my toes.

Horse slobber on my plaster (and yes, that is a bruised big toe and not varnish) is a very funny feeling.  Tickly and rather worrying.

Then, as a reward for Haakon’s bravery, Nick offered him some banana bread.  Haakon always loves banana skins but the bread was not to his liking.

So he politely asked for Polos instead which he was convinced were in a pocket.

BeAnne was about and received the customary sniff, much to her loathing.

She only truly likes horses when she can ride them.  She is much happier up there and is very peaceful in her own little world where she can watch them pesky bunny wabbits in the fields from a better height.  Haakon never cares when she is there and wandered off to find some grass having exhausted all the calorific potential from us.

So, we all just stood by the door and watched them wander off into the distance together.

The End

Zzzzzzzz…….

I am busy building a website for Thordale Shetland Stud over the next few days as ours looks tired and old.  So this blog post is a total cheat as I randomly chose a disk of stored photos to write something about.

I think I first bought my big Canon camera with the fabulous lens in Dec 2007.  I remember shaking as I opened up the professional looking boxes with their smart instructions that assumed you knew what you were doing and not just an “all-the-gear-and-no-idea” kind of person (err, that would be me, then).

I was shaking with excitement, anticipation and fright at the large amount of cash this had cost.    In my head, I was busy blaming the whole idea on Tim Flach, an incredible photographer who had come to stay with us to research and take photos for his book, Equus, in November 2007.

While I cooked supper in the evening, Tim would sit at the kitchen table and chat to me.  He kindly looked at my rather pathetic array of photos and was extremely encouraging.  He then examined my dear little camera that had done a perfectly good job up until then, shook his head and said I had “the eye” but the equipment was letting me down.

The next day, we went into the hill, put the Shetland ponies in a field for the photoshoot and Tim handed me one of his big professional-looking cameras saying “you go one direction, press this button and when the card is full come back”.  So I did.  It was easy.

We compared pictures that evening and Tim said “There, I told you.  Now buy a good camera!”  I asked him to write down everything that I needed, which he duly did.  He left to go back to London.  I still had my pictures and the list which I looked at and looked at.

http://blog.photoshelter.com/2008/04/shoot-interview-tim-flach-and-equus/
(you can see his Shetland pony photo here)

Tim would phone me occasionally in the next few weeks to ask whether I had bought the camera and I whined on about the expense, no necessity and continued to procrastinate.  He remained undeterred and said I needed to buy this kit.

So, I costed it up on Amazon, felt sick, took a deep breath and bought the lot locally from The Camera Centre, Lerwick – my theory being that if it went wrong while under warranty, it was much easier to just go back and hand it in rather than post it somewhere to an unknown address in the US.

These are some of my pictures from Tim Flach’s photoshoot.  You can see why I had to go and buy the camera!  

I have never looked back.

My dear visitors went out in the pouring rain this morning and caught my four horses to lead them one at a time to see me by the front door.

First to arrive was my stallion, Taktur.  He was unnerved by my zimmer frame but managed to say hello.  He didn’t like being on his own so another was fetched while he wandered off to look for grass.

Next to be brought was Iacs.  He was happy to pop along to say hello and seemed most curious about my new predicament.

Then it was Haakon’s turn.  You can see how we don’t believe in headcollars much.

Klængur didn’t want to be led today but he soon realised I was outside so he came over to say hello.

Nick had Polos and, while Klaengur had no idea what they were and refused politely by spitting his out, ….

…. others knew exactly what they were.

I think this could be called begging.

Haakon sniffed my foot just to make sure it was still attached.

This photo shows the extent of Nick’s efforts to get my horses.  It was such a kind thing he did.  Many would’ve refused and I can’t thank him enough for doing this for me.

So now I have the boys eating the grass around the house.  When I look out of any window, I can see a hairy bottom going past.  Bliss.

If it could just stop raining for more than 10 minutes, I could sit outside with them.  Now that would be heaven.

 (*** goes off to look at the weather forecast for the next few days ***)

Many moons ago, Jo, Daisy and I were mucking about in the shed with Fivla.  Having discovered BeAnne’s penchant for riding Shetland ponies, I purchased for her, at great expense I might add, a beautiful vintage basket saddle off Fleabay.   When it arrived, I was thrilled.  It was beautiful, with a lovely button upholstered seat –  just right for Her Maj.

We did a test run in the indoor school to check everything and everyone was comfortable and then off we went.  Fivla was rather footy so wanted to stay on the grass verges.  She found the chips on our track rather difficult.

Daisy rode Winnie, our Icelandic/Fjord horse who was in training at the time and we set off down the track.

We had strapped a spare stirrup leather across to act as a seat belt.

When we reached the end of the track, we made the executive decision to visit our neighbours who are used to our antics and always very happy to see our horses and ponies (they have met enough of them in their garden over the years!)

We arrived, everyone came outside for a chat and not an eyebrow was raised.  No one seemed at all surprised that this was the type of thing we would do.  They obviously know us well enough.

Fivla enjoyed their grass while we chatted.  BeAnne had absolutely no intention of getting down.  Once she finds a comfy place, nothing much moves her.

And then she rode back again, with the wind in her fur (I adore her ears), happy as anything.

BeAnne rides in her basket saddle like a Maharaja in his howdah on his elephant – the similarity is uncanny!