Daisy is home.  Christmas can start now in our house.  Although Floss has been home for over a week, we have not decorated anything or thought any Christmassy thoughts until today.

But Christmas is not Christmas without going for a ride first so we caught our horses and tacked them up.  Daisy reminded me that she last rode in August.  Mr Bimble was very pleased to see her.

It was not looking good outside so Daisy started by riding Iacs in the indoor school.

I took a few photos of Klaengur and Taktur while she was riding in the school.

Then the weather cleared and we went out.  I rode the newly shod Haakon and he was a gentleman, never even bothering to canter, just staying in walk, which was very generous of him considering.  Everyone was very unfit, fat and puffing but we had a good time.

As we reached home, the weather descended again and we put the horses out in their field.  We were lucky.

This afternoon we decorated the tree.  I wonder if this is Loki’s first family Christmas.  What was happening to him this time last year?  We will never know.

I love having our Christmas tree up.  So many memories in all the decorations, especially the ones made by Daisy and Flossie.

Next it is Iacs’ turn to be decorated!

Question:  What do you do when you have been out all night in 70 mph winds with torrential rain?

Answer:  You lie down and have a kip with your friends in a small dip in the field, leaving one on watch.

I could hear the wind and rain all night and lay awake worrying for my animals, my sheds, my roof, like you do.  Everything was fine, though.  Just my imagination running riot at 03.00.

A bad start this morning.  OH discovered the car had a flat tyre on the way to Lerwick. He had to drive it home as he couldn’t get it off.  This resulted with me searching forum-land to find out how as it would not budge.  I think he used BFI (brute force and ignorance) eventually, hitting it a pisser with the fencing maul and WD40.

So it fell on me to take the dogs for their walk.  We went in what we thought was a lull but quickly discovered we would be lucky to get home dry.

Having reached Watsness gate, the heavens opened and it shat down with sleet, hail, rain and a driving wind.  Loki turned tail and ran all the way home refusing to wait while BeAnne generously stayed with me.  Luckily I was wearing my survival suit – the obvious choice for this kind of weather.

I was never more pleased to get home.

Daisy is coming home tonight and tomorrow is meant to be a better day. I am determined to ride my horse.  Every time I have looked at him these past few days, he has been fast asleep and I don’t think it is fair when he is obviously knackered from this exhausting weather.  We are all beginning to suffer a bit from sleepless nights at the moment.

I think we have turned a corner with Loki.  Today, for the first time, I took him and BeAnne off the lead on a long dog walk on the road and into a huge field (with the late farmer’s permission).  It was my two mile physio walk.  We have never achieved this as Loki has had to always be on a lead.  This time I decided to test him and he behaved impeccably, even to the point of being called off a rabbit that BeAnne had put up.  I am very proud of him.  He has come a long way.  Next, I shall take him riding, but not quite yet.

We are still working on Loki’s cat skills and it is a very slow process but Wuss will now walk passed and even contemplate being in the same room as him.  This is a very big deal for both of them.  They are working on their relationship.  Wu left his mark once when his paw was forced.  Needs must.  Loki learned.

Wuss wasn’t too impressed with the Christmas ha.!  I came out surprisingly unscathed but didn’t continue this foolhardy scheme!

Jack is, well, Jack.  Demented, blind, deaf but still going very strong.  He spends most of his time asleep.  He has good days and bad.  I have almost forgotten what an energetic little dog he once was.

Last week I asked Jo to make BeAnne a little red leather collar for her Christmas present.  I have been meaning to buy one for ages. She (BeAnne, not Jo) looks delicious in it and it is very pretty on her.  Red is definitely her colour.

http://www.journeyman-leather.co.uk/

So, as you can see, I have found some Christmas things and made the dogs wear the hat.  I couldn’t convince either my OH or Flossie, my daughter, to wear it so resorted to the animals instead.

I have spent the day in Lerwick again – this time physio and sports massage (yer, like I do sport!)  This is rehab for my ankle and spine, which I am still concentrating on at the moment.  I am not out of the woods by any means but it does help and make a difference.  I am struggling to stay off the painkillers, though and every day is a battle.  Night time is worse.

I briefly glimpsed my horses as I got into the car.   They seem to be surviving.  A thick winter coat is essential in Shetland this time of year.  I am glad none of them are clipped.

The weather was looming again this morning and looking ominous.  We have more gales and two weather warnings for this week.  Nice.

I drove past my neighbour’s Shetland ponies so decided to stop and take some photos for the blog.

As you can tell, I am feeling bad that there is very little Shetland pony input and they were looking particularly majestic on the skyline.  I miss having the littlies about at Thordale but after Taktur’s and Indy’s disastrous re-introduction this autumn, it has to be a no-Shetland-Pony Zone with me.  Even if we had kept Indy in another field, I know that both stallions would’ve spent their winter gazing in loathing at each other plotting and scheming, which is not healthy either.

So here are my neighbour’s Shetland ponies who are close enough to photograph but far away enough not to wind up Taktur.  The best of both worlds really.  They are very beautiful too.

We, at Thordale, pride ourselves on our ability to choose weird and wonderful names for all our animals.  Erring on the side of wild and whacky, sometimes with a vague theme (Roman and Greek Gods, The Muppets or constellations, for example), we usually pick some fairly way-out names.  If not, they evolve into something else anyway, like IndyPingPong surprisingly is not his real name.  I know, I know, you had no idea Himself is really called Millhouse Independant with that spelling – not our fault.

So imagine my surprise when out and about in Lerwick today I saw a beautiful fishing boat called Arcturus.

It was a lovely vessel from Inverness that may have been using Lerwick harbour for shelter from the endless storms we are having at the moment.

The filthy weather hasn’t stopped these past few days.

Everyone is just dodging the showers, accompanying wind and rain. It comes thundering in like a train.

Anyway, reminded of Thordale Arcturus, once home from my shopping jaunt, I dug around to find some photos of him.  Probably one of our longest legged foals.  Jo delivered him as he was a struggle for his dear old Mum, Threapwood Velia, and he pinged about everywhere afterwards.  He was very keen on buzzing his friends.

When he did stand still, you could see just how magnificent he was as a foal.

He is sold now and happily ensconced in his new home.  Hopefully he has stopped pinging about!

***** sigh **** – I wish we could keep all our foals.  They are so sweet when they are small and fluffy.

Anyway, I’ve never met another Arcturus and now I have