Apparently the Inuit people have many words for snow (its complicated).

This morning we woke up to “Haice” or “Shicail” – basically hailstones now frozen into sheet ice.

Our track to the croft from the road is lethal.  We are going nowhere and I don’t encourage anyone to visit.  It is scary in places.

But chores have to be done no matter what.  I put on my beloved Yaktraks (my annual huge thank you to Jo) and off Daisy and I trudged.  Luckily the water has not frozen so that was one thing we didn’t have to lug.

With our faithful hound, BeAnne, who is feeling rather depressed due to a Christmas dust-up with Loki, we set out with wheelbarrow, tools and hard feed.

Daisy kindly did the heavy stuff, ie mucking out of The Minion shed, while I distributed hard food and hay.

To be fair, the big boys don’t need much.  There is still grass in their field and they are well insulated.

Daisy and I had wanted to go out for a ride, with me riding Iacs, but as he can trip up in walk blowing his nose, we decided not to go.  Taktur managed to skid on the ice when he was walking to his food.

This confirmed we had made the right choice as it was pretty hairy out there for everyone so we made the family decision to test, purely for science purposes, our traditional Yule Log!

Well, someone has to.

We woke up on Christmas Day to a smattering of snow – a white(ish) Christmas.

I wasn’t expecting that.

There wasn’t much snow but enough for everyone to think they should be fed so Daisy and I dished out the food first thing to everyone, changed rugs and mucked out.

Extra carrots because it was Christmas.

And extra hay as well just in case anyone thought they were starving.

It was a lovely special day spent with family and friends.

In the afternoon, everyone went for a walk in the hill while I had a rest (and a little sleep).

Merry Christmas, my friends xx

This took us all day to film and create!

Merry Christmas everyone xx

All the Icelandic horses were in the school today.

Iacs made a friend.  No one put her there.  Here name is Elvis because of her hairdo!

She flew up from the floor and landed on his back.  He didn’t mind or say anything, just looked a bit embarrassed.  So we left her there trying not to laugh. It would’ve been rude to laugh.

I looked at my horses carefully.  Klængur had lost a front shoe, so I can’t ride him.  My Icelandic horses don’t enjoy being ridden uneven.  He was due to be shod very soon anyway so I was not surprised.

Haakon’s abscess has almost gone and he is not lame.  He will be shod again after Christmas and then I can ride him.  I cannot ride him without shoes as he just can’t cope.

Daisy rode Bjørn’s, our trainer’s horse, Kappi for his 20 minute workout.  Kappi loves work (and food).  He is always first up for food.

Anna rode Iacs after Elvis had left the building – both enjoyed themselves.

Daisy then trained Taktur – 80% walk, a bit of trot and tölt (this photo is from a few nights back when she was having a lesson from Bjørn).

Meanwhile BeAnne watched the world go by and spent her time deciding whether to bark at it or not.

Well that was four hours of my life I won’t ever get back.

The girls and I went to Lerwick to do the last of our Christmas shopping – both gifts and food.

We left at home at the crack of sparrows (early – ok, 09:00 and that is very early for me) to avoid the Christmas rush.

This is the Shetland “Christmas Rush”.  There is one main street in Lerwick called Commercial Street or “Da Street”.  The place was empty at 10:00, when we arrived and was just as empty at 11:30 when we left.

With wonderful free parking (and cannons from Fort Charlotte looking over for extra protection), we did our messages and dodged the rain.  Fort Charlotte was originally built in 1665 to protect the Sound of Bressay from the Dutch.  Apparently it never saw any action (I did not know this).

This is my most favourite Christmas window.  The huskies move their heads.  Every year they appear and every year I want a husky.

Anywho, we discovered why Da Street was deserted, because everyone was in Tesco’s stripping the shelves bare.

Never ever again.  It was my definition of Hell on Earth.  People everywhere.

I am happy to be home with my horses.  We managed to get home during daylight and Daisy and I mucked out The Minions, changed rugs, fed everyone and distributed haynets to the needy.

Now that is my idea of fun.  Not shopping.