So how is Wu, I hear you ask? (thank you for your concern, and all your get-well messages;  they are hugely appreciated).

Wu refuses to come out from under the bed.  All conversations take place with me lying on the floor trying to coax him out with food, love and companionship.

I did manage briefly with some chopped wafer thin ham and took this photo of the injury.  Nasty.

Poor boy. No wonder he isn’t talking to anyone.

I thought BeAnne was being supportive only to find she had snaffled Wu’s special tempting food.  She managed a cursory get-well-soon glance at her friend.

Outside is harsh.  I mucked out and fed everyone.

The upside, though, is that I discovered it is a good idea to stable a has-been stallion and a stallion together as they will poo in the same place!  I only had three lovely neat piles to clear up as opposed to the thousand dotted everywhere when it was two geldings together.

The Minions are all sharing nicely in their little shed.  I am pleased about that and would be very cross if someone was having to live outside due to any dog-in-manger behaviour.  But no, everyone has access to hay and no one is hassling.

There was a brief weather window and I shot outside with Loki and BeAnne for their long walk.

(someone needs to shiver or run off some of the cat’s dinner)

After that, Jack went out for his short potter before it got dark again.

He’s still got it and he’s still with us.  Weather does not put our little Jack off.

(I lie – it does, sometimes)

I had today all planned out nicely in my head.  Some riding, mucking out, feeding, walking the dogs, etc….

That went straight in the bin.

My back gave a ginormous warning twinge in the shower of things to come, with pain enough for me swear.  I am standing on the edge of the cliff now.

Feeling weak, I went to get dressed, etc, only to find Wu lying on the bed which he always does this time of day.  I stroked his side found a bit of something on his fur. I was picking it off, thinking it was abnormal, he is such a clean boy when suddenly, I saw his flank was ripped open down to the muscle.

Shit.  Quickly dressing, phoning the vet to make an appointment, rushing to shed to find cat box, lining cat box with washable vetbed, all the while praying to all the Gods that Wu would be co-operative.

I snuck up on him, piled him into the box and shut it.  Phew!  Drove like a mad thing to the vet who sedated him and stitched the inside bits.

Surprisingly, Wu was very good.  I did mention to the vet that Wu might bite but he just shoved his head into my armpit and said nothing (Wu, not vet).

Wu is home now and in a vile mood.  He is growling to himself upstairs and  I have left a bowl of lightly poached white fish for him and turned the heating on.

Oh, and meanwhile, Haakon and Iacs, who were mooching round outside the house as Haakon has a hoof abscess (bugger it), ran out of the gate when I opened it to drive home.  I managed to bribe Iacs back by rattling a bucket of barley rings but Haakon just stood in the hill looking sullen, so I thought sod it, and left him.

He came home eventually looking a little embarrassed.  So he is only lame when he walks but can bugger off at full speed into the hill when it suits him.

Meh!

Healing vibes for Wu please.

(and that is why, dear Readers, I was late putting up the Advent Calendar photo for today)

I have, as usual, been worrying about Stardust.  Under all that fluff, he is very thin and scrawny with a backbone sticking out and nasty little jagged hipbones too.  Ugh.

Having jumped wholeheartedly onto the rugging bandwagon with Storm. I perused Fleabay and found a very nice little 2′ 9″ outdoor rug for little Stardust.

It fits him a treat and I hope he will embrace his new rug wearing status rather than try and lose it like the goat coat (still not found).

Words have been had with the others about not laughing and pointing and, as usual, Storm was hovering about like a mosquito on a summer’s day trying to irritate.

He’s probably jealous that there is someone more needy than him.

I am very impressed with the fit of this rug.  I think I might buy another one so in his wardrobe Stardust will have a spare.

Suddenly I find you can’t have too many rugs because you just never know!

OMG, what am I turning into?  I am not this kind of person.  I tell myself, this is purely for health reasons, not any other.  He is not clipped or bathed endlessly or being kept clean for my convenience, Stardust is thin and he needs an extra layer to get through our rough unforgiving Shetland winter.

Phew!  I feel slightly better now.

My life is back to normal.  No more going into town for the foreseeable, I hope.

After their breakfast, I called my little boys into the big school and I took Storm’s rug off so he could roll (look at those gorgeous little feets all curled under and the belly, the belly – someone tickle that belly!)

I put the toy buckets out and Storm had a brief investigation.

He made a careful selection …..

And then played.

The next toy bucket was investigated by tipping it all up.

Once tipped, the contents were successfully looked at for potential.

Storm was in a very cheeky me-me-me mood today.

He wanted all my attention and when I was talking to Stardust, he bit him hard on the side, so I immediately sent Storm away to consider his behaviour and continued to talk to Stardust.  Storm came back a few minutes later and was much nicer after that.

Stardust is coming along very slowly.  He got the plot with hard feed today and waited in the little shed while I dished out the food in bowls outside.  He ate his by himself.  He comes to me now to be tickled, scratched and talked to and I managed to do a little brushing too.  His coat is not the best but he enjoyed the brush and let Waffle do some grooming too.  I was wearing a bobble hat, which I had put on my knee and Stardust picked it up and plopped it on the ground, so that was interesting to watch.  He interacts more with me too.

The boys then spent the brief light hours of the afternoon outside just munching away together as a herd.

Now that is my kind of day.  Not boring town.

A town day today to sort out some legal beagles.

I had my usual daily tasks to do first before I left so I woke early (even set the alarm), did my chores of feeding, changing rugs and mucking out while the sun rose ominously behind in an anvil shaped cloud.

Everyone was “helpful” to the point of Waffle taking Storm’s old rug off the gate and jumping up and down on it in a puddle.  His smile was spectacular and I didn’t have the heart to be cross.  I washed the mud off with frozen fingers in the water trough.

So, after my weekly flute lesson, I went on to The Big L.  Home of boats that are floating hotels, lights and alleged action apparently, if you read the local paper.

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The Christmas theme was upon us.

Except that unicorn gave me the creeps.

So now I am back home. I won’t have to do that again in a big hurry.  Everything was sorted and I had a quick whip round Tesco as well for a birthday supper for my OH.

(I will admit that I had totally forgotten his special day and bought a bottle of 16 year old Lagavulin to get me out of the dog-house)

Tomorrow, back to normal – filthy jeans, little furry noses and somehow it doesn’t matter if I smell of horses because everyone around me does too.

I hate town. I belong here.