It is a fact universally acknowledged, that the British are obsessed with the weather.

I make no apologies for this because today was utterly revolting and I am obsessed.  It is very wet out there (and indoors).  We have 7.65 inches of rain in just January alone.

In my first set of clothes of the morning, I filled bowls, put the horses in the field to eat and then went to feed the Minions, change rugs and put down shavings in the stalls.

By the time I came back, only Iacs was there, waiting for me.  The others had all galloped down the hill to eat, which I don’t think was very kind but they were very determined not to have a “Duvet Day”.  Some horses don’t want to live in stables.

Poor Iacs. He was very disconsolate.  I brought him inside, gave him a haynet, soaked his hoof and dry poulticed it.  Although he is now not lame, I thought he would be better off in the shed with his haynet.

I then went in and had a complete change of wardrobe.

Then huzzah, there was a brief lull in the gale from the torrential rain.

While OH was walking Loki, I grabbed Jack and took him for his sedentary wander up the track.

I was doing my best not to let Jack wander into the over-flowing stream (he is deaf and blind) and I was just thinking how lucky we were to have this brief lull in the weather, when it started pouring down again.

So that was another change of clothes.

There are pony rugs draped over chairs, a survival suit hanging from a nail in the ceiling, every chair in the kitchen has a coat dripping onto the floor.  I don’t think I have any dry clothes left now.

Silver – he is such a dude.

Character-wise, he has come the furthest.  Last year, he was the most suspicious of everything and everyone.  He really minded about what happened to him.

Silver’s best friend is Kappi – orange Icelandic horse on the right.  They have been friends ever since they were put in the field together last spring.

Although the Minions are split up from the Icelandics for the winter, since the arrival of Tiddles, it is very obvious that Silver misses his friend, Kappi.  I had to split them because Tiddles was not strong enough to meet five healthy horses and he is also a colt, so could give off smelly signals to Taktur who can be rough at times.

Kappi obviously misses Silver, who, by the way, adores this game.

I think it is called “do you like Shetland ponies?”  The answer is “Yes, but I can’t eat a whole one!”

Silver and Waffle get on well too.  They are almost the same height and think the same thoughts.

They play a lot when the mood takes them.

Sometimes, though, Waffle is unavailable for games, due to a previous existing engagement – oh, how that muckheap calls.

You can see there is still a huge difference between Silver and Storm.

I worry about Storm.  He is not doing well this winter.  Maybe it is because I took his rug off that day and the flat fur makes him look weedy.

But Storm and Tiddles are the best of friends and another cockeral-for-size-comparison photo lets you see just how small they are.

Iacs still has a poorly paw, sorry hoof.

It is dry poulticed daily after soaking in hot water and the black guck that comes out makes my eyes water.  Today, having wrapped him up in a pink bandage and gaffer tape, I could still smell that unforgettable smell.  It followed me everywhere so I drenched myself and my clothes in a sample vial Floris Edwardian Bouquet which made things slightly better.

Poor Iacs. He is feeling very sorry for himself so, having put the others into their field, I opened the gate for The Minions to come and cheer him up.

I thought they would give Iacs something else to think about.  Take his mind off his misery.

Silver took his job very seriously and gave it 100%

Iacs was playing happily until Silver attacked “the hoof” and then all bets were off.

On the plus side, Iacs did get to meet Tiddles for the first time.

He honestly didn’t think Shetland ponies could get any smaller so tried to see if he could eat a whole one.

Tiddles was distinctly unimpressed with this and walked off in a huff.

Luckily his BFF (best friend forever) was supportive.

(Who? me?  Yer, right).

So healing vibes for poor Bimble who is not a happy chap at all.  He enjoys the extra food, not realising he only gets it because there is Danilon (analgesia) in it.

I think I am on my third set of clothes this afternoon.  It has been snowing/raining/sleeting all day.  I got wet and freezing feeding everyone this morning.

The horses are miserable.  I am miserable (read achey and cold).

The fields are flooded and there is more to come.  The weather forecasters are giving conflicting reports and that makes me very frustrated as I like to know what is going to come. I am not good with surprises.

This time last year to the day, we were playing the rescue game – nothing has changed.

To cheer myself up, I am putting up these photos to remind me that there is a summer and we were once so hot we took the horses (and ponies) swimming in the loch.

Those days seem so far away and hard to imagine.

Even BeAnne doesn’t want to go swimming these days.

She just wants to sit in a box.  I think I will join her or take to my bed with the cat.

Hot chocolate anyone?  Yes, don’t mind if I do.  That will cheer me up as well as the rescued fur noses.

We tied up two Icelandic horses who have never met before.

This was Klængur and Tór.

This is what happened.  They started to groom each other.

Then a small disgruntled terrier parked herself under the 3 year old, recently backed, Icelandic gelding.

She sat down, made herself at home and nothing happened.

Then said Icelandic gelding was left in the middle of the school while other horses were tölting around the edge.

He didn’t move.

As the excitement was now at fever pitch, Jo got on her new horse.

Afterwards, I even let Jo have a go so she could see just how much he has changed over the past two years.

Her Maj remained disgruntled with a hint of resentment while we had a lovely morning playing horses.  Not ponies. Icelandic horses.

I think she will put herself up for adoption shortly on the grounds that we didn’t have a horse for her to ride.