I went to see Lyra (as in Lyra-Lyra-Pants-on-Fyra) this morning.

She has wintered well with her friends and it has only done her good to be with girls her own age, as opposed to Les Grandes Dames, who she was very bored of.

Every time I see Lyra, she reminds me of her half brother, Indy, my dearest stallion.

She  has a certain charm and unique  beauty like her mother, (Vitamin who lives with Delia at the moment here) as well as her brother, Indy.

This darling girl lives only for Daisy (my eldest daughter)’s return.

The rest of us are mere servants in Lyra’s life.  She tolerates us.

(and don’t we know it!)

On the way home from seeing Lyra, I found a wonderful stack/selection/pile of  (is that the right collective word?) of icicles.

Today, temperatures have risen so they are busily melting off from the peat hags (an overhang of peat) into the burn (stream).

They noisily melt into the burn while remaining incredibly beautiful.

I always look out for these icicle stalactites to photograph – I have a thing for them.  They are an amazing piece of nature.

As the temperatures are slowly rising, the snow and ice is now thawing so I went out with my camera to capture some of the icicles (avec BeAnne – my constant companion).

Ice fascinates me.  The patterns, the way the light is reflected, thawing, the unique shapes the fluctuating temperatures create.  

I could go on. If you want one for a desktop background, let me know.  I am happy to give you the original.  Just send chocolate!

The herd are happy enough finishing off a silage bale.  Surprisingly, it has not lasted long but I am insisting on a clean plate before I let another be dropped off (and no leaving the bits you don’t like under your fork either thank you!)

Luckily for everyone Iacs is around and finishes everything even if you were saving that bit until the end because it was your favourite!

Les Grandes Dames are enjoying the quiet weather (sadly, soon to change back to wind and rain) and are happily grazing in the far field.  They come home at night and go back to the stable with Brá for endless hay and no hassle.

It was so nice to see Storm playing with Esja or is that the other way round?  He is such a sossage!

This kind of weather makes everyone happy and settled, including me – I am thrilled if anyone leaves the bale and goes off to find grazing.

Two quick photos of my Boysenberries.  They spent the early afternoon with me, sitting in the sun while I absorbed my dose of Vitamin D.

Tomorrow evening, we are back to normal – wind and rain.  Yuck. It was a brief, and very welcome, respite.

Some friends came over with their Icelandic mares and, as it was such a lovely day, we went out for a ride.

Haakon was miles away in the bottom field and I really could not face walking through deep mud to catch him.

As Iacs is looking much better, I thought I would take him out instead and see how he was going.  I quickly lunged him first just to check he was not lame.  No one could see anything obvious.

Jackie rode Selma – who Iacs fell quickly in love with as she was a much prettier version of him.  I like to think she was impressed by him but, to be perfectly honest, I doubt it.

BeAnne came too but not on her little feet.  By request, she was lifted onto Iacs’ back at the beginning of the ride.  I thought she would probably jump off as we went along but no, she did the whole ride – walk, trot and canter on his back.

BeAnne is a very uncomplicated pillion rider and I hardly knew she was there until we got home.  I asked Bjørn to lift her down before I dismounted as she hates being pushed off by my leg.  I was very impressed with BeAnne’s seat especially in canter.  She has remarkable balance and moves with Iacs’ movements.  She sat on Iacs’ back all the way there and back again.

It was a good calm ride and Iacs appears better, though very unfit and a tad fat.  He did his best and I am pleased he is mended.

I found Wussums outside this afternoon.  This is a bit of a first for Wu as he tends to only go out when he knows Loki is safely indoors.  Wu thinks outside is not a good place as it leaves him with nowhere to run, though he does always go out at night.

So I was somewhat surprised to see Wussums sitting on the wall and he duly gave me a nose kissey.  In return, I told him how big and brave he was.

Mind you, he still gave Loki wonderful filthy looks of total disapproval just for being a dog.

He does loathing so well.

Anyway, we all discussed this new development on our way to photograph the horses.

Kappi looks full.  Full to the brim.  He can stuff no more in and, for Kappi, that is no mean feat.  Like Iacs, food is the way to Kappi’s heart and no one ever gets in his way.

So there was only Taktur stuffing his face with a large chunk of silage I had brought over earlier.

I made the most of the sunshine and took a few snaps.

There is still snow about – it melts in the sunshine during the day, only to freeze all over again overnight.

The girl/gelding field now has a big bale of silage in it to save my back.  Yes, I realise there is far more waste but, while OH is out of action, I am trying to make my life easier so my chores take less time and my back is not taking the brunt of the extra work.

I have this camera lens (don’t ask me which one it is) that I rarely use so today I made the decision to get out there and have a play with it.

Having seen the finished results, I realise that I need to use it and get to know it a bit better.  The close-ups of water droplets could be much clearer but, still, I mostly like the results.

❅ ❆ ❄︎ ❅ ❆ ❄︎ ❅ ❆ ❄︎ ❅ ❆ ❄︎ ❅ ❆ ❄︎ ❅ ❆ ❄︎ ❅ ❆ ❄︎

Esja’s Back illustrates very effectively how a native horse’s coat goes into a point allowing the rain run off, while the undercoat remains dry.

Klængur – the base of his mane

Hjalti’s silly frilly foal forelock

Brá’s eye and mane with water droplets

Anywho, now I have seen the results, I intend, weather-permitting, to get to grips with this lens so there will be heaps more boring close-ups.  Sorry.

A few sparrows while I was secretly feeding some spare soaked sugar beet to Brá.

The one looking like it is about to commit hara kari is in fact about to fly away.

So enough of the playing. I had work to do.  Everyone was fed and rugs had been put on or taken off.  Next on my list was walking the dogs ….. along with anyone else who wanted to come  too.  They were all very well-behaved.  I am not sure what the highway code is for “yes, I know I am mad, but yes they are my sheep and yes, that is a dog with them!”

The sky was magical while we walked.  I can forgive Shetland any amount of shitty weather when I see the winter skies.  They always take my breath away.