Iacs came in today be ridden by Daisy.

Iacs and Daisy grew up together.  Daisy has ridden Iacs since she was 9, or roughly – none of us can remember.  He has been with us since he was a newly-backed youngster.

Now more mature – 22 years old (this spring) – and still Daisy’s No 1 forever horse.

They know each other very well.

Iacs is a half-full glass kinda guy.

In his opinion, the potential for calorific content is everywhere.

You just never know.

“Yes you do, Iacs.  No food until you’ve finished” says Daisy.

Iacs, despite his age, loves to be ridden.  He could go round that school forever with a smile on his face and a song in his fart.

(Obviously, Daisy’s trainer was working them both hard.  She has very high standards.)

When we had the riding school, everyone learned to ride on Iacs.  He teaches walk, trot and canter, steering plus exemplary brakes.  Despite being an Icelandic horse, there is no natural tölt and we have never asked for it.  It was more important for Iacs to look after Daisy than to be wound up and asked to tölt.

Iacs is a very honest horse to ride.  He will forgive a few indiscretions but he does exactly what you ask.  So if you don’t ask, he will walk straight into a wall because no one said not to.

The worst thing he has ever done?  A real gent, unless there is a bucket involved, and then all bets are off and you have to stop being a passenger and start being a rider, so not a bad thing really.

He may be old and woolly, but Iacs has still got it!

If there are calories involved, you always have Iacs’ full attention.

This is his Handsome Prince face.

A darling boy.

Happy Burns Night to everyone.

Is this a haggis?  Have we sighted a rare wee beastie?

And then the haggis sat down and we all saw who she was.  I promise she does have the full complement of legs!

Her Maj!  BeAnne Duvet who has made a full recovery from her awful spinal disc thing last autumn.  I thank the Gods for this.  She is my precious and, well, I can’t even think about the what-ifs to be honest.  It makes me cry.

BeAnne still follows me everywhere and I mean everywhere!

Meanwhile, Daisy was having a riding lesson in the school from her trainer, Bjørn Roar Larsen.

First she rode Taktur, her Icelandic stallion. Taktur was not being easy – tölt is not a natural gait for him – but Daisy managed very well and they both worked hard.

 

And then next up was Kappi, her Icelandic gelding.  He is going beautifully in training.  It is lovely to watch.  Haakon and I do not even pretend to achieve these things.

 

While they all worked their butts off – they walked, trotted, cantered and tölted around the school – I watched with my small canine attachment.

Always there.  Not going anywhere unless I go somewhere. Yes, even there!

So flute lesson today and then on to town as per usual.

We needed to buy horse, sheep, cat, dog and people food (in that order, too).

We walked up and down Commercial Street to see the superb shop window Up Helly Aa (the Lerwick Viking annual fire festival) displays.

Almost every shop makes a huge effort and it is fascinating.

There is much diversity. Yes, there is the obvious Viking theme but it is amazing what you can put in a galley!

The outfits are incredible.  Many of the displays feature costumes from previous Jarl Squads.

 

And the accessories!  The beautiful shields, buckles, axes, etc….. Such workmanship.

Outfits from the Junior Jarl Squads.

And yes, we still feature.  Amongst the Up Helly Aa kit was us on a teatowel!

There are obviously different approaches to Up Helly Aa…..

You can even knit your own galley if you want.

This is the Red Cross shop window.

Home of the knitted Viking helmet.

Even a Fair Isle knitted bottle cover for your beer

Or your gin.  You choose!

At every Up Helly Aa, there is The Bill. It contains mostly local in jokes.

This made me smile!

And The Hand in the Galley? – well apparently legend has it that two Viking Jarls both saw Shetland at the same time from their galleys, whilst searching for land.  The winner would be the first one to lay his hand on the soil.  So, one fearing he was losing the race, cut off his hand and hurled it onto the beach, thus winning the race and ownership of Shetland.

Up Helly Aa started in the 1880’s.  Cancelled for a couple of wars and the death of Queen Victoria, but it is always held on the last Tuesday of January.

If you want to know more about Up Helly Aa, I recommend this website – http://www.uphellyaa.org/

 

 

 

 

 

Delia stays well out of the foal politics.  She is not interested.  Why should she be?  They are small and young while she is old and disinterested.  She is not attached to them in any way.

So, every morning, we let her out of the field to free access of whatever she wants and I think she is looking very well on it.

Meanwhile Albie and Newt are sorting themselves out.

They are both fed every morning – Albie gets two buckets – one with milk and one with hard feed while Newt gets a his own bucket of hard feed.

To start with, this system worked fine.  They would eat standing side by side.  They didn’t share their buckets and knew whose were whose.

Then suddenly Newt decided that he was the boss of Albie and he wanted his breakfast too.  He now tells him where to stand, which bucket he can have, what to think and do.

And, worst of all, Albie agrees and lets him.

Tor, sensibly, does not get involved.

So now Newt’s bucket of food is placed far away from Albie and I sometimes even stand over them both to stop Newt thinking he wants Albie’s bucket as well.

When Newt is on the his breakfast rampage, Albie comes to stand by me and looks pathetic. “Mum, Mum, Newt’s got my food…. Mum, Mum, what do I do?”

Meanwhile, Newt’s fur is still falling out in clumps.

Albie is doing very well, though.  At least he is good at something – holding onto his fur (Albie’s one talent!)

Poor little Albie. We never expected this.  Newt needs to go out with the Minions soon – they will tell him where he stands in the great order of life.

I try to keep my life as unexciting as possible.  I like it that way.   Nice and simple.

And when I feel up for it, I go for a ride.

While Flossie is away at University, I have handed over Klængur’s reins to Daisy.  She is responsible for him at the moment.  What with this cold that is lingering for the duration, I just don’t have the strength.

It is enough that I can tack up and ride Haakon.

Anywho, at the start of the ride we have long reins for stretching out.

And then off we go.  Daisy and Klængur are much faster, and younger, than Haakon and me.

Gone are the days when Haakon had to be in the front.  He is almost content to be second, though he does sometimes speed up.  Old age is horrid for someone like Haakon.  He has always led the ride and he minds very much that he can’t.

We let the youngsters canter up the track first.

Stop and look at the nice view – a Thordale riding tradition.

And then onwards.

Haakon gave up trying to keep up. These days it is just him and me at the back together.  We chat.

Daisy kindly waited for us and then the proper training bit started. We have learned that Klængur takes a while to warm up but once he is relaxed, he is very happy to work very nicely.  However, if you ask too early, it all turns into a horrid argument.

After work, long reins at buckle end home.

It was a good ride.  Just right for me and the old man.