The ice is still with us.  There are patches where it is lethal – we walk the horses round it rather than ride them through.  Ice scares me – what if I fall?  What if they fall?  What if we all fall?

So, I dug out a lens I rarely use and had a play instead.

This is Gypsy having a bit of snooze in the winter sunshine with the snow melting into droplets on her back.

Bless her, Gypsy was enjoying the feeling of being full of food plus the warmth of the winter sunshine so she wasn’t going to move and was the perfect candidate for my experiments

    

I have been working hard with both of the girls.  Gina is easy.  She sees food – she wants it.  She will do anything you want to have it.

Gypsy is more complicated.  She is learning to be a pony who is accountable for her behaviour.  I can now easily catch her and lead her, even by her chin hairs. Our relationship is totaly based on trust and I won’t accept any unneccessary behaviour.  Once I explained how life would be, Gypsy accepted this and is actually an easy girl to work with.

I have grown very fond of both of them.

I spent this morning with my rarely-used lens and tripod taking photos of the wierd ice formations in the hill stream.

Ice fascinates me.  The strange but precise patterns and shapes are wonderful.

I must admit I had a play with this lens and enjoyed the results.

I took BeAnne with me and she had one of her sit-down strikes.  This resulted in me driving off, leaving her behind and then having to go back to collect her.

(And yes, I did apologise to BeAnne for HER bad behaviour because that was the only way to make her get in the ruddy car!)

Today has been a beautiful day.  Cold and crisp here at Thordale but, surprisingly, there is very little snow/ice at Leradale, two minutes down the road!  It was lovely there.

So Daisy and I went in armed with carrots and brushes.

The brushing was first and we made everyone beautiful.  Manes and tails.

Daisy then went for a walk with her bag of carrots to lure everyone to the better grazing up the hill.  This lot spend far too much time lurking next to the preggie ladies.  Not healthy.

The majority were very happy to be lured.

The rest went the long way round, muttering.

After much debate with himself, Tiddles decided to follow via the quickest route.

Bless him!  Once he had made up his mind, he was very enthusiastic.

The carrots were shared out.

Daisy even kindly waited for the old bags to arrive.

Everyone had their fair share.

Vitamin is the problem here.  She just won’t leave the preggie ladies on their own.  They might need her as a birthing buddy or something and so everyone has to stay too.

Anyway, it was good to get them moved and I went around taking a few snaps.

Dearest Fivla came up for a chat.

She has always been a very special pony.  One of the family.

She is the most beautiful Shetland pony ever.  Our fairy-tale pony.

And so we left them up in the hills to eat.

I bet by tomorrow they are back to where we found them.  Annoying Hetja and Brá!

It was snowing this morning, then suddenly it stopped and the sun came out.  Rugs were off despite the snow, and it was a lovely day.   Crisp and cold but not horrid.

Little Newt had pushed all the silage out of his box and made himself a little bed.

And so he went to sleep.

Fast a-bye-byes.

Happy in his little Newt-made comfy bed.

Zzzzz…….

And then Albie came up.  I told him not to.  I really did.  I forbade him from going up to Newt. I told him he would make no friends doing what he planned.

It fell on deaf ears.

Dear little wicked ears.  Albie is a naughty boy.

🌺 🌸 🌹 🌻 🌼 💐 🌼 🌻 🌹 🌺  🌸 🌹🌺 🌸 🌻 🌼 🌸 🌺 🌻 🌸 🌺

Meanwhile, a few hours later.  This evening……

We put some straw down in the new sheltery bit.  Yes, it will blow away.  Yes, the ponies will probably eat it or poo in it, but I don’t like them lying on the hard standing with nothing for a bed and seeing Newt making his little bed, just confirmed that we needed to do this.

I was just thinking how cute Newt was……

….. as he wandered around the resting Albie.

Aw, they are so sweet together.

Or was it?

No, my bad, it is still cute.

Really cute, friends forever together.

They love each other.

No, they really do.

And then I saw, for the first time, Newt playing with Albie.

Newt’s revenge is complete.  He can annoy Albie as much as Albie annoys him!  This is a first and Newt has found his BFF!   Life is good.  This is a Newtie Milestone.

 

I had a little part of the field, opposite the indoor school, fenced off.  A field in a field.  Originally it was to put a silage bale in during the winter so the horses could have access to the bale for a certain amount of time, but at the moment, this is not feasible.

This little paddock is where the food containers live anway and I asked for some slats of wood to be attached the corner of the fence, on the hard standing to make a bit of a shelter.

The ponies already have a high wall for shelter when there is a bitter north wind but this new part is for the easterly gales.

Why haven’t I done this sooner?

They love it!

It was designed so there is Just enough space between the slats to let the wind through (necessary as a complete barrier would blow the fence down in a good gale) but close enough to offer shelter.

Little Newt and Albie are very happy with this new set-up.

I watch them with Delia and she is never nasty to them, always sharing her food.  Anyone else would be thumped if they even looked at it.

I have had to take Gina and Gypsy out of the field as they spend most of their days standing together away from the others, looking miserable.

They are around the house now and can eat the grass and a pile of silage with the sheep.  They seem happier with this set-up and they have access to Lambie’s 2nd bedroom (no wifi, no radio – sorry), if they want.

It seems an easier solution all round.  They will be going south at the end of the next week.

The weather has calmed down so everyone is outside again.

We moved the Icelandic herd to Clothie – my five acre field.  It is a short walk across the hill.

There are a couple of old buildings, including a derelict school house, and some lovely high wall drystone dykes, so good shelter too.

I led Hjalti over, while Daisy and OH led Iacs, Haakon and Klængur.  Efstur followed behind.  Hjalti led like a seasoned pro.  No pulling, no dragging, just politely walking alongside.  He is a darling little chap.

Later, I lugged silage to them and found little heads popping up everywhere!

Being with the three elder Icelandic geldings, is doing Efstur and Hjalti the world of good.  They are learning their herd manners.

Haakon has calmed down about silage ownership and stopped being a dragon but he does demand respect from the lesser mortals in his group.

Meanwhile, the youngsters worship the ground Klængur walks on.

Klængur enjoys this adulation and has risen to the challenge.

So all is good with these guys.  They are a close-knit group with a wide age range.

Iacs is on top form too.  His silly-frilly is still work-in-progress.

Daisy rides him almost every day and that has helped to loosen him – he was getting stiff this winter.

And these two?  Well, just that – these two!  Honestly, they are joined at the hip and twice as gorgeous!  Watching them grow up is such a joy.