When I saw this, I instantly thought….
♫♫ Three little maids from school are we….. ♫♫
and it now my earworm for the day, even though I don’t know all the words!

Waffle tried to steal Tiddles’ food! *** sigh ***.

Now, I always leave Albie on his own as he is easily bullied off his food and is happy to give up.

The boys are checked regularly and this afternoon, I went to the stable and the family followed.  Ted is not allowed in the stable as he wee’s on hay and, at over £6.50 a bale, that is heinous crime in my book.

No one minds “the family”.  I guess they are used to our little ways (read “odd”).

That was until Monster decided the stable was an ideal place to have a wee. In his defence, it was raining outside.

Albie was fascinated by this!

… as was Storm.  And so Monster left in high dudgeon and we all laughed.

Everyone wants out.  Waffle and Storm especially.  They bicker all the time now and annoy each other. Good signs.

Sorry, guys, it’s not happening even though you are feeling a bit better.

And so revenge is wearing all the bedding.  I brush the ponies daily.  It really makes no difference but I am glad they are all feeling and looking better.  We are not out of the woods, by any means, but things are improving.

Iacs and Haakon (L-R): “Give us a carrot!”
Me: Ok, but I am feeding them to the sheep too. The sheep like carrots as well.

Haakon:  This is something I don’t understand. Why do sheep like carrots?
Iacs: Never waste carrots on sheep.  That’s just plain wrong.

Iacs and Haakon: So go, on give us a carrot!

Iacs:  Or else….

Haakon: No, no, Iacs, that’s not the way to do it.

Haakon: Charm. You’ve got to use charm.  It will get all the carrots in the world.  Watch me.  Pretty please!”

Me:  Of course, I insist you have all my carrots.  The sheep will obviously have no more.

Iacs and Haakon: And quite right too……. by the way, a few Mrs Pasture cookies wouldn’t go amiss either!  Just sayin.

So obviously I went back inside the house and brought out my last bag – two cookies each was the ration.

And here are a couple of pics from my travels.

Yesterday I was very worried about Albie. He spent most of his day lying down, with his legs stuck out, shallow respirations and sweating.  He had two doses of painkillers and I hoped for the best over night.

This morning, OH came in and said he thought Albie was dying.  I frantically finished dressing and dashed into the stable to find Albie lying down again, though he did get up when he saw me and ate his breakfast, along with a very generous dose of painkillers.

Daisy suggested a “soft bed” so I split the group up – with Albie and Storm in the smaller stable leaving Tiddles and Waffle in the bigger one.  Storm’s walking is not great either.  I opened and spread out my last two bales of shavings into the Albie/Storm’s bedroom and that seemed to help hugely.

I put more hay onto soak.  There are so many theories on how long to do this – too short and the sugar hasn’t left, too long and all the nutrients have leached out, too too long and it starts to fement!  I keep buckets of water on top to weigh the nets down.

I spent time this morning trying to cheer up Albie so I gave him a lovely long brush, which he adored.

And then I thought I ought to brush everyone else too.

Storm and Waffle also appreciated this, but Tiddles walked away.

Tiddles’ walking is much better now. Not perfect, but better.

Anywho, Albie has had a much better day today. Phew!  I can’t decide if he just has a very low pain threshold (he can talk himself into a misery) or that he is actually in real agony.  It’s hard to say but he is responding to treatment, so that is all that matters.

Eating and drinking is good and has got better during the day. They are all on soaked hay in small hole haynets, so they have to work for it, along with fibre block.

Yes, I am in contact with the vet too about all this.

I was looking at the old men, Haakon and Iacs, while they were eating their breakfast thinking to myself “isn’t nature amazing!”

Both horses were wet (I am trying to be tough and make everyone live outside, even if it rains. My mantra now is “they won’t melt, they are fat; they won’t melt, they are fat” and occasionally I will message Daisy or Flossie so they can confirm this for me and I won’t give in and dish out rugs and stables.)

Nature has kicked in, growing a long multi-layered winter coat….

…. that forms into little points for the rain to drip off, leaving a lovely dry undercoat next to the skin.

The belly (ok, rather huge) remains dry and fluffy from being underneath.

And they also have beautiful dry froo-froo bouffant knickers, as well.

All the lovely dirt and grease built up over the year from not washing it out also adds to their waterproofness.

It really is a bloody brilliant invention of nature and something to encourage, so no rugs or sheds for the foreseeable.  I expect to last the week!

After me, one more time ““they won’t melt, they are fat; they won’t melt, they are fat” !