I am not popular with the ponies.  I wormed them.  Newt spat his out so I wormed him again and Waffle wore his, so I wormed him again too. Now they are all wormed.

That’s Waffle’s distinctly unimpressed cross-at-me face.

After the great worming debacle, I decided the Minions could not stay on the grassy bit all the time.  This would just take away all the good that we’ve achieved over the last few months.

A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the lips is what I tell myself. It applies to me as well.

So I called the herd up and with much difficulty and unhelpfulness (ie point blank refusal), I got them all back onto the starvation track part.  More unpopularity and “you cannot be serious, mother” from them all but it has to be.  I must stay strong.

So a new regime today.  The Minions were in their paddock over night as per usual, then onto the track for the most of the morning and afternoon.  Again, an unpopular decision but at least I could get them away from the long grass.  Then later in the afternoon they were allowed on the grassy bit for a few hours before bed-time.

It works out about :-

12 hours = paddock
8 hours = track
4 hours = grass

Hopefully this will work and they will all be a bit more cooperative.  Waffle and Newt were the worst to catch and evict from the grass. I ended up having to find a headcollar to lead them out. Imagine that!

Some photos from my dogwalk today at Leradale.

The Original croft house – now derelict.

The last of the flowers – all beginning to die down now.  There is a real autumnal feel in the air.

One of the enclosures in the field (and small dog).

Some field terracing (possibly Bronze Age).

Old field boundaries or enclosures.

More enclosures – the inner line of rocks, not the complete line.

And again, the inner line of rocks on the left but not the “wall” – that’s modern!

The Bronze Age oval house.

(model from the Shetland Museum)

A modern-built house probably used for lambing.

Nothing changes here except for the fact I need to really read up on Bronze Age life in Shetland because, as I wander around with the dogs, I feel stupidly ignorant of the folks’ way of living.

Where the wiggly lines are, show the Bronze Age settlement.

The Historic Environment Scotlanc blurb…..

“The monument comprises the remains of a prehistoric settlement of at least one house together with the remains of contemporary fields.

The settlement is located on a NE-facing slope overlooking Loch of Breck. A single oval house has been revealed by peat-cutting. It measures some 6m by 4.5m internally, with walls up to 2m thick. The entrance has been from the SE, where a curving wall foundation suggests a porch or windbreak. Within the house, alcoves can be traced in the inner face of the wall on the NE side. To the N and NW of the house small squarish terraces probably represent contemporary fields, and there are a number of small cairns, perhaps of field cleared stones, in the area.

The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan, bounded on the NE by a modern fence, which is itself excluded. It measures a maximum of 95m NE-SW by 90m, to include the house, fields and cairns and an area around them in which traces of activities associated with their construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

It’s rained all day and it feels very damp both indoors and out.

When I got back from packing vegetables this afternoon, all the Shetland ponies were just standing around looking utterly miserable so I gave in. I opened up the small triangle of grass for them.

They can eat it for the evening and then I will try and lure them back into their padddock for the night – I don’t suppose for one minute they will come in, but I will try.

I also put Fivla back in her field.  She doesn’t eat when she is with the Minions and just stands there all day worrying me.

I was speaking to Iacs’ vet (south) and I mentioned Fivla’s depression and she told me about having a geriatric profile of bloods taken as well as an endocrinology screening. I have booked Fivla in for a vet visit next week.

If Fivla is not eating while she is on the track, then I worry she will get Hyperlipidemia which occurs when horses are in a negative energy balance due to decreased feed intake.  I could not nurse her through that. It would be too much for Fivla’s body to take.  Anyway, when I put her back in with Vitamin she started to eat and that cheered me up.  It is a constant juggling act.

So wish me luck trying to get the Minions lot back into their paddock and three haynets for the night!  I may well fail.

This is the best Winning Smile I have seen in a while from Lambie and possibly because I was wandering around yesterday evening with a large bag of Animal Cookies.

I was, of course, everyone’s best friend.

Today was brighter so I took the dogs to Leradale for a run.

I am still hoping Pepper will learn to swim though I think we’ve lost our warm weather window now and what we need is another dog who is a keen swimmer to show her.

Wednesday is Water Day so I spent a long time lugging hosepipes, buckets and brushes cleaning everything and refilling it with fresh water.  To pass away the time, while the huge troughs filled up again, I went to chat to Iacs…

…. who is on top form again.  He was keeping guard against the potential tigers for Haakon.

Haakon was having a zizz while Iacs did his job well.

Haakon has always made it perfectly clear that he is not the type of horse you sit down next to and I don’t.  He would hate it and feel instantly uncomfortable, while I would worry he would flatten me while he stood up.  We understand each other very well.

Kolka wandered up and that was nice too. She is a very social girl.

Buckets now full, I went off to find something else to do.

I was just thinking the other day that it would be very useful to know just how much the Minions weigh as I am about to worm them all.

And wouldn’t you know it, I got a message from my friend Monika (Sandness Equine Management) saying she could come and weigh everyone this morning.

So, five minutes before she arrived, I called all the chaps into their wee paddock.

Monika set up with some “help”.

First up was Vitamin, who was such a good girl and just walked straight on.

Nothing phases Vitamin.  Monika also looked at the body condition, sometimes known as fat scoring, of everyone.  Vitamin was spot-on and perfect coming into winter for a 29 yo old lady.

Next up was Fivla, who was deemed *** cough *** fat.  She has a cresty neck so we discussed this and decided she will have to go onto the track for 12 hours with the Minions and then back out with Vitamin at night, thus cutting down her calorific intake by half.  I didn’t want to do anything too drastic with her as she is old.

Then we weighed all the Minions boys, one at a time obviously.

For me, it is so helpful having Monika to discuss weight and condition. A second opinion is invaluable.  It keeps me on track and Monika reinforces my mantra that Shetland ponies can live off fresh air.

Everyone was mostly good. There were the exceptions, of course –  Storm and Silver were suspicious at first but soon realised they only had to stand on the scales and not perform rocket science.

So that’s the new plan.

Fivla on the track 12/24 while Vitamin is inside the track so she can see her best friend all the time.

No more guess-timating everyone’s weight completely inaccurately.   The weigh-scales are an incredibly useful tool and I am forever grateful to Monika of Sandness Equine Services for coming out to us. Her input and advice today has been invaluable.