The weather is pretty horrid here and I spent the day swithering about whether to put rugs on the old ladies and Tiddles.  Part of me thought it was not that cold (around 13 degrees but lower with the wind-chill) and the ponies do need to grow their winter coats, and then there is the part of me that feels so sorry for them huddled and looking miserable in the rain and gale-force wind.

At lunchtime, I was strong but then I gave in and rushed out with the rugs for Fivla, Vitamoobag and Tiddles.

I think the ponies were grateful as they didn’t object and walk off while I was fighting with the straps in the F8 wind.

Hopefully at the end of the month, I have two 20′ shipping containers arriving  and these will be used as field-shelters for the ponies. First, I have to get the ground dug out, levelled with hard-core/quarry waste put down.  My aim is to make our lives easier in winter.

Everyone will be very happy to help with the building/construction work – now, why am I suddenly imagining small ponies wandering around with little yellow hard hats on?

So while my vivid imagination was working over-time, I put out more haynets as fibre = equine central heating.

I did a quick walk round the croft just to check if all the sheep had come home (they can scoot under fences in certain places) and found this lot sheltering.

It really is a nasty day, today.  Apparently it might stop raining next week sometime.

Not much today because I am mostly not able to communicate easily.

And I found that Pepper has a new “spot” – *** sigh *** – is nowhere out of bounds?

But it is deal for looking out at the world (playing spot the birdies)….

….. and/or it doubles as a dog bed (that can’t be comfortable, can it?)

Monster was comfortable in his woolly bed.

Very happy and snoozing having now left a pile of white fur on my iPad – more sighing.

And so I left to go to work at Turriefield.  Today was vegetable packing to get it sorted, weighed, bagged and labelled for the shops.

There was a lot of everything, including beans (poor Heike!) but we all pitched in.

f

I took a bag of celery tops home for the ponies.  They were very happy.

I have a new fence so I need to take down the old temporary electric fence before the gales get it.

So, obviously, I had to talk to the ponies instead because lugging fence poles and trying to wind-up unhelpful electric string is boring.

My electric fence was almost put away and I wanted to sit down to recover from all that strenuous effort.  It was hard work and I am easily distracted.

Tiddles came up for a chat.

And Pepper went off to chat too.

I have no idea why she does it, but Pepper likes to say hello and then sit down in front of her pony of choice.

I did ask her.  She even sits oddly.  A strange little girl.

And this has to be my most favourite photo of the day.

I wonder what the ponies think when Pepper does this.  In fairness, they never bite or stamp on her (it was known with BeAnne, thank you Albie – to the point where I could not take her into the field because she became increasingly deaf, blind and slow, she stood no chance and could not escape fast enough).

But sitting down and making folk like her, no matter what, is Pepper’s thing.  She refuses to accept anything else.

Edna has a routine which I try hard to stick to.  Her feet are not the best – she is prone to limping so I like to treat them daily with an antibiotic (turquoise) spray.

I do this after her breakfast.  Everyone else, who wants to go, is let outside but ‘Ster always stays behind to keep Edna company. I would like to think this is out of love for Edna but realistically, I think he realises she gets treats and he wouldn’t say no to one either.

So, I open up the small adjoining stable door and Edna casually wanders in.

Door shut (note ‘Ster waiting behind it) and Edna, by herself with no encouragement from me, automatically goes and stands quietly by the entrance and waits.

She is currently wearing a loose dog collar and I clip this to the already-tied rope.

Next, I pick up each front foot (rather like a farrier doing a horse’s hooves), check them, clean them if required and spray them.  It is not a fight or much effort from either of us.

Edna is then unclipped from the rope but her collar stays on, told she is a good girl and allowed a free go at the treat box by herself with no interruptions – which is currently holding Tesco own-brand Cheerios!  Ster also gets his shot at it too when we come out for waiting patiently and being supportive.

I love this method of working with Edna because no one is stressed, no chasing, no grabbing or rugby tackles and, best of all, no tipping which breaks my back and makes us all miserable in the attempt.  We do this every day in our calm, peaceful way.

When I was a child, I always thought “The Glorious Twelfth” was referring to my birthday.  It seemed obvious to me.

Apparently I was wrong, but I shall gloss over that because, for me and another friend, it is our birthdays and nothing to do with shooting little red grouse for fun (ugh – they can only be barely a mouthful on a fork).

So today, I celebrated another birthday with friends and family in their various forms via internet or real life.

Here is this year’s wonderful card from Daisy.

Presents included four feed boxes and a very long hose that winds up and they came gift wrapped too!  I laughed at my suprise when I opened the shed door.

These feed boxes will be perfect for when everyone has to come inside on those vile winter days – it means everyone can have their haynets safely eating from the floor.  No more lugging from one field to the stable.  They are heavy.

Along with a superb bottle of gin, tonic, even a fresh lemon and some cake, I am now set for another year!

So, Happy Birthday to me (and my friend, Alice) xx