Winter Brushing

1 Reply

We have a northerly storm on its way, along with the possibility of snow. It will probably arrive Wednesday and rev up for Thursday, dying out by Friday and then snowing from henceforth.

So, as I have help at the moment, Flossie and I went out armed with a bucket of brushes and we gave the horses and ponies a quick once over, concentrating mostly on the fur on their backs, which needed a good brush and floof up.

While Floss worked hard, I picked out feet.

Everyone behaved beautifully – they just stood there, no headcollars or anything and we brushed and picked while being investigated (read frisked) as we went.

 

Then it was the Shetland ponies’ turn in the other field.  They were very helpful though I did have to put a headcollar on Tiddles (which he immediately took off his nose) as he is not keen on being brushed and kept moving off.  I talked to the front end while Floss did the brushing.

 

The ponies were mostly very fluffy and needed little done, except of course for Tiddles whose coat needed a thorough brush.  He turned into a fluff ball afterwards.  So another job done.

Coming Home

2 Replies

My evening chores (photos and film taken by Daisy)……

It is around 3 p.m. and the light is going fast.  Firstly, the ducks come and find me.

I call out for the first three to go to bed. They are my original duck family from this year (mum, son and daughter).  There is food in their shed waiting.  It makes a good incentive.

Then I feed any ducks who are still outside.  Some have already gone to their shed early to join the chickens.

Then I tell the remainder to go to bed and I take extra food for the others who didn’t come down earlier.

Next, if the sheep are not waiting at the gate of their field to come in, I shout for them to come home.

(They are only running fast because the ponies have heard and are following them, which Lambie finds very scary.)

“I am running Muzzah, I am running so fast!”

The reward for returning home is some Animal Crackers that I happen to have about my person – a Christmas treat for everyone sheepy.  They love them.

d

First Contact

3 Replies

Floss, aka our Queen of Sheep, and I went for a lovely walk and obviously the dogs came too. We walked to the furthest end of the field where the sheep were sitting.

‘Bert saw Flossie and immediately went to talk to her. He is such a dude.

Note the “happy tail”. Sheep, like dogs, wag their tails when they’re happy – it’s the sweetest thing.  It always makes me smile when they do it.

However, Lambie was not in tail-wagging mood.

While Flossie was talking to ‘Bert, Gussie was trying to decide whether to come up and join in too.  He will talk to me, but he doesn’t know Flossie really.  He suffers from “Stranger Danger”.  His mum, Dahlia, taught him well.

Barrel rolled up too and I could see Gussie thinking that talking to Flossie might be a grand idea.

And he slowly came up to her.

So brave.

Nearly!

It won’t take long before Gussie is talking like the others to our Queen of Sheep.  Mostly he ignores what his mother said to him anyway.

A Very Good Day

7 Replies

Today has been lovely.

We all got what we asked for.

And we had a delicious festive lunch.

Afterwards, as the weather was being kind, we went on a walk with the dogs.

And now we are relaxing.

Merry Christmas to you and yours xx

Lots of Help

3 Replies

I gave Floss my phone this morning to take photos for me in my usual routine.

So, I rustled up the troops and, clutching my bowl of sheep food, we all walked around to their shed for breakfast.

The sheep are all used to this routine and so know to follow me and my bowl of food.

I thought this routine was pretty fool proof except for one fool ….. Lambie, of course.

He decided that “Things Were Different” so he had to be different too and refused to go inside the shed like he always has done all his life.

Luckily the others wanted their food in their usual bowls.

Dahlia also slipped out because she got pushed off her bowl so I fed those two out of the shed, shutting everyone else in.  We will stick to my routine, even when we don’t. It’s the law.

Meanwhile, Daisy had an easy job and fed the Shetland ponies. She took this gorgeous photo.

Next, it was time for the old horses and ponies – we each grabbed a bucket of food and off we went across the hill.  It is so nice having all this help.

We were finished in half the time and then it was our time for breakfast.