Pepper and I paid a visit to the vet this morning as they had Halti headcollars in their shop and I wanted to get the right size fitted by experts.

When we came home, I put on the Halti and tried walking Pepper home from where I park the car.  She was very unimpressed, had a tantrum, a sit down strike and tried to rub it off by walking with her head sideways on the grass but it would not move. But she couldn’t pull!

After making my statutory afternoon sheep, I decided to take anyone who wanted to go outside for a practice walk with the Halti.

This is the face of someone who is determined not to learn and is very resentful.

But outside we went.

All of us.

And Pepper quickly realised the Halti was not coming off and she had to take responsibility for her own behaviour, ie she pulls, it tightens around her nose.  Her choices.

She also realised how to get her leg stuck the wrong way and in the headcollar but being Pepper she learned that was not a great option and stopped doing that.

And so we calmly walked up and down the track.

On a lovely loose lead without pulling.

We will do some more one-on-one practice in the indoor school, where she can’t lose focus and really get this method of walking nicely down.  Meanwhile, I shall also watch a few Halti training videos to make sure I am consistent and asking her for the right behaviour, remembering to reward her for it too.

And then we can be acceptable in public and not nightmare-dog-from-Hell followed by her owner.

I needed to go into town to re-stock the field as well as get hay and supplies for the ponies.

Pepper was very keen to come with me to town.

And I told myself it would be lovely to have some company.

I also wanted to leave Ted with Monster as a test run – Ted has form.  When he was Mum’s, he would write his name in pee, and anything else, around the house when left on his own.  So this was a test for Ted too.

Pepper sat along side me in the horse-van with her car harness on.

She never lay down once.  Oh no, there was so much to see and look at.

And she was a very good girl.  She sat quietly at the feed merchants while I found out about hurdles for the bigger horses.  We were a long time but she was calm and happy watching the world go by.

And then into town itself.  Luckily there were no cruise ships in so we could park easily.

Pepper was in her element.  So many new smells and lovely people to talk to.

I dropped off the sheep at Jamieson’s where she charmed everyone.

Ok, her lead skills were not brilliant, actually pretty non-existent and I swapped her lead onto from her collar to the harness as she was pulling so much.  We will work on this skill, I think.

Into Vaila Fine Art for a quick pit-stop, cup of coffee and Tunnocks.

Then one more drag back down the street.

And this was the first time Pepper’s lead was loose.

Pepper is home now and exhausted. She didn’t even go to sleep on the way home but I am so pleased she was with me.  It was a very positive experience for her and I am encouraged to take her with me to places.  And, yes, Ted was perfect too.  No writing.

You can just see all the Minions at the very far end of their track that circuits around the field.  Little white dots (and a few coloured ones too).

I called them up for the breakfast and they all set off, some at a canter and the older ladies at a trot.

The youngest got here first and I shut the gate on them in this small paddock so Fivla and Vitamin could eat their buckets in peace.

I noticed that Vitamin and Fivla needed a good brush. I thought the remainder of their winter coats would’ve come out by now but it has not been warm enough and they’ve been wearing rugs when it was cold, wet and windy so nothing much has moved.

This was Fivla after a good brush.  She was much happier.

And Vitamin, also.  It is a tough one. I want Vitamin to put on a little more weight but I don’t want her to get laminitis (like last year).  However, Fivla needs to lose weight.  It is a constant juggle and worry.

Meanwhile Storm upset my grooming bucket, had the entire contents out and was in my way constantly.  Annoying, much.

And now the threat of more rain so rugs back on, despite it being quite warm.  I wonder when summer will arrive.

Firstly, I should apologise to Madge because I have no photos of her.  She just wasn’t in a very photogenic mood and wouldn’t stay around long enough for me to take a pic of her.

So we will start with Harrel-the-Barrel and he is very much a barrel.  I spend my days trying to keep him off the chicken and duck food, which he most certainly doesn’t need to eat despite his best efforts to steal it and he is one determined sheep.

Then there is ‘Ster, who remains utterly hopeless at following anyone into the field.  The lights are on and no one is at home.

Ditto Lambie.  Not a brain cell there just grinning hopefully.

Everyone is in desperate need of shearing but it is just too cold or wet.  Having said that, shivering could lose some weight.  Just sayin’.

Now Maggie is a clever cookie.  She is attentive and always around.  This might be where Harrel gets his ability to apparate out of nowhere whenever I feed the ducks and hens.

And then darling Edna.  Who knows here age (someone does), but she keeps on keepin’ on with no teeth and huge amount of will power.

Edna is beginning to lose her wool – probably a sheep who could be easily roo’ed (plucking their wool out) but I mostly just pull out the revolting trailing bits when I can.

And lastly, but absolutely not leastly, ‘Bert who is his usual dude self.  Such a dear soul.

And now I feel guilty I didn’t get a photo of Madge.

It rained and rained and rained last night.  So much rain.  Everyone was soaked and shivery (except Tiddles, Fivla and Vitamoobag – they were pretty dry) and I felt awful for them so I opened up the big shed and led the Shetland ponies inside, two at a time.

Vitamoobag is the nearerst and you can see that her rug did very well, but she was slightly shaking when she came indoors.

And of course the rain stopped immediately but I decided to give everyone the day off from their lives on the track.

I put out two lots of haynets, two fibre blocks (split eight ways), as well as a good pile of “Fast Fibre” to warm them up.  I wanted to give them some fuel to keep them warm in this cold weather.

And while they warmed up and rested, I played flute duets so they had some music to listen to.  Funnily enough, they were all very keen to go outside afterwards!

But we had Monster as our flute-playing inspiration!

The Icelandic horses were absolutely fine so I left them outside.