It is that time of year when I am not sure whether I should be putting a rug on Haakon.

Reasons to:

• he is a nice weight and should keep that on
• he is 26 years old and can get stiff in the cold
• the weather is not nice now – endless rain and a cold wind chill factor

Reasons not to ruf:

• Haakon stops moving about the field if he has a rug on
• he is a good weight and has plenty of padding to keep him warm. He is not losing weight.
• he tolerates a rug but is never very happy in one
• he is an Icelandic horse – he is designed for this weather
• if he wears a rug, he won’t grow a proper winter coat.

I have asked Haakon what he wants and mostly, this year, as he is so much better health-wise than last year, I am not rugging him.  He is not a fan of rugs.

When it is the odd really awful day/night then I give in and put a rug on the old man up but only in a no-fill rain sheet – enough to keep him dry but not enough to stop his internal boiler from working efficiently.

I regularly look at the weather forecast (yes, I am obssessed), I try to think “scientifically” about the pros and cons and then I ask Daisy for her opinion as she is actually understands the biology and gives me a science-based reason.

The others in Haakon’s field don’t get rugged.

Just the oldest man on the block, occasionally.  Twice this winter, to date.

He’s a bit of a weirdo.

He has a thing about bubblewrap.

So, I thought that’s just him. How wrong I was.

Tinsel – another thing he is weird about.

Moving swiftly on….. then there are boxes.  He loves boxes but only certain ones.  He is fussy.

Special boxes with toys are nice.

But toys on their own are the best fun.

Today, he followed us everywhere, shouting as he went so we knew he was following us everywhere as well as going places he probably shouldn’t.

I will admit that I had my heart in my mouth when he was wandering around the rafters of the stable.  As Flossie said, he is not the most agile and one bad step….. so I waited underneath him in case he needed catching.

Cat in a sink anyone?  Move along. Nothing to see here.

Everywhere we go, we are never alone.

Monster is one strange cat but he is our strange cat so we love him (except when he is being mean to BeAnne!)

Right, Lambie, you have one job today and that is to be a Brand Ambassador for The Golden Paste Company – go #teamturmeric!

How difficult can this be?

To be fair he did his best.

He loves his TurmerAid but something was missing.

Me: “Lambie, please try harder”.

“Ok, and stop! That’s not what I want”.

This afternoon, there was a nice gentle winter light and I thought “I know, let’s have another go at this TurmerAid photoshoot”. So I placed two tubs outside with the Boyzens and the Girlzens.

We had a group chat – a motivational speech about my aims and objectives. I spelled it out. I really did.

But it fell on deaf ears.

Seriously? Is this the best you can do?

So they made an effort.

Well, some did and some (***cough*** ‘Ster) didn’t really get it.

*** sigh ***

Well done ‘Bert. That’s my boy.

Fer cryin’ out loud, Lambie!  You have one job so now you are looking, well, just plain weird!

I gave up.  Lambie had his bank manager face on.  Creepy much.

And I realise now why I failed…. because basically all I want to show with my photographs is this….

Edna in January…..

Edna in December.

Says it all really.

Sometimes photos don’t need masses of words.  Today is this time.

Waffle

Fivla

Fivla – note the eyelashes

Vitamin

Vitamin again (teddy bear ears – oooof!)

Newt

Waffle, again

And again

Yup, you guessed….. Waffle

*** cough*** – getting a bit embarrassing now.

Ah, Silver

Silver

And the majestic Tiddles

I’ve no idea what happened to Storm and Albie. That day they just didn’t have “it” and Storm does not suit B&W.  He sort of vanishes.

Today started where we left off – trying to get our original Brand Ambassador to do his job.

With a combination of bad lighting and Lambie, the unhelpful sheep, we pretty much failed.  This is the best of a very bad job from Lambie’s turn.

Edna was around and she wandered up and looked lovely. I adore this one of her.  She is such a special lady.

I will try again with Lambie tomorrow. You never know. He might find his inner film-star other wise he may get the sack.

Having exhausted the photoshoot potential, I went riding.  First up was Iacs accompanying Efstur, then Klængur who went out with Taktur (it was fast and great fun) and lastly a sedate walk for Haakon around the school.

(These are photos from yesterday – I asked Daisy to ride Haakon for me. It is always good to get a second opinion and I value her judgement very much).

I have decided to try and ride Haakon almost daily, for ten minutes, just in walk to a) give him something to do and b) to stop him seizing up.  He is much healthier this year and feels very nice to ride.  Last year, he could barely move. Well, that’s the plan.  He is also much happier now his teeth are sorted.

I adore these three.  They are the very best.  It was a good day. I shall sleep well tonight.