It has been six whole days with these ladies and already I am seeing a change in so many ways.

Mother is still pushy but she is learning the magic word “back, back” which means you don’t walk into the house or feed-shed uninvited. She is also less pushy and is filling out.

Wherever I go around the croft, I have two devoted followers. ‘Bert has also decided they could be his best friends because they get three meals a day and he only gets one!  Today, the Boyzens went into the hill. Lambie is still furious but I told him to suck it up, Princess.

Anyway, this weekend I was given some Muscovy Ducks.  I adore them.  In the dim and distant past, I had one Muscovy. Now we have seven.

Six lady-ducks and one drake.

They don’t move around much – preferring to stand outside their house (now sharing with the hens in perfect harmony), waiting for me to arrive with food.

I have to make sure that everyone (ie sheep) are somewhere enclosed as they cannot steal the duck feed. It is poisonous to sheep.

And certain sheep are on the scrounge 24/7 at the moment. It’s a full time job.

I am trying to convince the ducks to follow me and I can show them where the water is but so far they just stand and watch.  They do a lot of watching and possibly judging.

The followers always follow.

BSC (Bat-Shit-Crazy) Girl is getting less reactive.  She will take a gingernut/snack from my hand, she will eat from a bowl in my hand and she will almost let me touch her. She sniffs me when she thinks I am not noticing.

They also love the horse’s barley rings which make the perfect snack and bribe. I keep some in my pockets.

The way forward is definitely food.

My days are spent wondering if my horses and ponies (and possibly sheep) are too fat or too thin and then worrying accordingly.

At the moment Hetja is constantly in my thoughts.

She is still feeding Sóley-the-Foalie, which is fine and what we wanted, but she has started to lose weight and I can feel a rib if I press her sides.  Brá did this when she was nursing Dreki – suddenly dropped all her weight and was skin and bone.

So, rather than concentrating on her usual maintenance ration of hard feed, we have upped her feed adding more calories.  I have also opened up a small hay-park that I was keeping for just this purpose.

My thoughts being that if we can limp along, keeping Hetja’s weight from dropping while she is feeding Sóley, then we can wean her daughter in March. Well, that’s the plan.

Sóley is a big lass now and she has her big sister to watch out for her.

Lilja is good with her little sister and, despite the bickering, they are actually very close.

And we will also open the gate, when we remove Hetja, and let the Minions work their magic on Sóley so that she forgets to miss her Mum, and concentrates on being distracted and weaned instead.

I will be glad when Spring finally makes an appearance. I think we all will be.

A certain little Miss Fluffball (FB) has gone feral!

Who me?

So Floss and I have been working (weather permtting – and I say that because there is absolutely no point in trying to talk to Little Miss FB when there is a Force 10 blowing plus horizontal rain – she goes all suspicious and silly).

Today was lovely and calm so I brought Mr Headcollar out to play.

And I quickly gave Floss that particular short straw!

While I kept Lilja entertained, Floss worked her charms.

She is good.

I was very impressed.

They obviously have a rapport.

And Flossie obviously has a pocketful of carrots.

So that was a huge success.

Good things come to good little fluffballs.

I am quietly hoping we have overcome the headcollar hurdle….. again.

And we will repeat this process for the rest of her life now.

Today the vet came out to check les girls.  We had been in conversation previously by phone and quickly came to the conclusion that they could do with a visit.

Easily caught with a bucket – the Boyzens included who were in the other part of the stable grumbling – something about incarceration with hay and water….. I wasn’t listening.

Our vet checked teeth, mouths, feet and answered all my sheep-related questions.

We caught the youngest first and tipped her. I put a collar on each of them. I am not a fan of them but they make good grabbing handles if necessary.

She was a good girl about everything and then, once released, went back to her bat-shit crazy (BSC) ways.

They were given an antibiotic injection and the potential lamb situation was sorted.  Both ewes are not healthy enough to go through pregancy.  Photos never show just how thin an animal truly is.

Then mother sheep was then caught and I tipped her (my first tipping – my poor back was very unimpressed).

She is “broken mouthed” which means teeth are missing.  There was also some evidence of foot rot on her so the vet sprayed her hooves with antibiotic spray.

While we were working with “Mum”, the BSC daughter constantly did the Wall of Death around the stable so we ignored her.

So that’s them all checked over – one more thing to do but I will wait a week – they need some pour-on anti-lice stuff in case they have any nasties hiding in their pathetic thin fleeces.  My lot look quite luxurious by comparison.

We did our best. I think they were fairly unimpressed but I know they have been fully checked over by a vet and the only way is forward.  Also they have calmed down hugely about BeAnne, which is good.  There was a definite atmosphere from both side.

First thing this morning, I received message – “Do you have time to ride today?”

The answer was a conditional yes – ie horses checked and fed first.

I felt like Klængur and I hadn’t been out for blast for ages. I had almost forgotten how to tack him up!

Luckily I remembered and even more luckily, Klængur was thrilled to be out and about.

In this photo, I am finding the carrot-for-standing-still-while-I-get-on-and-then-attach-my-air-jacket. Klængur is such a good boy. He stands like a rock for a motivational carrot.

We waited while my riding companion, Peter, mounted his own Icelandic horse.

And then off we went.

Lovely, lovely, lovely.  Utterly perfect. Klængur and I had a good clean tölt of varying speeds as well as lots of Icelandic horse willingness.

Klængur and I came home with huge smiles on our faces – equine and hooman.  Perfect. I had forgotten I like riding my horse.  Winter has taken over my life far too much.