“”Painting the Forth Bridge” is a colloquial expression for a never-ending task, coined on the erroneous belief that at one time in the history of the (Edinburgh) bridge repainting was required and commenced immediately upon completion of the previous repaint.” – Wikipedia

Well, that’s how I feel about rasping small pony hooves.  It never ends. It never will end and I can’t leave it for any length of time as it always needs doing.  The Forth Bridge or Shetland pony hooves.

Today, I rasped the teensy-tinesy hooves of Newt (who was superb – he really has turned a corner about this).  What a guy!

Albie – who was moderately helpful.

Tiddles – who got a smacked bottom for stiff legs, refusing to help and generally being uncooperative.  I am sorry (I am not) but we had words. I won.  He gave up being a tit and his reward at the end was a very small bit of carrot which I grudgingly gave him.

And then, lastly, feeling very weak by now, Vitamin, who was ooooooookaaaaaaay.  Not brilliant, but not awful.

I ran out of steam after that but I know who is left to do.  I have a farrier coming on Thursday to check I am keeping on top of their hooves and doing it right.

Tomorrow, I will do battle with Silver….

Fivla and Storm

And Waffle – but I may have to go over and get him.  Today was an Alone Day (large black dot/lump in distance).

Althought blowy, it was nice to spend time with my Shetlands.  As I write this, my Painpod is on full revs and boost.  An essential piece of kit for this never-ending job – my very own Forth Bridge.

Everyone is very tired.  It was a long noisy night and of course I lay in bed worrying.

I wasn’t surprised to see lots of sleeping going on today.

As the wind slowly died down, all our animals were recuperating.  I left them all to it.  It is only fair.

Lilja, Hetja and Sóley were miles away in their correct field (phew!)  Sóley was hopping and skipping about so all is well there too.  The sheeple stayed around the house. They didn’t want to be in a field so I didn’t force them.

You can see the relief that it is all over.   Even the hens were enjoying their freedom.  They had been shed-bound yesterday.

I went over to check on the Minions and Brá – all very relaxed and had found shelter in their respective fields.

En route, I met this little chap trundling along the side of the road.  As you know, I do love a hedgepig.

He is not very big, so probably one of this year’s babies.

I made a quick detour to my local beach. Always good for spectacular waves.

So that’s us. All safe and well after the storm.  Everything looks a bit burnt and frayed around the edges now.

We had one casualty –  a concreted-in garden gate post that was pulled from its moorings by the wind and now lives in the middle of the lawn!

The weather has disintegrated all day.  It started with torrential rain and now we are heading towards a Force 8 gusting 12.

Hey ho. That’s the way it is up here this time of year.  The Equinox gales have arrived but just a bit early.  Hatches have been battened down, haybags for sheeple filled and we have a supply of hen and sheep feed in the house so we won’t have to struggle with any feed-shed doors in this wind.  As it will all get a bit violent and dangerous outside, we plan ahead while keeping everything that needs to be done outside to the absolute minimum.

There is shelter in the fields and the horses are not stupid (please not today, Sóley, and do whatever your mother tells you.  She knows best.)  The clever boys are situated on the other side of the already flooding burn where there is no wind.

So today was an inside sort of day and once chores were done, I decided to plan and set up my latest stop-motion film.  Lambie arrived.

And Her Maj.

Lambie wanted shelter from the rain, happy to leave his two friends outside – they swiftly went back to bed next door.

Lambie was a bit wierd about my wellies.

At least he didn’t have an argument with them like the office chair. The other day, Lambie decided to spend ages telling off (butting) my chair while getting crosser as it spun round, annoying him further.

Then Lambie asked to go out and then stood outside asking to come back in.  He dithered there for a bit so I shut the door and he rammed it. We went on like that for a while.

I am looking forward to getting to grips with my new film with or without my idiot sheep.

Sóley is almost, just almost, happy now about having her headcollar put on.  We give her mother, Hetja, a small handful of food in one bowl and set out another for Sóley – the theory being if we can get her interested in eating it, we can use it to teach her how to load into the van later on.  When in doubt, resort to bribery – that’s always our motto!

While Hetja would eat anything, Sóley is dubious.

She is still obviously nursing so not really into anything else much.

She is inquisitive, so we encourage this.

And then she gets distracted and forgets!

Afterwards, we swapped the ladies around. Hetja and Sóley went into the bigger stable.

Sóley:   Seriously, you want me to do what?  Walk on a lead rope next to mother!  Are you serious?

Sóley:  I am not convinced this is a good idea or one I want to entertain.  No one does this, surely?

We started to teach Sóley how to lead nicely by walking Hetja around in both directions and letting Sóley follow.

Sóley:  So not happy with this.  So not going to do it….. grumble, grumble, grumble…. possibly ever.

Sóley:  And your promise I can follow Mum’s bottom?

Sóley:  Oh ok, well, I have discovered that I can do this but I am disappointed that I can’t stop and throw myself around a bit.  So cue the sulk then. I shall await your apology.

There were a few tantrums but patience and calmness won the day.  We wanted Sóley to learn never to pull away and always go with. Little steps.

We also discovered that Sóley holds onto a good grudge.  She enjoys a sulk and has to be cajoled out of it!

Not unlike another I could mention……

These two are the best of friends which is lovely.

They share beautifully.

It is good to see.

These days, there is not a nasty word between them, ever.

Inside, Monster has made himself very much at home.

While outside, he remains totally invisible.

BeAnne is happy and smiley, which makes me happy and smiley.

(This is not going to be a long blog – migraine.)