I have been going round and round in my head with this situation.

The bills are beginning to pour in for Haakon and his illness.  I was not expecting and did not budget for this.  I have a vet bill (two visits plus blood tests and meds), a hay bill (the poor lad has to eat something)) and a feed bill (again, when we thought it was laminitis, the poor lad had to have a special diet which he is still eating because low sugar is not a bad thing and I don’t believe in throwing anything away).  All are fairly hefty.

So would anyone be interested in having one of my little felted creations in return for a donation to go towards these bills?  I am enjoying my new hobby and work hard every evening while waiting to turn lights out for Haakon and Taktur attempting to make a little sheep or bird.  That seems to be my repertoire at the moment.

So, here we go:

1)  The (military) Robin.

2)  Flappy Penguin

3)  Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (Mr Bluebird on my shoulder)

4)   Curly Ringlet Sheep

5)  Big Nose Sheep with grey legs

6)  Grey Brown Slightly Worried Sheep

7)  Wonky Big Ears – Derpy Sheep (who is impossible to photograph!)  He is actually very cute in real life but those ears got out of control.

7)  

8)  Pretty Little White Sheep

9)  Puffin – who is not for sale.  I made him for my mother but I can make another if anyone is interested.

So that is them.  I am actually very proud of what I have achieved and if you are interested in anyone, please let me know –  frances@fstaylor.co.uk . They were made with love.

Obviously these bills are my responsibility and I am not going to shirk them but any help would be hugely appreciated and I would not say no.

Here are the boys this morning.  Both on good form, both ate half a carrot each and both bicker like an old married couple.  I like watching them together. They make me smile.  You can tell they are related.  There is definitely a family resemblance.

I told myself that today was Haakon’s last hoof soak as his abscess is healing nicely and dried up now.

So I had a quick feel of Haakon’s hooves to see if they were still warm and, guess what, I found another ruddy abscess had blown in the other front hoof.  I was feeling round and touched on what felt like a Rowntree’s Fruit Pastille attached to the coronary band. I picked it off and then the smell. My fingers were wet with lovely pus.  Ewww but good, in a weird way if you know what I mean.

So out with the bucket of hot water and salt (run out of Epsom Salts but will get more tomorrow from the Co-op) and off we go again with the soaking routine.

Haakon was a good boy. He is used to this now.

Iacs was supportive (read annoying).

Helpful would be better.

So now we have matching hooves and to be honest, I am not surprised.  When all this first started, Haakon was hopping on his front left, resting it and barely weight-bearing.  The reason has made itself clear and I needed to know.

So we keep on keepin’ on.

Well that’s all the Minions brushed and looking beautiful ready for their winter coats to fall out.

Surprisingly, everyone behaved very well.  They can have their moments.

This time I took a headcollar that only really fitted Vitamin because some can be tricky.

Storm managed to escape the headcollar but didn’t go anywhere.  He just wanted me to know he could if he wanted to.  Albie was happy hanging onto the rope, helping.

Silver was a bit silly but once he realised I was not giving up and his forelock would be brushed no matter what, he gave in gracefully.

And then we looked at the ones I had prettified a few days ago.  They were revolting.  So we brushed them all over again.

Having groomed eight little grubby ponies, Flossie and I rewarded ourselves with a little sit down.

We were “attacked” from all sides, which made us laugh.

Back home, after discussing Haakon’s continuing progress with the vet, we let him go into the bigger stable for a few hours to see Iacs, who is missing him hugely in the herd.  Haakon enjoyed seeing his friend and I hope they groomed each other and had a good chat.

Once we have established that a harder surface won’t hurt Haakon’s feet, then he can go outside for a few hours.  But it cannot be when it is raining as he will melt.

I said I would do it so I did.

Today, Flossie and I turned this……

(an old Stokke kneeling chair that has sat unloved in a shed for a few years)

Into this!

Ok, our upholstery is not brilliant but we got better at it as we went on.  The last kneeling pad of course is perfect and I realise that the rest has room for improvement but who sees the underneath, anyway.  Floss and I first watched a video about how to do the corners but we didn’t really understand it so we folded them like envelopes instead.

A job well done and it is an improvement, if only slightly.  At least you can’t see the mouse nibbles.

I shall enjoy my kneeling chair.  It is good for back pain because it evenly distributes the body’s weight between the spine, thighs and shins.  Anywho, it is nice to get the chair back into circulation rather than seeing it sat in the shed gathering dust.

Meanwhile, in the indoor school, Daisy was working hard teaching Hjalti his transitions on a lunge from walk to trot and back again without slamming on the brakes everytime someone said “good boy”.  Taktur, his dad, was exactly the same.  It must be a family thing.

(scuse the trailing lunge – I did tell her, but she was in the zone)

Hjalti has a lovely even trot. He holds himself nicely and every day of training we see a change in him.  He is very clever too and picks up everything very quickly.  A nice boy, so far, to train.  Very uncomplicated and he loves praise.  I am sure, however, there will be blips. There always are.

Since Haakon is now in residence in his stable, I have become obssessed with brushing.

Because he lies down a lot, he is covered in wood shavings.

So Haakon has a quick brush three times a day.  He enjoys this and happily stands while I make him beautiful again.  So very beautiful.

My brushing obsession is now continuing onto other horses.  As Klængur was keeping Haakon company today, I gave him a swift preen.

He was less keen but he can’t spend his life covered in mud.

Armed with my brush and now some conditioning spray, I went to see the Minions.

As I had forgotten the headcollar, I chose only ponies that volunteered.  First up was Waffle. He adores being brushed and stood arranging himself so I could reach all the bits I wanted, though I was only brushing manes and tails.

Albie was desperate to be next and stood patiently in the queue offering his services as brush holder, anything, as long as he was next.

Then I noticed Newt wandering around my feet and thinking he would probably leave, I had a go at nonchalently brushing his mane.  Surprisingly, Newt stayed and I managed to include his forelock and tail as well.

I did notice Newt’s mane has been severely eaten, however.  Hmmmm….. My jury is out on finding the culprit.

So three done and one to go – I as only going to brush half the herd as my back was hurting.

Fivla was next.  I spent a long time making her look pretty.

Next time, I am taking the headcollar and on the next clear day, I will do battle with Storm (idiot), Silver (hates it), Vitamin (can be an idiot to catch) and Tiddles (hates his forelock being brushed).

Suddenly I ❤️ brushing.  Who knew?