I drove over to the other side of the island to drop off some horserugs for mending and afterwards I thought I would take the scenic route home and enjoy the autumnal colours.

The sea was very blue but the wind was described today as a “strong breeze”.

It is a north-westerly so there is a bit of a nip in the air.

All of a sudden Summer feels like a brief interlude.

The colours in the landscape have changed as quickly as the weather.  One day it was Summer, the next Autumn.  Too quick.

I drove past some Shetland ponies grazing in a hill park.  I quickly stopped the car and took a few pics.

They looked very at home in their natural environment.

Driving southward along the Lang Kames to “Halfway House”, there was a viscious squall coming across the hills.

And yes, we have trees in Shetland. Who knew?

This is a small copse in Kergord. I found this article on t’net, which made interesting reading.  It is about the tree management here.

I enjoyed driving around, listening to an audio book as I go, and seeing a different part of Shetland.  It was a nice peaceful way to spend an afternoon.

It was blowing a hoolie outside, with intermittent buckets of water being thrown out at us from out of the sky.  I had ridden Haakon (he is really trying hard for me), Daisy was bibbling about on Iacs and, as I was returning Haakon to his field, I suddenly decided to grab Hjalti and bring him into the school for a little training.  He was easy to catch and left the herd without looking back, despite Efstur squealing for him at the fence.

Today’s lessons consisted of the rocket science that is learning to stand quietly tied up.

Daisy continued with her bibbling.

Standing still is an essential skill to learn, so Hjalti pawed the floor for a bit, generally fidgeted while I ignored him.

Eventually I noticed Hjalti had managed to undo his rope but as he didn’t bother to do anything about it, I didn’t react or make a fuss.

And then it was Hjalti’s turn.  Daisy taught him to lead nicely.  It was more of a reminder really as Hjalti already knows the basics.

Hjalti was a good boy and did very well.  I took over and taught him “back, back” (walk backwards when asked) and “move over” (always useful).

I learned too.  Hjalti is clever.  Teach him something once and that’s it, he’s got it. This may be a good thing or more of a case of “be careful what you wish for”.

We didn’t do much and we didn’t take long. Hjalti is young and I don’t want to bore him. His  reward was a nice long roll in the sand.

So, that’s what Hjalti learned today. All useful foundation stuff.

We have just been through our first gale of the Equinox, Storm Ali.  The wind blew hard(ish) and there was lots of rain so, after battening down the hatches, putting out new candles, checking all the animals had everything they wanted, we went inside and weathered the storm.  It was noisy but not destructive.

So the upshot is that I haven’t been out taking any photos today.

At a loss for the blog, I went through some on my iPad and found the Norwegian boat, Statsraad Lehmkuhl, a three-masted barque rigged sail training ship that had berthed in Lerwick – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statsraad_Lehmkuhl.  I had popped into town last week for a meeting and ended up eating my fish and chips looking at this beautiful boat.  The light was going but she was still very beautiful sitting in her mooring.

Then of course there is Her Maj who is doing very well, having finally forgiven us for leaving her in June for the Icelandic Horse British Championships.  It has taken a while and she now eats her food and stops looking resentfully at us.

In fact, BeAnne even smiles.  I love my special little dog.  She is the other half of me and we need each other very much, though I mostly go for my daily walks on my own or accompanied by sheep.  BeAnne rarely offers to come along unless I drag her along on a lead. I think daily walking is good for both of us.  My back has certainly benefited these last few months and I am almost back to normal, even riding Haakon every day.

And lasty, Monster Chubblie.  He has chins.  ‘Nuff said.

Hopefully tomorrow will be back to normal.  Well, as normal as it gets around here!

The Minions are very photogenic, sometimes.

On this day (yesterday), Albie was wearing a piece of stick in his hair as he wandered towards me to say hello.

Albie has this terrible habit of rushing over with his ears flat back which is very off-putting if you don’t know that he making himself more aerodynamic to get to you quicker, rather than be nasty. Never nasty.  He is not that sort of chap.

Ooof, leetle Newt (his Russian accent is very strong these days).

I just want to hug him because he is the cuddliest pony ever, in theory.

And he also has a little squishy very snoggable nosey.

In practice, Newt tolerates the cuddling.  Remember his Book of Revenge?  Well names are written down, twice for some people.

Ah, Storm.  My cool dude.

He never changes.  Always silly but reliably silly.  An acquired taste.  Only-a-mother-could -love-him type and I do.

Dear Waffle is in team GB for the next Olympics.  His class will be eating – Eating for Britain!  Jeezo, he is fat.  I am secretly hoping for a harsh winter so he can shiver some of his belly fat off.  You could lay six place settings on his back, including full regimental silver, and comfortably seat people round him for dinner!

Silver is not much better to be perfectly honest.  Fatty, fat, fat!

Dearest Tiddles.  Sometimes he is very aloof and then my best friend.  It depends on which side of the bed he got out of in the morning, I guess.

Vitamin is a “wide load”, a large lady getting ready for her Shetland winter.

Fivla and Vitamin remain the best of friends.  They stand together like Agnetha and Frida.

It will be interesting to see if little Lilja wants to rejoin her mother, Hetja, and Brá in winter or stay with the Minions.

“If you go out, we will follow.”

“If you go and stand in a field, I will follow (shouting all the time so you know I am following you and will appreciate this devotion.”

“Seriously?”

“Just who or what is making that godawful row?”

Ok, does anyone want to play “Spot the Cat”?

Poor Monster, or Chubblie as he is affectionately known, is a very determined chap, though sadly not invisible.

He never stops shouting at us.  He is very vocal and his days (and nights) are spent either telling everyone he is home and where is everyone.

Today, Monster even followed us in the indoor school whereupon he proceeded to watch me have a riding lesson from Daisy, shout from every corner of the building, make pretend sick noises to get attention and then cover himself in sand until he eventually turned himself a different colour.

I think Chubblie is definitely one of us.