Little Albie – I call him “Albert Potato” and I am not sure why.  We adore him (actually, we adore them all, but Albie is always speshul because we were his Mum from an early age).

And in return Albie loves us.  When he was little, we brought him his food.  There is a connection – food + Mum = love.

When we go into the field, Albie is always first up for hugs and nose-kisseys.  There is something just a little bit different from the others.  He has nice manners and will stand forever beside you passing the time of day.

While he is very happy to be one of the guys, Albie always runs back to us for a hug.  He needs to know that everything is ok.  Right from the start, it was my dream to see Albie settled and accepted in my little Shetland pony herd.

I love the way Albie then canters back to the herd, having had his hugs.

Then there is the necessity of annoying of someone who also loves to play – that would be Storm, then.

A statutory game with one of his bestie’s – Storm and Albie are very similar in the way they think and are.

And then off Albie goes to do some serious eating because that is very important too.  For a miniature Shetland pony, Albie has grown upwards (and outwards).  He obviously likes his food.

I luff my little orphan – *** sniff *** – Shetland pony.  Albie will always be my little boy.

So this was us just over five years ago (February 2013 to be precise), when Visit Scotland dressed Vitamin and Fivla in their bespoke Fair Isle cardigans.

They wore them so well.

Fivla and Vitamin were suddenly an internet hit.  The world knew about them.  It was fun, though there were folk who thought that Shetland ponies wore Fair Isle cardigans all the time in the fields and what we did was terribly cruel.  The fact that Fivla and Vitamin wore them for possibly 10 minutes maximum in each shoot and could easily and happily walk/trot around not giving a damn was irrelevant.  There are some real idiots out there.  I can say that now!

Since then many have copied but only really devaluing the brand.  We were the first.

I also know that there are a few fields in Shetland with random grey (white) and black Shetland ponies in.  Apparently visitors are told these are the ponies from the advert.  But they aren’t.  Vitamin and Fivla live in my fields.

The ladies have aged these past four years.  Vitamin is a bit greyer around her cheeks.

She looks older but is still beautiful.

The ladies remain the best of friends.  Now Fivla has lost weight, she looks wonderful – just the same, perhaps a bit wiser (my excuses for the very dirty bottom – someone is in season).

However, there is a distinct change in Vitamin.  She is sharper, a bit senile even, but she trusts me so I can catch her if I need to.  She is the younger of the two and I worry.

Fivla is just the same – always easy, always helpful – she does, though, squeal like a pig if any other pony/horse looks at her in a funny way.  We just laugh.

So Fivla and Vitamin are still going strong. However, beware imitations.

My mixed herd of one Icelandic horse filly yearling, Lilja, and most of the Shetland pony Minions, plus Fivla and Vitamin, are very happy and settled.

But two are missing.  Waffle and Storm have been living in another field for nearly a week now. They miss their friends very much.  I can see that during my daily visits.  However, these two are becoming more and more rotund, which is not good.  Storm looks like a Percheron and Waffle is a pig on sticks.

So with promises of better behaviour, Floss and I led the boys back to be with their friends again.

This time Waffle was nicer to Lilja.

He had stopped his irritating “I am a stallion, I am” behaviour and Lilja had learned to mouth like a foal again, which was interesting to see.

Lilja wanted to be friends with Waffle – she was interested in meeting him and every time he came up or she went over, she was the submissive one.  This was a good plan.

And because she did this, Waffle totally backed off.

Of course Tiddles was thrilled to see his bestie, Storm, again.

There was lots of catching up to do.

The herd took up mutual grooming too.

Lilja tries so hard to fit in.  She really does.

Vitamin has a side-kick.  So cute.  They make a great team.

Newt – the very definition of divine. He is the cutest little chap.

So, there we are.  The herd is together.  The fighting, hopefully, has stopped.

Lilja is settled and happy.

It took a while, but it is done!

Peace at last – pretty please.

Little BeAnne has found her appetite – mostly due to me feeding her home-cooked roast chicken from a spoon (don’t judge me – I am desparate and perfectly aware of how low I have sunk but needs must).

However, I do have a secret weapon – The Monster!

He doesn’t take prisoners and is mostly used as my last resort.

He always appears for food!  It is a very important part of his life.

It seems Monster has settled in well to our Shetland life.

He likes to follow us everywhere, trying out new skills – like balancing on the fence.

Not being a small cat (other folk have small, petite, light-framed little felines – I don’t), Monster struggles with his tightrope act.

Whatever it takes really.  He swayed to and fro trying to regain his dignity and composure.

And eventually he heaved his large self back up onto the narrow fence.

I will admit that I was laughing.

Despite his every effort, Monster remains very visible.

He is a happy chap.

Today we were sent a large box of lovely things.  After unpacking, I gave Monster the box to see if he was a Box Cat.

He happily jumped in,  which made me smile as I like a Box Cat.

Today was the day that Taktur was taken over to live with the mares, Hetja and Brá.  They had come over to Thordale a few days ago.

No one was missing Taktur.  They had just come up to watch – this was a spectators’ sport.

Once in his new field, Taktur went off exploring.

He knew he was there for a reason.

And he could smell his Lady-Girls.

But they were not going to make it easy for him.

Some might think they were even hiding….

Or thinking of a cunning plan!

Suddenly Taktur remembered his purpose in life.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.“

We may have to rename Taktur now.  Derek springs to mind.

Anyway, Taktur did away with the formalities of an introduction.

He bounced about trying looking handsome.

If I am perfectly honest the girls were not very impressed.

I think, though, that Brá had her come-hither look for Taktur.  Hetja was having none of it.

I won’t lie to you and say everything is hunky dory.  Suffice it to say this is how we left them.

Everything is fine and peaceful until Taktur has “an idea” and rushes over to discuss it.

The girls kick the sh** out of Taktur, they all squeal a bit and then they go back to grazing.

If it all descends to anarchy tomorrow, we will take Taktur out and try again at a later date.  This is work-in-progress.

Meanwhile, “what is Daddy doing to Mummy?” is going on.  We moved them out of sight.