Over at Leradale, I am holding onto Hetja while Daisy feeds the foals and Brá.

Afterwards, Hetja gets to “wash up” the empty buckets plus a large carrot for her patience and for not being pushy.  She is a good girl and perhaps realises that she does not need extra food.

When the foals have finished, Daisy holds Brá’s bucket for her because they think they should now have Mum’s food too.  It would not be good for the little ones.  They have Mare and Foal mix while Brá has a mixture of conditioning cubes, sugar beet and mix.  Different food for different needs.

Afterwards, I went down to see the Minions, to give them their statutory half carrot and to remind them it has been four years.

Four years since this blog post when the three original Minions came into my life.

(Storm perfecting his innocent waif look)

Of course, he instantly gave me his cheeky grin – probably worried the wind might change and he would be stuck looking pathetic!

Four eventful years!  These little boys have totally changed my life and me, inside – in a good way, I hope.   Seeing the Minions today, and giving them their daily hug/carrot is the best therapy after the past few days.

(Oh, Storm, why can’t you just be nice like everyone else?  Poor Waffle.)

I have spent today in a dwaam.

“dwaam. n – a faint or senseless state” – John J Graham’s Shetland Dictionary.

I can’t seem to get my head around what has happened so I am sharing some more arty-farty photos I have been working on…….

Hetja and Lilja

Majestic Hetja

Little Lilja

Mother and daughter

Itchy daughter (why are foals always so itchy?)

Why, mother, why?

So they can be beautiful ladies when they grow up.

The newly arrived Dreki and Brá.

Statuesque Hetja and Lilja

Spindly young legs

Trying to work out this leg thing

My greatest sadness – Lilja lost her ginger tufty lug linings

The determination of Dreki, the Dragon.

I hope you like the photos and thank you for all your messages of support.  They mean so much. xx

I don’t know what to say.  I am numb.

Wu died last night at the vets.

We had noticed over the weekend that he had lost weight and was not himself. He went to the vet yesterday, had a splenectomy (they found a enlarged spleen and liver ? cancer ? on x-ray).  He died post-op.

Rest in Peace Wussums.  You were loved and there is a gaping hole in our lives now.

I miss him and don’t see him anymore where he should be.

Life seems very unfair and death even more so.

He was only 11 years old.

Brá is not looking her best.

While Hetja’s milk has dried up, Brá is still nursing her son, Dreki, who is doing very well on it.

Brá is an exceptional brood mare – she has given her all to her foal and it is now beginning to show so we have changed everyone’s regime.  For the past few days Brá has been getting extra hard feed, and we have opened up the rainy-day field (a small field I have beeng saving for a rainy day).

We are slightly suspicious that Brá may also be nursing Lilja too, though she is slightly thinner than her half-brother but even so, looking very good.  We also decided to give the foals a little Mare and Foal mix.  Today was the first time the foals have ever met a bucket and Dreki dived straight in while Lilja danced around her handbag for a while.  She quickly got the plot when her mother, Hetja, offered to show her how.

Sadly for Hetja, she is not allowed anything as she is doing very well.  In fact a bit too well.

But I let her lick out the bucket as a reward for being nice and letting me catch her knowing full well she won’t get anything.

We will leave them like this for the next week, ie daily feeding hard feed to the foals and Brá and then we will wean Dreki.  He will come over to Thordale to live with his half-brothers, Efstur and Hjalti in Clothie.

We think it would be best Dreki is not with Albie and Newt and the oldies as they are in no mood to be bounced on at the moment.

So that’s the plan.

Today, I could not find my horse.  Back story:  he was out because he needed a shoe having lost it in the endless mud.

Eventually, however, I did located the old so-and-so.

Haakon had taken up residence in the sheep shed or, as it is now known, Puzzah’s Gentleman’s Club.

And Haakon had found Puzzah’s secret stash of silage.

He also managed to poo in it (I consider this very bad form, Haakon).  So, to lure this greedy horse out, I gave him a carrot that happened to be about my person.

After that debacle (my day has been full of them), Flossie had a riding lesson from Bjørn on her horse, Klængur.

Klængur was the horse that I bought for myself a few years back when I visited Iceland.

But, when Flossie decided she wanted to learn to ride, I quickly realised Klængur liked her far more than he liked me.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

May I just add that I mostly bought Klængur because I assured he would never trot.

So that’s another horse I have given away!

Flossie and Klængur make a very good team.

Meanwhile, Madame Sulky gave it her best!