While I was looking for photos of Delia yesterday, I came across a folder called “Delia and Gwendolinda”.

Delia had three foals (six in total) with us and my favourite was Gwendolinda – named after a Muppet character, a princess.

Gwendolinda was our princess.

Except that to us she mostly resembled a wildebeest!

I think it was the large ears that pointed upwards and inwards that did it.

Anyway, it was lovely coming across the photos of Delia and her little princess foalio.   Delia was a very good mother and the photos and the memories made me smile during what has been a rather grim time.

(Today it has rained non-stop and there has been barely any daylight either).

Why did we have Delia put to sleep?  Apart from her legs – she became so stiff and could barely walk or keep up with the herd;  her teeth – she was beginning to have difficulty chewing and would spit out lumps of chewed silage.  No, for me, it was when she let Newt have her bucket of food.  I knew then it was time.   No one was ever allowed to get near her bucket.

But I will remember her in the summer with her foals and her dogged determination.  She was always a lady, never complicated and easy to work with.  A delightful Grande Dame.

Good night, Delia.

You were loved.  We just ran out of straws to clutch and now you are asleep.

Rest in peace.

Millhouse Raw Deal – “Delia”
1992 – 2018

It was like this yesterday.

Truly beautiful.  Shetland at its best and I took these pics while I went for my daily walk with BeAnne.

Crisp, clear and no wind.  Beautiful light.

And then overnight we had rain and the temperature went up by about 9 degrees – from minus 2 up to 7 degrees Celsius so all the snow, that covered up the filthy mud that is everywhere, has melted and water is running off the hills, flooding the burn and subsquently the fields.

We also have sheet ice remaining which is very tiresome as well as lethal.  I hate the ice.

The horses are looking glum.  Probably because when there was snow, they were fed twice a day.

Without the snow, however, although they have a good pile of silage each, it is only once a day – in the morning.

Some are more resourceful than the others.

Some *** cough *** Hjalti (again), try to get the silage from over the fence.  Luckily Sgt Major Soufflé is on duty and takes a very dim view of this entrepreneur-ness.

Luckily we have an indoor school so those that want to ride, can keep going.  Bjørn was training Daisy and Kappi and then Daisy and Taktur.  There was the usual “help”.

I do admire Daisy – she still has her riding mojo.

Mine has vanished at the moment.

These are the photos from yesterday and are for illustration purposes only!

T’other day, Daisy and I arrived at Leradale to check everyone and to feed Delia (this was before she moved back home) only to find Dreki outwith his field.

The others were standing supportively in their field nearby, but Dreki had got over the fence.

I have no idea how he did it or where he got over but he did and he seemed pretty unphased about it.

But how to get him back?

We didn’t have any carrots or a headcollar  (stupid, stupid me) but we did have Delia’s pink bucket.

Dreki has never been fed from a bucket in his life.  I doubt he actually knows what one is.

But he does know that everyone wants it.

So I showed him the bucket and called him over to follow me.

I didn’t expect this method to work.

Why should it?

But Dreki was happy to leave the others, his Mum, his step-Mum and his sister and dutifully follow me.

I was very surprised (and happy).

Daisy opened the field gate nice and wide and Dreki walked through, and then ran down to talk to the Minions to tell them all about his Big Adventure.

All Daisy and I could think was thank the Gods it wasn’t Lilja because she would’ve been a complete and utter twunt!

I guess all that Mr Headcollar training has sunk in, even if we didn’t have one when we actually needed it.

Well done Dreki.  Boy done good.

Even though Delia has come home, I still go over every day to check each horse or pony at Leradale.

Today I took Flossie and a bag of carrots.

The ponies all came stomping over.

Each taking their time and in no particular rush (you can almost hear Tiddles humming his happy tune to himself).

Everyone knows they will all get their fair share of carrots.  That is a given.

While I was happy pottering about taking photos, Flossie was busy being everyone’s best friend.

I love it the way my daughters understand the importance of going round to each pony to talk to them (or nose kissey).

Fivla was Flossie’s Shetland pony when she was little – they have always been very happy in each other’s company.

Leradale is a huge field.  There is grass if you look for it.  It is interesting to see that now Delia has left, the herd are keener on wandering around.  I expect she slowed them down sometimes.

I kept hearing this scratching noise and found it was the Shetland ponies digging for their food.

They all did it – using a front hoof to scrape the snow away revealing the grass underneath.

This is how ponies survive the winter.

Clever ponios.

We left them to it – digging away in the Shetland winter sunshine.  The scenery may look pretty but the ground is frozen.