We woke up to this!

Gah!

Snow.  There was a blizzard first thing. Real fat snow-flakes blowing past the window as I got up and got dressed.  My heart fell.  We could all really do without this.

And then as quickly as the snow appeared, it vanished which was lucky as I really did not feel like battling with in the “deep and crisp and even”.

So, after we had fed everyone at Thordale, been for a bimble (ride when Iacs/aka Mr Bimble is present), Flossie and I drove over to Lyradale so Flossie could say her good-byes.

Flossie is going back up to Oxford for her last term and finals (everything is now crossed).

Where has the time gone?  So quickly.

As Flossie’s pony, Fivla has always been very special.

They both go a long way back and have always been the best of friends. They understand each other and had many conversations together.

So, Flossie said her goodbyes and we all wish her the best of luck for the coming weeks of torture, exams and hell.

I think Fivla is looking well and almost the right shape now.

Bjørn came over to shoe Kappi and then to give Daisy a quick lesson afterwards.  She has been training Kappi very hard all week, making him fitter and everyone could see a huge difference.

Obviously, there were helpers.

First, there was Albie.

And then Newt.

Everyone’s an expert!

Shoeing horses is hard work, so while Bjørn had a quick sit-down to recoup, the Mini-Minions did more “helping”.

(Amina, Bjørn’s German shepherd dog, was a very good girl or “flink jente”).

“One of us, one of us” – Albie is definitely a Minion.  No mistaking his calling in life.

He even came back later on in the day, while we were working outside, to get himself a headcollar out of the school to play with!

Anywho, Daisy and Kappi were warming up on a long rein and Albie decided this was intriguing and something he needed to see close-up.

He followed them both round.

And then Newt decided this was something he should do too, because if Albie does it, then it must be fun.

(I do think Albie moves very prettily).

Kappi was not thrilled by the intruders so Daisy stopped him to let the boys introduce themselves properly.

Now, who says we don’t have midges in Shetland!?

Yes, they were banned after one circuit of being very, very annoying but it was very funny to watch and they are both deliciously cute.

The girls (Daisy and Flossie) brought their and my horses in to tack up. We were going to go out on a ride.

They were followed by a little somebody.  A little skewbald midge.  A Mini Minion, no less.

First of all, Albie marched up to Kappi and introduced himself.

“Hello, my name is Albie and Mummy says I am very speshul”.

Luckily having been living with other ponies all his life, Albie speaks fluent small pony.  He licked and chewed like a foal and Kappi thought he was fascinating.  There was not a horrid word exchanged.

When I took on Albie last spring, I was determined, just because he was an orphan, that he was most importantly a pony, spoke fluent pony and didn’t rely on humans.  Tor taught him well.

And I totally hand it to Kappi who did nothing to Albie while he was having his girth done up.  Absolutely nothing.  Kappi just stood there with a small Klingon attachment sniffing his bum.  It is a very kind, and possibly rare, horse who lets that happen.  Kappi had never met Albie before.

The next short straw was Klængur’s.  Albie made a bee-line and, I think, recognised him.

Klængur has already, if briefly, spent time with Albie in the autumn, last year.

Soon they will all be together.  Once the grass really starts growing.  I think they will get along fine.

My money is on Newt!  Him and Haakon – they will possibly rule the world.

I took rugs off and let the little ones out of their field today.

They are particularly fed up with endless mud and it is not really drying up in their field.  It seems to be much wetter in their field while the others can get to dryer ground if they want.  Poor little Newt was losing the will to walk over to his bowl of food, which is always a dangerous sign.

I could see that it was really getting him down.  The minute their gate was opened, they all came out and cheered up instantly.

So now I have three little ponies around the outside of the house, with the sheep, which is fine and I nip out every so often for hugging.  I could actually spend the whole day hugging these two little chaps.

Of course, they all discovered the sheep paddock and I opened Lambie’s best bedroom (wifi and radio) door as they are too big to go in via the lamb-flap.

I left them all piling in to investigate.

And a few moments later, I came back to find they had made themselves at home.

Zzzzzz…… sleepy bye-byes and happier little ponies.  I don’t blame them.  The mud is very depressing.

As I mentioned, after Lambie’s visit to the vet, Lambie has osteoarthritis.

To be honest, I am not surprised.  He had a horrid start to his life with joint ill, his twin sister died, and then his mother.

He had no colostrum and arrived a week early.   It was touch and go for a while to start with.

Anywho, it is Lambie’s second birthday soon so it is fairly amazing we have come this far.

Lambie’s diagnosis of osteoarthritis is not a nice one.  My poor precious boy.

I have been busy these past few days trying to find out how best to help Lambie.  There are so many differing opinions and I prefer to use medicine that has been proven to actually work.

I have made a list of remedies that are supposed to help:

Chondroitin – not sure I want to give to a ruminant (I think it may even be banned)
Glucosamine – high doses of glucosamine have detrimental affects on ruminants
MSM – MSM is prohibited for use in ruminants
Turmeric – looking hopeful
SAM-e (S-Adenosyl methionine) – dunno
Frankincense – dunno
Green lip mussel – not sure I like the idea of feeding fish to a sheep
Manuka honey – again, not sure

There is so much hearsay information on the internet and very little actual studies.  “Research shows”, “Studies reveal” is not actual fact and I work on fact not stories.

I think I will go down the turmeric route first and I have a sample of Golden Paste Company grass pellets on its way to Shetland for Lambie to try.

I think he would hate a powder mixed in with his food.  He can be very fussy.

If he has a daily capsule, it could go two ways  – a battle he (and I) will dread or he will be nice about it.

I will keep you posted.

I would like to design a lick supplement for him.  The feed lick company that I approached haven’t returned my call. Perhaps they think sheep are not important.