The boys came up to the fence for a chat.

Hetja came with them.

She is a very good mother and step-mother.

She keeps the little irritations in line.

Efstur steers well clear when Hetja’s on the rampage.

He just plays the cute card and hopes everyone around thinks so too.

Hjalti is old enough to know better but still young enough to want to play but sometimes over-step the boundaries with his mother.

Hjalti and Efstur are the best of friends and have been very good for each other these past months.

They have a close relationship, which is lovely to see and will be very important when we wean Efstur in the New Year.

The boys both adore Hetja.  Brá is a good mother but she is not an affectionate one.

Hetja has always happily looked after Efstur on Brá ‘s behalf.  As boss mare of the herd, she sees it as her job.  Always has.

And then Hjalti remembers that Hetja is his mother and not Hjalti’s so he has to tell him.

You just know what Hetja is thinking don’t you?

“Bloody children!”

Floss has taken a break from riding since the summer because:-

a)  Klængur was not that nice to her – gave her, what we call in Shetland, a bit of a gluff
and b) she went in back to university.

So I have regularly been riding Klængur out and reminding him of his manners.

Flossie decided she wanted to give this riding thing another go so she caught Klængur, brought him into the school and tacked him up.

I am sure Klængur was pleased to see Flossie again.  Better her than me for many reasons, the most being she is much lighter.

They always have a great relationship on the ground.

Klængur is a great little horse but he likes to see if he has a rider or a passenger.   He tests.

If there is a weakness, he can be inclined to exploit it in a very unhelpful way.

(a quick chicken pic – Elvis – named because of her “hair”!)

First, long and low ….

…. stretch and relax.

Then concentrating on walking and transitions.  Nothing faster at this point.

At the end, once Flossie knew Klængur was concentrating and listening to her, she asked him to tölt.

Then we did everything the other way round.

And Floss rolled up her metaphorical sleeves and worked very hard keeping Klængur on the straight and narrow.  It was a battle of wills and she won.

Success!

A handful of feed balancer as a reward.  A quick play with the bucket – Klængur always does this.  I have no idea why.

And then back into the field.  Time is a great healer when you have had a gluff on your horse.

Well done Flossie and Klængur.  Both achieved.  Very happy.

Ohe yes, little Miss Pathetic was around too.  Jeez, she does miserable so well.  I instantly feel guilty for no reason at all.

Newt has joined Albie’s routine and so quickly settled in.

Albie is still having his milk and then a cup of hard feed (mare and youngstock mixed with foal creep that needs finishing).  Newt has just a cup of hard feed too.  He was weaned before he was originally sold.  I supervise this side of things.

Daisy is on guard duty.  Delia gets to eat her bucket of feed mixed with Golden Paste (a turmeric mixture that is brilliant for arthritis) without being hassled.  Daisy has to flit around deterring the determined, ie Storm.

BeAnne is on wire-twanging watch.  Tiddles (and Storm) both love to twang the fence at her and laugh while she jumps up and down at them incandescent with terrier rage!

It is a daily game and one that all sides enjoy.

Haakon seems very happy with his little herd and has taken to Newt too.

Newt spends his days either in Tiddles’ posse or Haakon’s more sedate adult group.

And Fivla is still on her diet.

After breakfast, I led Newt up to a level part of the field for his daily chat and hug.

He is very easy to catch and lead and bravely walks through the mud at the gateway which is up to his belly to get to his food.

We measured him.

25″ whole inches high, though more like 24″ but I am being generous.  If you want to know what two feet look like, stand next to Newt.

Albie was 28″ high and is much nicer to Newt nowadays.

All is good and now you know.  Only 2 foot 1 inch high.  Awww.

Sorry, I should’ve explained.

The Advent Calender is situate at the top of the blog. Click on the appropriate date number and up pops one of my photos. It may take slightly longer to show because it is a larger picture (1280 x 1024 pixels) but it is given with my love free to you for your own personal use.

Enjoy and thank you for all your support this year.  You have no idea just how much it has meant.  Hugely appreciated. xx

🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁 🎄 🎁

Daisy and I went over to Sandness to move the little foursome herd from their now-grotty park to the hay park.

They can take the top off it.

There is no water in this park so we moved the water trough and had to fill it by hose.

To say Silver, Lyra, Waffle and Vitamin were happy to be moved would be an understatement.  There was much galloping.

And then heads down and EAT!

And then off they went again.

Vitamin was keen to appreciate her new field.

The youngsters went off exploring together.

Lyra suddenly felt like a blast.

Waffle had to follow.

And then they were joined by Silver.

Then Silver decided to put his hoof down.

He had excellent acceleration with an added tail swipe at Waffle on the way past!  It is all about tactics.

Vitamin looked up to see everyone had vanished and she thundered past!

She can move when she wants to.  A rare sight.

Meanwhile we were still filling up the water trough.

Waffle has one true love.  His Lyra.  She has stopped being Daisy’s girl now.

Lyra and Food.  Ok, Waffle has two true-loves. He is determined to eat his weight in grass as fast as possible.

Meanwhile, Daisy looked at the view.  Filling that water trough takes forever.

I feel happier now that this herd are moved.  They can eat this park down for a bit.

Today is a Day of Shite (rain and wind) so Daisy had an indoor riding lesson from her trainer, Bjørn Roar Larsen.

She started off by riding Taktur, her 6 year old Icelandic stallion.

First they warmed up on a loose rein.

Then work on walk.

Tölt – this is not a particularly easy gait for Taktur but he can do it if asked nicely.

Trot (I love Taktur’s trot – it is beautiful and the photos do not nearly do it justice).

And then a big fat well-done.

Next up was Kappi – Daisy’s competition horse.  He had been waiting patiently in the wings.

Again, warming up on a loose rein.

Then trot

Tölt – Kappi has the a lovely tölt.  He really motors.

(they did canter but my camera had run out of steam by then so I missed it.  They also worked on both reins and did masses of walk which, again, I managed to miss.)

And breathe.

Daisy worked hard with her horses while it poured with rain and blew a gale outside.

I watched with Little Miss Sulky.

Or Little Miss Abject Misery as she goes by these days.  She does do the most dejected face.

❦ ✰ ❤︎ ✤ ❀ ❋ ❄︎ ✬  A Thought  ✬ ❄︎ ❋ ❀ ✤ ❤︎ ✰ ❦

Oh, by the way, does anyone want me to do the Advent Calendar for this year?

Let me know and I will create if requested.