This morning, I rode Klængur and then Iacs (because Haakon was miles away chatting up the girls).  Riding Klængur was a joy.  Riding Iacs was, err, well, sort of, kind of, like, erm, um…… different!  He tries his best and it is his best but I am not used to his way of going.

My back hurts when he trots and canters. It isn’t his fault.  It is all me.

So, this afternoon, I stayed indoors nursing my aches and pains and did some autumn paperwork that has been looming Sword of Damoclesesque over me.

Paperwork is boring but, luckily enough, I have the brain of a butterfly and so I was very quickly and easily distracted.

It really doesn’t take much.

First it was Wu.

He covets my chair.  It is war with manners.

Suddenly, overnight he has turned into a family cat which has taken us all by surprise, including himself.

This is Wu trying to include himself in the Family Tree – every winter I delve deeper to find out about my ancestors.  The Shetland nights are long and dark and I find it fascinating.

A laptop cat?

Loki is a fabulous dog, now – communicative, clever and a darling to have around the house.

This is his “is-it-nearly-supper-time?” face!

“It-isn’t-is-it?” face

“Now-considering-therapy” face.

Since the clocks went back the other week, Loki peaks too early by about an hour.

*** sigh ***, it will be like this for the next six months

BeAnne, of course, is permanent enchantment.

She has us all at her beck and call forever.

And we are all her servants.

Happily.  It is my role in life.

This is our morning routine.

09:00.  Make a litre of warm Multimilk for Albie

Go outside and meet the sheep who are always waiting. At night, they come out of their field so they can go to bed in a variety of sheds.

They are always pleased to see me, or Daisy – whoever has drawn the short-straw!

They are good boys and wait patiently outside the feed shed.

‘Bert is looking much better.

Then they all follow me to their field, some being more irritating than others, and I feed them in their individual buckets. They are not very good at sharing.

So that’s the Boyzens sorted for the day.

Next, I go back to the feed shed and mix up some Lite Balancer with Golden Paste.

Daisy gets Albie’s hard feed ready – 1/2 mug of foal creep and 1/2 mug of mare/youngstock feed.

This is my bucket.

Delia is always first up and waiting.

She is very enthusiastic about her food.

The others follow.

Albie has his food in another field so he can eat in peace.

Once I think Delia has had enough of the turmeric mixture, I fight the bucket off her.

I let Tiddles have a turn as he fell in the sinkhole.

Fivla has a turn too.  She has stiff shoulders.  She doesn’t get much.

The mixture is very hot and strong – lots of black pepper and turmeric.

They love it.  Storm makes it his mission to get some.

I usually give in and let him lick out the bucket.

I think it does good.

The day when Delia doesn’t come running up and kick everyone else in the teeth for her bucket, then that is the day I put her to sleep.

Meanwhile BeAnne has her duties.

She is very busy.

Once finished, Albie is led back to the field.

And he goes back to being a regular Minion.

Albie is fed just Multimilk in the afternoon.

So that’s what we do.

Yesterday, I received an email saying that Waffle had jumped unsuccessfully over the fence of his field.  He wanted to talk to some riders passing by but instead managed to get his left hind leg caught and hanged himself instead.  He was unravelled and returned to his field.

Yesterday, when we visited, Waffle didn’t mention any and seemed fine.

Today, Daisy checked him over thoroughly – all legs were checked.

And Waffle checked Daisy over thoroughly too and said he was feeling a little stiff today.

Everyone was given a talking to about fences.

Even Vitamin, who was very busy.

She had been perfecting her “Look”.

(she is very beautiful).

So we told them all to go away (well, perhaps not those precise words) and to stop fence wrecking because it is very, very boring.

They all scampered away, except for Vitamin.

Is it just me, or don’t you think she looks just like Taylor Swift?  Or is it the other way round?

Can you not see the similarities?  Uncanny.

Anywho, Daisy and I built a real working electric fence.

And a fake one which can be altered and made to be more electrifying, if necessary.

There will be no more jumping.

Back tomorrow with signs to staple onto the fence posts so that people of Sandness don’t electrocute themselves.

They may be sisters – Vitamin and Taylor!  Who knew?

Just sayin’

Today we wormed everyone.  It needed doing and so, armed with headcollars, bribery (sliced carrot) and wormer, Daisy and I wormed everyone – all *** cough *** 19 horses and ponies.

Until today, I actually never realised we have 19 horses and ponies.  I never count them.  They just are and that is that.  When anyone asks how many I have, I just reply “some”.

To be fair, however, it only 18 as Tor is on loan for Albie to be his step-mother.

Anywho, everyone was fine, easily caught and wormed.  Even Efstur, who was hopping about being a tit, tried to bite the wormer nozzle so it was easy enough to quickly shovel it down!

En route to the little herd in Sandness, we saw a good rainbow.

Daisy went into the field first to see if Lyra was talking to her.

Lyra instantly knows if you want her for something important and then refuses to be caught ever again.  She is clever like that.

We wormed Lyra first and then Vitamin, who was appalled and promptly afterwards ran away in a huff.

We left her there and she sulked silently at us.

Meanwhile, the others were very keen to be wormed.

And then after worming, there was hugging…..

…. and tickling.

and nibbling of a pony tail (the human kind).

My OH commented the other day that our ponies don’t like being stroked. They all like to be hugged. For us, it is not an invasion of our space, it is being on their level and letting them “talk” (sorry, I’ve gone all wafty now.  Well, perhaps you know what I mean.)

Waffle and Silver are very well.

Lyra is looking superb.

I think we need a plan for her next year.  She has exceedingly good bloodlines – Berry and Wells.

So everyone wormed. Ta da!

Last Day to Vote!
(please tell your friends)

❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤ ❤❤

Today was good.

Daisy and I went for a ride on Iacs and Haakon, the old men, though you wouldn’t know it.

We left BeAnne behind as she just can’t keep up and we were told off the other day for taking sheep-eating dogs onto the hill.

Note-to-self, remind me to tell her (oooof, Lambie was so cute).

Anywho, we have a routine.  Daisy does the gate on the way out.

She has had Iacs since time began and they are the best of friends.  I am still waiting for her to grow out or get bored of him, like many young riders.

Iacs favours the long and low outline……

….. with occasional optimistic carrot interludes.

The boys are related.  Cousins, I think we worked it out as.

Iacs oftens lags behind and then I hear Daisy say “Bimble” in a shocked way, and he creeps up to annoy Haakon who has to be in front and then they both rush off, giggling together.

I let Daisy/Iacs go first on the cantering track.  There is no saying no.

Sometimes we race.  Today, I couldn’t be arsed.

And then onwards and upwards deep into the hill.

This is my most favourite view in the whole world.  Left ear slightly back listening to me, right ear forward, ready for adventure.

The view at the top.  It’s not bad.

I wonder if I can buy a nose-wheel anywhere.

Daisy tried the Ride with your Mind method of training….

….. while I enjoyed the view.

There was one little happy person waiting for us at home.

And this is the abridged version, with the odd bit of commentary!

Enjoy.