Daisy has changed.  She is all growed up and her riding is amazing.

She came home for two weeks for Christmas and Kappi and Iacs (her riding horses) saw a different type of riding – that of someone who is paid to train young Icelandic horses and to ride anything that she is presented with.  Daisy works at Kise Islandshestgård, an Icelandic horse training and breeding farm in Norway.  Dammit, she is even learning Norwegian!

Gulp, poor Iacs – he is now in therapy for shock and actually having to do some work (no photos – it would be cruel).

But, lots of photos of Daisy riding Kappi.  Remember, she was given this horse by her trainer, Bjørn Roar Larsen, after the British Championships in West Tarf, Edinburgh, in 2015.

Kappi fra Frøberg is an 11 year old gelding by Jarl frá Miðkrika and out of Hetja frá Hofsstöðum.  He has a BLUP of 107 and is 4 (ish) gaited!

Daisy, and she did say this herself, has missed him dreadfully but is happy he is here, at Thordale, bringing the herd up to eat as he hears the rattle of a feed bucket from about 5 miles away.

Food is very important to Kappi (as you might be able to see).

But, for an Icelandic horse that has not been ridden regularly since June, he still tries his best for Daisy and is her safe reliable friend.

He also looks beautiful when Daisy rides him.

Daisy goes back tomorrow at a crack of sparrows flight to Oslo.  We will miss her dreadfully.  It has been wonderful riding out with her this holidays.

Travel safely, Daisy.  Bring us back Norwegian chocolate (just sayin’!)

The wind never stops blowing, consistently at gale force, and, as Floss and OH had made a bid for freedom (Lerwick or The Big L, as it is known in our house) saying something about cabin fever and hair dye, I knew the task of dog-walking befell to me.

Meanwhile, Lambie and Lambster had learned how to escape from their daytime field and were contentedly eating the grass around the house, while I left to walk the dogs to Watsness.

We were going at a good speed, with the wind behind us, when I looked behind me.  There was Lambie running up the track yelling “Muzzah” .  How he had squeezed through the gate, I do not know, but he did and he left behind him a fretting Lambster without a backward glance.

I had no lead and I was not going back, so Lambie came too.

Lambie was victorious (silly sideways galloping and bouncing) but surprisingly very obedient and well behaved.

Afterwards, I went to talk to Vitamin.  She is a very photogenic mare.  Always has been.

She is also wintering very well, perhaps a tad too well but it doesn’t matter – I can slim her down in the spring.  For the time being, her job is to be Delia’s constant companion.

Delia is very happy with her thick rug.  She is in at night, with a lovely quilted stable rug and is  pleased with her life of luxury.

Her arthritis has good and bad days (I know that feeling) but ,for as long as she comes running for a carrot, barges everyone else out of the way with her ears flat back and a dragonlike gleam in her eyes, then I know she is enjoying her life.

We take every day as it comes, though.

Hetja is a Queen.  She is majestic.  That is the word that best describes her.  Hetja means Hero and it suits her.  When we went to buy her in Iceland, Hetja was described as NN – which means No Name.  We named her Hetja.

Hetja adores her son, Hjalti.  She was made for this and she is a natural mother.

Hjalti is still nursing from his mother.

It doesn’t matter.  He was a late foal and I am pleased about that because it is a horrid winter and Hjalti needs a bit of a top-up for growing.

If Hetja minded, she would tell Hjalti but she is not trying to stop him and so he grows bigger and taller this winter.

He looks wonderful – really healthy and vibrant.

Hjalti is also learning to become one of the herd.  His “Tante Esja” is happy to engage him in grooming her when she asks.  It is all part of his education.  Foals learn nothing if there are not sensible herd members to teach them.

Meanwhile, my two boys, Haakon and Klaengur look on.

This winter, we have a happy little Icelandic herd – no worries, no stress and no fights.  I like this.  It makes for content Icelandic horses that grow up being horses in a social group rather than endlessly fighting for attention or climbing the social ladder.

Boss Mare = Hetja
2nd Boss Mare = Esja
3rd Boss Mare = Vitamin

Boss Gelding = Haakon
2nd Boss Gelding = Klaengur

There is the odd bum-to-bum fight and screaming but that is all part of the politics.

It was a lovely New Year’s Day morning so Floss and I spent it outside with Lambie and Lambster (and BeAnne).

They make a lovely flock-pack (should I incorporate a sheep and dog group to be politically correct?) and you can see just where the woolly ones are heading – straight out into the scattald (open hill) to escape for the billionth time.  Stupidly, I still have this optimistic dream that my sheep will be happy enough eating the grass around the house. Apparently not.

But they did not know about OH’s new gate defence.  This morning it was tried and tested (a plank of wood to make the side of the gate smaller).

Lambie was incandescent with rage.  He was relying on this little-known escape route (pahahaha) and spent a good five minutes trying his hardest to butt it open.

Luckily, even he knows he is too fat for the other exit route.

Poor Lambie.  So, to make up for it, we spent the morning feeding him carrots and taking beautiful portraits of him (note the luxurious eyes).

He is very splendid, as is Lambster, who has grown, I think.

Haakon and Iacs, were loafing around hopefully, and watched on with their usual nothing-ever-surprises-us faces.

Lambie did lots of running too. I was trying to photograph his silly-billy head shake that he does when he is very happy or plotting an escape.  He does not have the same grace as Lambster, who can do amazing cartoon bounces.

Lambie moves more like a flolloping mattress.   If a mattress was going to run, it would run like Lambie – read Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.  Anyway, Lambie is my very definition of flolloping.

I love his face in this picture – he is trying to be more aero-dynamic!

How can I be so soppy about a sheep?

A brief respite today, weatherwise, so Daisy and I went to check on Lyra.

Lyra is living 4 miles down the road in a huge field with two other fillies her own age.  Since Daisy’s departure to Norway in August, I haven’t actually managed to get very near Lyra.

For a small second I thought Lyra would not talk to Daisy either.

She managed to be aloof for almost a whole minute, successfully making Daisy feel like a neglectful owner.

But Daisy knows how Lyra thinks.

And very soon, Lyra remembered that she adored Daisy above all else.

Lyra is wintering well.  She is a very nice looking filly.

She has a very beautiful and expressive head.

Lyra is very similar to her mother, Vitamin, to look at in many ways (though I see so much of Indy’s cheeky personality in Vitamin – now she really knows how to work the system).

So that is us for another year.  I hope you have enjoyed the Blog this year as much as I have enjoyed writing it.  Never a chore (well, hardly ever).

 💖 💥 ✨ 💫🎈 🎊  🎉 Happy New Year  🎉 🎊 🎈 💫 ✨ 💥 💖

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened”

Anatole France