The measuring stick came out today.  I wanted to see just how much the boys have grown this year.

The tallest is Silver who is 34.5″.  His parents are 33″ and 35″ so his height is about right for who he is.

He would be classed as a midi type.

Then there is Waffle who is 34″, spot on but his parents are both 38″.

Waffle should be taller. Although hee is probably 38″ wide and in perfect proportion, Waffle is officially classed as a Miniature Shetland pony – from two standard sized parents.  Nuff said.  Poor boy.  The damage has been done.  There is no getting taller.

Next up is Tiddles who has shot up and is a huge 31.75″. His parents are both 31.5″.

Tids was never particularly starved but utterly miserable and depressed.  He has changed hugely this year to become a perky little chap who is gentle and kind.

Lastly is Storm who has returned to the shortest in the group.  He is 31.5″.  His parents are both 32.5″ so he is only slightly smaller.

But Storm plans on growing by fair means or foul.  He likes to stand on top of the muck heap as that makes him seem taller to passers-by.  If he eats the contents, he reckons that might help too.  He is the type of guy who would secretly wear stacks in his shoes and deny it.

I don’t think anyone is going to do much more growing in height, though I may be wrong of course.

And in this photo, Storm looks taller but the ground is uneven and I have been thinking for a while that Tiddles has grown.

Still, I love them no matter their size.

This is BeAnne Duvet Soufflé Princess Shaznay du Mezzanine.

The light of my life.

We bought her from FreeAds in 2006 – she was 12 weeks when she came to us masquerading as a rottweiler.

We knew BeAnne would have a rough coat  There were hints even at a very early age.

The fur appeared.

The attitude appeared.

And then more fur appeared.

BeAnne was sold to us as a Patterdale terrier with Gould and Nuttall lines, or something – I fail to remember but I was meant to be impressed so I nodded hopefully and looked vaguely intelligent at the time.

She is definitely a Patterdale terrier – which is a mix of working terriers.

Apparently her father is a certain Jack who is at Durham Kennels.  Suffice it to say, neither exist according to my searching.

Anywho, I don’t care who BeAnne is, though I will admit to having an interest in the breeds involved that make up such a special little girl.

So, for my birthday, I was given a DNA kit. You take a mouth swab and send it off to be analysed.

Mars Veterinary – Wisdom Panel

Where to purchase – Amazon.co.uk

The first one failed – I was happily thinking all her royal blood had probably broken their computer!

So, you can perhaps imagine my surprise at the results!

So that’s a Russell Terrier, Yorkie with a hint of Border!  A new breed – the exclusive,  and highly sought after, Russellshire Terrier!

Mwahahahaha!  Brilliant.  I am thrilled.  This explains everything!  I am sorely tempted to go and look for a bow now, for the hair!

I had a message first thing this morning that Hjalti was lame with a swollen back leg.

He had been stabled with his mother, Hetja, who was becoming increasingly stressed.  She hates being stabled.

The Gods were smiling and the vet was with us 30 minutes later.

In the meantime, I put a headcollar and rope on Hjalti, tied up Hetja with a bucket of food and the vet examined an exceedingly uncooperative colt.

He found an obvious puncture wound (closed and old) and an abscess brewing in Hjalti’s hind fetlock joint and pastern – a dodgy place to have an abscess.

Hjalti’s leg was shaved and he started a course of intramuscular antibiotic injections.

Treatment – he needs daily foot soaks with hot poulticing and kept clean.

So I made the decision to bring him home.

They both loaded well and travelled back to mine with Hetja’s head stuck out of the trailer.

We soaked Hjalti’s foot. After an initial struggle, he stood nicely with his foot in a bucket for a good time.  Next, I hot-poulticed his foot and he will stay inside for tonight with his mum.

I returned to their stable an hour later to find the poultice kicked off.  I shan’t interfere with him again tonight but will have another go tomorrow.

I gave them both a big bucket of food and a pile of hay and left them munching.  Hjalti was yawning.

Hetja quickly settled here.  She is not sweating now, shouting or minding being kept in.  It was a big day for her too.  They are tired.

Healing vibes for Hjalti and one very large gin and tonic for me, please!

Esja is starting her training.

She is 4 years old and we have waited an extra year because she was not mature enough.  It would’ve done more damage than good to start her before and I am glad we waited.  It was definitely the right thing to do.

The horse we are working with now is a very different horse from the one last year.  Esja is sensible, careful and listening – all the right ingredients for backing.  (I hate the word “breaking” a horse.  I would hate to break anything.  Train or work with, sounds much more gentle and cooperative.)

So, yesterday, once home, the first thing we did, was to run Esja round the school – to see what paces or gaits she has.  Esja is a tölter.

There is definitely pace as well and maybe trot, but who knows.  She will make a lovely family horse.

She has already mastered the “long and low” mantra – a good way of thinking.

Today, she had her first bridle with a bit put on.

She thought it was extraordinary.

And we watched her experiment with this new contraption.

There was no panicking.  Esja was left tied up with others around her and given time to get used to the new feeling in her mouth.

It didn’t take long and once she had decided nothing much had changed, I took her for a walk round the school, asking her to stop and start while learning my body language.

Esja’s training consists walking a mile to the indoor school every other day.  She leads nicely and is learning to trust me and to help me open/close gates (turn on the forehand).  She takes everything in her stride.  When we wait for the others, I lie across her back and make a fuss of her.  All is good.

A good visitor is someone who brings the most important gift to a small Shetland pony Minion……

FOOD!

Give me an A.
Give me a P
Give me another P
Give me an L
Give me an E
And then an S

A-P-P-L-E-S  (or carrots, they love carrots!)

What do you get?…..some very happy Minions (and their big friend who happened to be in the area).

The boys love apples.  They rarely get them from me (rarely on special offer).

Apples are good for you, everyone knows that!

(just look at BeAnne’s ever hopeful face –  her motto is any calorie is a good calorie!)

There was lots of enthusiasm.

Waffle found it difficult to wait for the apples to be taken out of the packaging.

Very difficult.

He was also very happy to shovel it in as quickly as possible before the others found out.

Just look at Storm’s happy little face with added apple dribble-spit!  Such a good look!

I was proud of my lads today.  They were “fairly” well behaved (said with a slow measured voice).

Although a few teeth were evident, I hope there was no biting.  We have been working on this special skill recently.

It is always lovely to meet like-minded folk who want to get to know my family of sheeps, dogs, ponies and horses. It is even better when they understand my way of life because then I suddenly don’t give a damn about those that don’t.