It was an unbelievably beautiful autumn day in Shetland yesterday – the colours and the light were exceptional.

Guess who this is?

Yup, Roseblossom who was nearly dead in March of hyperlypæmia.

She looks well.

This spring, once she was back up to weight, she ran with the stallion again and is, hopefully, pregnant.  Her owner is keeping a keen eye on her so, to stop her getting obese, she was put in the hill park with three other pregnant mares.

It has done them all good and Roseblossom looks in good health.

This is the look that says “I know you, you b****.  You are the one who stuck pins in me and force fed me liquid sludge”.

Yup, that would’ve been me, Daisy and her owner.  We had to – it saved her life.

All the mares were moved from the hill park to another field nearer home.

There was a huge welcome committee waiting from the miniature inhabitants.

They came cantering over, happy to greet the newbies.

I always think Standard Shetland ponies are very different to the miniatures.  They think differently and have far less of a sense of humour, in my opinion, especially the mares.  The little ones are much cheekier.

There was the odd squeal, bite and opinion, but mostly everyone was polite.

When the standard mares were bored with the introductions, they decided en mass to go and investigate their new field.  They have never lived here so there was much to discover.

Of course all the little ones followed chanting “you are our leaders, you are our leaders”.  Poor girls.  I hope they cope with all this miniature pony adoration!

Delia is not looking bad for this time of year (ok, it has been unseasonably warm) or her age.  She is 23 years old with six superb foals to her name too so, for an old lady, she entitled to sag a bit.

Delia has spent the last few bad-weather days tucked up in a thick rug and today, because it was warm (up to 15 degrees celsius apparently), I took it off so she could appreciate the sun on her back.

Delia is a nice weight going into the winter and I hope, with the help of a warm rug and green grass (I have another field waiting), she will have a few more years in her.  The look in her eyes says she is not ready to give up yet and she even managed to canter off when her rug was off.

Lyra, on the other hand or hoof, depending on your point of view, is going into winter looking like she is about to give birth any day now (please God, no).  She is rotund.

As is her mother, Vitamin, too.  I think the shape must run in the family.

Circular would be our mot du jour to describe mother and daughter.  Please don’t say it too loud as you may offend!

Esja was brought over this afternoon by her trainer, Bjørn Roar Larsen, to do some work.  He has the girls – and I have the boys.

Her training has been going very well.  Little and often is what happens – 5-10 minutes work maximum every few days, always finishing on a good quiet note.

Esja and Bjørn have a solid trusting relationship.

Before, Esja was a flibberty-gibbet in the field, dancing hysterically around her handbag with her Shetland filly friends.  Suddenly, now work has been mentioned, her Sensible Switch has been flipped and Esja has turned into a calm and listening Icelandic mare.

She loves her work. Her ears are always pricked forwards and she glows when she is praised for thinking forwards and doing the right thing.

So, this afternoon, Bjørn got on her back.

To start with, I led and Esja followed me.  After half a round of the school, she quickly realised what was required and walked and halted upon request.

Unphased, Esja even did a tölty thing when asked, happy to speed up and had no difficulty in carrying Bjørn or finding her balance.  Her brakes were exemplary too.

Esja is a darling horse and whoever buys her will have themselves a sweetheart of an Icelandic mare with wonderful breedlines who takes everything quite literally “in her stride”.

I love it when you see the penny drop.  Esja has been waiting to work and it suits her.  I am very proud of her.

Waffle and Hjalti are now joined at the hip.

Hetja has accepted that Waffle is part of her little herd and perhaps, almost, maybe a useful addition.

I am well aware that Waffle is a tad on the fat side but, if I am feeding Hetja and Hjalti, it would be unfair to leave him out.  I am also optimistic that all the roughhousing will slim him down a bit.

The other three Minions are missing their Waffle. He told them when to come and eat and now they are not sure what to do or when to do it.  I suppose he was their Minion Leader.

I was wondering whether to put Silver in this field too.  He is tough little nut and will keep away from Hetja and, if she is going to chase, she can only go after one at a time!

Waffle would then have Silver to talk to and Hjalti could have two to scrag.

Two little Shetland ponies leading Hjalti astray can get into twice as much trouble.

Well I did it.

After careful thought and consideration, I led Waffle over the hill to Hjalti and Hetja’s field.

Hjalti was hopping up and down with excitement.

Hetja was not.

She kindly let them meet over the dry stone wall.

It was love at first sight.

And then Mother muscled in, dragging her son and heir away from that nasty common little Shetland pony urchin thing.

She was having none of it.  This was not good enough for her son.

But poor Hetja had not factored in Waffle’s endless charm and personality (and gorgeous smile!)

Hjalti was desperate to go and play with him.

And I wanted them to meet too. So, I stood with Hetja blocking her way so Hjalti could go and get to know Waffle without his Mum attached (and raging).

I explained to Hetja that if you let them go, they will come back, but if you don’t, when they leave, they never return.

Hjalti was a very happy little boy.

At last he had a friend to scrag.

Someone to talk to at last.

After a while, it was more than Hetja could take and she muscled back in but Cupid’s arrow was already shot.

She fired off a few warning shots to frighten Waffle.

Hjalti was desperate for her to stop.  He loved his new friend.

and it was reciprocated.

He tried talking to his mum.

And she settled down a bit but then she insisted on pushing Waffle into walking in front of them for about ten minutes.  I don’t know why.

Waffle ended up the other side of the old dry stone wall and Hetja calmed down.

The boys renewed their friendship.

It was interesting, though, when Hjalti returned to nurse from Hetja, she gave up trying to attack Waffle.  I did tell her he would come back. Maybe it was that – she just needed to know he still needed her.

They have calmed down this afternoon so I left them to it.

So, let’s hope everything is fine tomorrow.