A bit of a duvet day today.  I popped over to Sandness to see my girls and give them the now-expected carrot.  Funnily enough, they approve of this routine hugely.

It is a wild windy, rainy, snowy, haily, sunny sort of day.  If it comes out of the sky, it has fallen on me!

Hetja was on good form.  She is not fat-pregnant and, if I had not had her blood tested, I would almost doubt she was going to have a foal.  Maybe she is one of those lucky ladies who stay the same shape and size all through pregnancy (*** cough Kate Middleton cough ***) et voilà, a foal appears (although I hope for Kate’s sake she has a baby!)

Back home to the lads.  It is going to be cold tonight so I wrapped up those that needed it and opened up the stable too.  Kappi is determined to make that silage bail his own. I will probably find him tomorrow morning with only his hind hooves sticking out!

In the stable Haakon was grudgingly babysitting The Minions.

I sat in with them for a while.  Storm was in a funny mood.  He pushed past everyone, not letting them near me and asked for a hug.  I suppose he just wanted his mum to himself.

So I made this.

Enjoy!

My Land Rover is dead. It makes very squeaky noises when driven so I booked it in to spend the last few days at the garage where they freed the steering and topped up the power steering fluid.

Bjørn’s (my neighbour and trainer) 4×4 car also died and is being mended. This weekend he needed to move his ponies as they are due to foal, need moving, etc.

I phoned my garage on Friday to see if my Land Rover was ready and I was told to collect it and to drive it around this weekend so they could check the levels (I am assuming of the Power Steering fluid).  Knowing Bjørn needed help, I offered and we have spent the last two days moving ponies.

Here are a few photos of his herds. I like Bergli ponies.  They are never difficult and always very sweet (Waffle is a Bergli pony and, when we first rescued him from his subsequent owner, Waffle was the only one we could catch).  So Bergli ponies are always easy, an absolute delight to be around.

I have had such fun, these past few days.

This is Alex – a fairy tale stallion who, while I have been waiting for Bjørn to bring another pile of ponies to move, has entertained me with his moving hair-do!

He is a dream and he makes me laugh!

The boys are wonderful.  They are just so handsome!

So back to normal tomorrow.  The weather is threatening but this was a good reminder that Shetland ponies actually need to be Shetland ponies.

There is no mane and tail conditioner to be had in all these islands.  Believe me, I have looked.

I need to brush, yes you heard me, brush everyone as spring is here and coats are falling out.

I like to use something as, after a long hard winter, manes and tails can leave a lot to be desired – split ends, mud, tangles, etc.

So I asked Forumland, looked in my cupboard and decided that coconut oil was the way forward.  It is something that is always in my kitchen and I often use it for cooking.  Coconut oil has rave reviews as a hair care product too.

All the ponies came up to be fed and, after their grub, I put a penny sized lump of oil in the palm of my hand, melted it and put it on manes and tails.

This stuff is amazing.  I will never buy conditioner again.  Coconut oil is the way forward.  All the tangles instantly disappeared.  The hair has become stronger and it worked very well.  The horses loved the smell and followed me around waiting to be done.

Note, Iacs’ silly frilly.  It is now positively bouffant.

Tiddles was transformed into a gorgeous boy.

His mane is gorgeous, silky and easy to brush.

And he new it.

Tiddles from Oreal – because he is worth it!

The boy was transformed into a vision of loveliness.

So now the way forward is coconut oil.  I am going to see if I can buy it in bulk!  I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Taktur’s training is going very well.  I am very pleased with him.

Everything he asked to do, he just gets on and does it without any hesitation or deviation!

I have labelled the photos so you can see exactly what gait he is doing.

Tölt

A four beat lateral gait when their feet say “black-and-decker-black-and-decker”.  It can be at any speed from slow to fast and is exceptionally comfortable and controlled.

Extended Trot

Taktur has a very big trot.  OMG, it is big!

Collected Trot

Slow Tölt

Slow Tölt

Extended Tölt

Collected Slow Tölt

Collected Walk

For a nearly six year old stallion, I couldn’t want better.  So proud of this boy

(sniff – and he is nice to The Minions – what more could anyone want?)

It is nice to give the dogs a different walk from their usual route.

Lambing has begun so the beach is a better venue than anywhere with a sheep/lamb combination.

Both the dogs know better than to get involved with anything sheep but it is never wise to test this theory.

So, to Norby beach we went – I go to Sandness every day, anyway, to say what-ho to Esja and Hetja, as well as checking the Shetland ponies, so this time I took my OH and the dogs.

BeAnne is very keen on the beach if toys are included. You rarely find any wood to throw so it is better to bring your own entertainment.

Bless her, BeAnne is my idea of perfect heaven.  She would wipe the floor at Crufts (probably quite literally too with that fur.  It picks up everything!)

It was fairly windy and the waves were hypnotic as they broke and the spray was blown backwards.

On the way home, we saw the hill ponies.  I had to stop and take photos.  This is when time stands still. I think there have been ponies on the scattald (open hill) ever since Shetland ponies were invented!  They belong in this environment and do very well.

This mare is, I think, very pregnant.  I would guess that she will be brought back to her Stud to foal soon.

There are no actual wild ponies here.  Everyone belongs to someone.