Floss, my youngest, is back to university tomorrow so, as it was a lovely day, I asked her if she would like to go with me and Klængur for a plod on Iacs.

(I think Iacs heard, as he took the word “plod” very seriously.)

BeAnne came along too and I would love to say Floss and I had a good chat while we rode but there was rather a large gap between us all.  I had to resort to shouting if she was doing ok, and that was about it.  Anyway, I knew Iacs would look after her.  Klængur was in one of his fast busy moods.  The road was quiet and we all went along at our own different speeds hopefully enjoying our own company.

I shall miss Floss.  She will be back in June and that seems a long time away at the moment.  Even though she will be very far away (Beijing), I hope she will remember this one sunny day in our long Shetland winter when she went out for a rare ride.

You really couldn’t get two more opposite places.

This is when Iacs had one of his not-to-be-encouraged independent thoughts.  He thought I had got off Klængur to feed him unlimited chocolate biscuits.  I hadn’t – I wanted to take better photos of Floss riding.

Meanwhile, Haakon is feeling a bit better, although still poulticed.  His abscess has burst and smells of dead-dog but he is managed to run after me when I was taking food to the preggie ladies in Clothie!.

I love their faces – Dignity and Impudence?

We have some new lodgers at Clothie (my five acre field set across the hill from Thordale).  They are eight pregnant miniature Shetland mares, though some look more pregnant than others.

It is that time of year when everyone is in the same situation – knee deep in mud and struggling so, as my lot were not using this field (they have a hatred and just stand at the gate), I offered it to help out Bergli Stud.  We all help each other out where we can.

Anyway, I am not complaining.  These miniature mares are beautiful and I shall enjoy taking photos of them as they continue to blossom in pregnancy.

Obviously they will be carefully moved nearer their home when they are due to foal as I do not want the worry of foaling someone else’s mares.

In the meantime, I will visit them and feed them carrots and hard-feed if required.

It is always nice to have new faces around and they are really no trouble at all.

(and they have teddy-bear ears too!)

They are a bit wary of me at the moment as they don’t know me yet.

Storm thinks they are wonderful and spends much of day calling to them, while they studiously ignore him.  I think he is “going through a phase”!

The Minions have their own shed where they have lived with me all their lives.  They love their shed.  I am very aware that others covert it so I asked my OH to put up a bar that ensured that the little boys could get in (by ducking under) but bigger ones could not.

This system has been working well until today.

I went to put Tiddles’ rug back on as it was getting colder and came across this new “Minion”.

The wooden bar had been snapped.

I was not happy. not happy at all and, as I was changing everyone’s rugs, I made Taktur, for penance, hold the rugs to keep them off the floor.

Storm made his feelings known about the extra “Minion”.

Despite being asked endlessly by Kappi, he was absolutely determined not to let anyone else in.

Storm is very tenacious when he has to be.

He manned his post, having perhaps let the side down earlier, and was now living with the error of his ways.

And so they all stood together – packed like sardines in a can.  I felt sorry for Tiddles who had nodded off behind Taktur but no one was upset or distressed, so I left them to it.

Suffice it to say that OH is very surprised his barrier was broken (“that was quite a substantial bit of wood, too”) and I removed all the Big Boys later on so the Minions could have their shed back.

I did secretly smile at the way they all stood there!  One stallion, one colt and three geldings in a tiny space with no argument!

The ground is much harder from a bit of a frost last night so I let Haakon out of his stable to get some fresh air.  I soaked his right (far side) foot (potential abscess brooding there now), cleaned his left (near side) hoof (old abscess and over-reach injury has left a huge hole), rubbed Cornucrescine Hoof Ointment in and fed him his Farrier’s Formula.

While Haakon was standing in his bucket of hot water, I groomed him thoroughly and we had a good chat too. He seems less lame and quite perky.

Even so, I hate seeing Haakon like this.  He is very good about everything I do and never complains.  I keep thinking I might have to retire him and I don’t want to.  A ridiculous thought, I know – he is still young and this lameness won’t last forever.  It just feels like it at the moment.

There was a small flurry of snow after all my ministrations.  I don’t know if The Minions have ever seen snow but they didn’t really notice or care.  It settled on their coats like dried coconut flakes.

I put little piles of leftover silage and hay that needed finishing up before I opened up new bales.  This is Kappi, Silver and Storm all sharing very nicely.

So please can I have some more healing vibes for Haakon, if I haven’t used up my quota already.

As ever, my obsession with the weather remains.  I watch the internet weather forecast daily and decide what my plans will be.

We have had a few glimpses of Spring recently which has given us a temporary respite from the harsh weather.

I noticed Klængur and Anderwoo were playing yesterday afternoon.  Klængur does not have the biggest sense of humour so it was very interesting to see who was initiating the game and if anyone was objecting.

I think we can safely assume that Anderwoo had started it – this is his classic launch attack position.

And Klængur was retaliating with an interesting knee attack.  To get Andy off his short little legs is quite an achievement.

I could watch my horses and ponies play for hours.  It is lovely to see, especially Klængur who does take life very seriously.  Andy is always looking for the chink in anyone’s armour so he can exploit it to his maximum benefit.  There is so much mileage in winding up an orange Icelandic horse!

And then I saw this – Klængur following Andy so that the game could continue.

So they went on and on and on having the best time together.

That was our very brief glimpse of spring sent to keep us optimistic that winter will be over soon.  But the bad weather is back again tomorrow with a vengeance.

Prepare to batten down the hatches again.