Last week, I was contacted on the phone by a German film company (ZDF).  They wanted to film a Shetland pony being driven in harness and/or maybe ridden.

As you know, we spent Saturday fetching home Andy and Fivla.  Sunday morning was spent washing the cart and harness, brushing Andy and taking him for a test-run.

Then, on Sunday evening, I received an email saying that our filming was cancelled as “it just all got a bit too tight” (whatever that means).

So that is us.  Sitting here on Monday, having done all the work for absolutely bloody nothing.

And it was work.

The harness, cart and Andy do not clean themselves.

And it has cost us money – a Land Rover towing a trailer does not run off fresh air.

We will return the ponies to their loan home and tell them in our eyes they are stars but I don’t think folk appreciate just how much work goes into providing animals for filming.  There is a great deal of behind-the-scenes effort so that the pony you see is 100% perfect for the job required.

To say we are greatly pissed off, is to put it mildly.

They could’ve offered to pay for our diesel.

Andy hasn’t been driven for a while and we need him for Monday.

So we cleaned him up, harnessed him up and showed him his four-wheel cart.

Being Andy, he said he remembered and it was all no problem.

And so off they went.

Andy had forgotten nothing and wore his driving hat as opposed to his ridden hat like a pro.

Well, he is a pro.  Andy and his brother have been driven at many national and county shows in both singles, pairs and tandem.

He turned beautifully on both reins and told us he had forgotten nothing.

So that’s good.  We have clean pony, clean harness and clean cart and we are ready for tomorrow.

I had brought Haakon into the school to give Andy some company.  My equestrian input today was to teach BeAnne how to jump from a bucket onto Haakon’s back, where she quickly made herself at home.

Haakon has been driven in his youth.  He quite liked it though he thought the shafts on his sides meant he had to keep going fast.  He watched his friend Andy but didn’t want to join in.  There was a haynet with his name on waiting.

BeAnne played a supportive role.

Today we drove to Vementry.

The scenery was breathtaking.

We went to borrow Anderwoo and Fivvie.  We need them for a project next week (more as it happens).

These two Shetland ponies have been lent, since August, to a family with three little girls and have been teaching them to ride.  Fivla and Andy were originally used in our riding school so know their jobs very well.

When we arrived, we immediately saw (and heard) Anderwoo.

Anderwoo was the same as ever!

The girls were very sorry to see their beloved riding ponies going but we promised they would return as soon as we had finished with them.

The girls were very helpful and obviously knew their ponies well.

You could not want better children’s ponies than Andy and Fivla.  They love being ridden and they adore little children.

I think this photo says everything about Fivla.  She has never been happier.

We offered to load the ponies but, no, this was instantly and effortlessly done by the girls.  It was a real pleasure to see our ponies appreciated and loved.

That is all any Shetland pony wants.  The nice ones were invented to be loved by children.

As you know, I am worried about my little boy Storm.  He is not as rotund or mobile as the others so I brought him indoors to give him extra food and love.

Jo and Fi had brought Tór and Hreyfing over for some practice in the school.  This was Jo’s first real go at riding Tór since he had arrived from Iceland a few months’ back.  Everything was very laid back.

Storm was wandering around too adding to the relaxed ambience in the school.  He is always rather intrigued by this riding thing and is not sure if it will catch on.

When Tór stopped, Storm was keen to say what ho!

Storm is not feared by other horses.  He is not an aggressive or confrontational pony and likes to make friends rather than enemies.

And then he discovered Jo’s coat hanging up.  In the pockets he could smell horse nuts and made it his mission to get them.

There was even a small temper tantrum (stamping his hoof) because the food was far down in the pocket and he couldn’t reach it.

Luckily Jo distributed the contents of her pockets once she had dismounted and untacked Tór.

When Fi had finished her work on Hreyfing, Storm went racing up to chat up this new girl.  I have never seen him with a mare or filly but he thought they were rather nice!

Hreyfing was distinctly unimpressed.

That afternoon, we went down to Fladdabister (the south end of the island) to see some errant Shetland pony stallions who had broken through their electric fence to ravage a bale of silage.

You could see they were hoping we wouldn’t mind and to be honest, they didn’t care much either.  Jubilant, the ring leader, couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

After all, he could almost fit his whole head in it (as he kept showing us, over and over again).

This little lad managed to look very embarrassed and was apologising profusely that he had been easily led.  Of course, he was forgiven.

This is Odinn who is a youngster and obviously another one who learned what to do.

So while Bjørn mended the fence, I did the usual pottering to take pics.

Look, look a very rare sight in Shetland – a tree.

So the unrepentant boys were moved from their bale back into their field.

They were told not to go back (but don’t hold your breath).

These Shetland pony stallions are wonderful boys – very easy going and very comical but they look for the chink in the armour and exploit it hugely, laughing while they lull you into a false sense of security.

In case you are wondering, we had to return to the field a few hours later and found the same lot trying to get back to the bale!

I love this picture because I think it sums up what Shetland is all about.