Jo brought Charlie to Thordale this morning.  He is a little on the large side and we thought some exhausting company and a lack of food might get his weight down.

**** cough **** Fat Chance!

The Minions happened to be out and about keeping Iacs company.  Iacs’ hoof is still pouring black smelly guck so he can’t go out in the mud/field.  He isn’t lame though, which is good.

A perfunctory hello from the swarming Minions and then the games started.

Note the back hoof but there was no kicking or fighting.

Charlie deserves this.

He has made many ponies’ lives a burden to them over the years.

Charlie didn’t stand much of a chance, but he does have weight on his side and much more experience from years of being very very irritating.

So wherever he went, he had a happy little attachment!

After a few hours, they did stop and just eat.

I had thrown out some of yesterday’s leftover hay for them to finish.  They weren’t that keen so no one was hungry.

And, of course, little Tiddles stayed well out of the way.  He doesn’t like hassle.

But Charlie won’t stay with only the little ones.  Tomorrow I plan to put them all out together in the hill field and they can get on with it.

I let Kappi, Haakon and Iacs stay with the Minions in the big shed.  They all seemed to get on very well so I thought “why not?”

Taktur (and Klængur) joined them later.  They had been down in the bottom field just standing in the intermittent snowfall and I called them up, feeling sorry for them.

I warned Taktur that if he did not behave, especially with Tiddles, I would put him straight into a stable on his own.

So, apart from a perfunctory sniff, he didn’t really notice Tiddles or consider him a manly threat.

They were all sharing their hay very happily.

(I gave Tiddles lots of little piles that he could go to if he was bullied off).  He does have victim written all over him.

I think this photo describes the Minion/Icelandic horse relationship.  Storm stands on the hay and Taktur (stallion) and Klængur have to eat around him.  No one minds.

Luckily for Taktur Silver remembered his role in life – which is to make Taktur’s life a living hell.

He even brought Waffle in to help with a well performed two pronged attack.

And this is the sum of Taktur’s defence.  He raised his back leg trying to evade Silver’s teefs.  He is a very nice stallion.  Lesser chaps would not have been half as nice.

Taktur did to a bit of playing with Silver who was over the moon to find someone up for a good game.

I think they have all missed their little friends.

It is a fact universally acknowledged, that the British are obsessed with the weather.

I make no apologies for this because today was utterly revolting and I am obsessed.  It is very wet out there (and indoors).  We have 7.65 inches of rain in just January alone.

In my first set of clothes of the morning, I filled bowls, put the horses in the field to eat and then went to feed the Minions, change rugs and put down shavings in the stalls.

By the time I came back, only Iacs was there, waiting for me.  The others had all galloped down the hill to eat, which I don’t think was very kind but they were very determined not to have a “Duvet Day”.  Some horses don’t want to live in stables.

Poor Iacs. He was very disconsolate.  I brought him inside, gave him a haynet, soaked his hoof and dry poulticed it.  Although he is now not lame, I thought he would be better off in the shed with his haynet.

I then went in and had a complete change of wardrobe.

Then huzzah, there was a brief lull in the gale from the torrential rain.

While OH was walking Loki, I grabbed Jack and took him for his sedentary wander up the track.

I was doing my best not to let Jack wander into the over-flowing stream (he is deaf and blind) and I was just thinking how lucky we were to have this brief lull in the weather, when it started pouring down again.

So that was another change of clothes.

There are pony rugs draped over chairs, a survival suit hanging from a nail in the ceiling, every chair in the kitchen has a coat dripping onto the floor.  I don’t think I have any dry clothes left now.

Silver – he is such a dude.

Character-wise, he has come the furthest.  Last year, he was the most suspicious of everything and everyone.  He really minded about what happened to him.

Silver’s best friend is Kappi – orange Icelandic horse on the right.  They have been friends ever since they were put in the field together last spring.

Although the Minions are split up from the Icelandics for the winter, since the arrival of Tiddles, it is very obvious that Silver misses his friend, Kappi.  I had to split them because Tiddles was not strong enough to meet five healthy horses and he is also a colt, so could give off smelly signals to Taktur who can be rough at times.

Kappi obviously misses Silver, who, by the way, adores this game.

I think it is called “do you like Shetland ponies?”  The answer is “Yes, but I can’t eat a whole one!”

Silver and Waffle get on well too.  They are almost the same height and think the same thoughts.

They play a lot when the mood takes them.

Sometimes, though, Waffle is unavailable for games, due to a previous existing engagement – oh, how that muckheap calls.

You can see there is still a huge difference between Silver and Storm.

I worry about Storm.  He is not doing well this winter.  Maybe it is because I took his rug off that day and the flat fur makes him look weedy.

But Storm and Tiddles are the best of friends and another cockeral-for-size-comparison photo lets you see just how small they are.

Iacs still has a poorly paw, sorry hoof.

It is dry poulticed daily after soaking in hot water and the black guck that comes out makes my eyes water.  Today, having wrapped him up in a pink bandage and gaffer tape, I could still smell that unforgettable smell.  It followed me everywhere so I drenched myself and my clothes in a sample vial Floris Edwardian Bouquet which made things slightly better.

Poor Iacs. He is feeling very sorry for himself so, having put the others into their field, I opened the gate for The Minions to come and cheer him up.

I thought they would give Iacs something else to think about.  Take his mind off his misery.

Silver took his job very seriously and gave it 100%

Iacs was playing happily until Silver attacked “the hoof” and then all bets were off.

On the plus side, Iacs did get to meet Tiddles for the first time.

He honestly didn’t think Shetland ponies could get any smaller so tried to see if he could eat a whole one.

Tiddles was distinctly unimpressed with this and walked off in a huff.

Luckily his BFF (best friend forever) was supportive.

(Who? me?  Yer, right).

So healing vibes for poor Bimble who is not a happy chap at all.  He enjoys the extra food, not realising he only gets it because there is Danilon (analgesia) in it.