I think I am on my third set of clothes this afternoon.  It has been snowing/raining/sleeting all day.  I got wet and freezing feeding everyone this morning.

The horses are miserable.  I am miserable (read achey and cold).

The fields are flooded and there is more to come.  The weather forecasters are giving conflicting reports and that makes me very frustrated as I like to know what is going to come. I am not good with surprises.

This time last year to the day, we were playing the rescue game – nothing has changed.

To cheer myself up, I am putting up these photos to remind me that there is a summer and we were once so hot we took the horses (and ponies) swimming in the loch.

Those days seem so far away and hard to imagine.

Even BeAnne doesn’t want to go swimming these days.

She just wants to sit in a box.  I think I will join her or take to my bed with the cat.

Hot chocolate anyone?  Yes, don’t mind if I do.  That will cheer me up as well as the rescued fur noses.

We tied up two Icelandic horses who have never met before.

This was Klængur and Tór.

This is what happened.  They started to groom each other.

Then a small disgruntled terrier parked herself under the 3 year old, recently backed, Icelandic gelding.

She sat down, made herself at home and nothing happened.

Then said Icelandic gelding was left in the middle of the school while other horses were tölting around the edge.

He didn’t move.

As the excitement was now at fever pitch, Jo got on her new horse.

Afterwards, I even let Jo have a go so she could see just how much he has changed over the past two years.

Her Maj remained disgruntled with a hint of resentment while we had a lovely morning playing horses.  Not ponies. Icelandic horses.

I think she will put herself up for adoption shortly on the grounds that we didn’t have a horse for her to ride.

The old biddies, as they are officially known – Delia (Raw Deal) and Minnie (Vitamin) have been moved into a huge field with Lyra (PantsonFyra) and Moose (Zoot).

This field hasn’t been grazed since last winter and there is lots in there for them.  They are all looking very good.  Delia, though thin, is holding her weight and seems happy enough. This is a photo of Lyra’s backside.

Jo had bought them a bucket of mineral/feed lick which stunk of garlic.  Just taking the lid off in her car had resulted in marinading the interior.

Anyway, who cares, as long as the girls like it.

They all seemed fairly happy to share though Minnie swung her pants a few times to get first dibs.  She is the herd matriarch.

But she did allow others to have a go too.

She even told her daughter, Lyra, this.

Lyra is looking spectacular.   Half Berry and half Wells bloodlines – this seems to be a very good combination.

She is Indy’s little half-sister.

But mostly, Lyra is her mother’s little girl.  Minnie loves her more than anyone in the world.  She lost two foals before Lyra and all she wanted was a live foal more than anything.  It is wonderful to see them together and I would be loathe to separate them.

I am glad they are all wintering well and hopefully this field will last them a while – it is big enough!

Right, this is my new Regime.

The big boys go inside during the day or night (depending on which is the worst weather).

When they come in for 12 hours, they can dry off, have hay and go out round the house if they want.  They are also now being fed as all this rain is taking its toll.  OH has kindly offered (been requested) to poo-pick as well as this is one job too many for me and my back.

The Minions have their little shed, which they love.

It has masses of hay, a nice rubber matting floor and those that need get dry rugs every day.

(and yes, my house does resemble Widow Twankey’s laundrette with wet rugs draped over chairs trying to dry and the smell of horse has pervaded everything)

The Minions can come and go when they want. I encourage them to eat outside and to keep going outside to be proper Shetland ponies.

They have had some dry-ish days and we are back to rain again for the foreseeable.

Ugh.

I do think everyone gets very bored of being completely soaked through, never having any chance to dry out or to warm up.

At least if everyone has access to a shed for a while during the day or night, they can make their own choices as to where they want to live.

Sadly, Iacs will not be making any choices.  A new abscess has appeared so he is back in the shed with a poultice and Klaengur to keep him company.

Bugger.

Yesterday, as we listened to someone pouring buckets of water on the indoor school (or it could’ve been torrential rain outside), we were all very grateful that we had somewhere indoors to train our horses.

Tór is watching and learning all the time.

Although he has already been lightly backed and ridden in Iceland, Jo is taking things very slowly and quietly establishing a relationship based on trust before anything else.

He is a funny boy.  There are similarities in his character to his big half-brother in many ways.  I can definitely see Taktur there.

Fi and Hreyfing were practising “long and low” while relaxing.

It was a good training session and they enjoyed themselves.  It is always good to finish with a smile.

In the evening, after supper, as the lights were working, Bjørn came over to train Taktur. Taktur is 6 years old this summer, or 1st January depending on how you think.

I also had a lesson on Klængur (sadly there were no photos as no one was around to take them  *** cough ***!) and then Daisy rode Kappi.

I expect the lights will die again with all the rain – they don’t like rain so we must make the most of everything while it is working.