All the Icelandic horses were in the school today.

Iacs made a friend.  No one put her there.  Here name is Elvis because of her hairdo!

She flew up from the floor and landed on his back.  He didn’t mind or say anything, just looked a bit embarrassed.  So we left her there trying not to laugh. It would’ve been rude to laugh.

I looked at my horses carefully.  Klængur had lost a front shoe, so I can’t ride him.  My Icelandic horses don’t enjoy being ridden uneven.  He was due to be shod very soon anyway so I was not surprised.

Haakon’s abscess has almost gone and he is not lame.  He will be shod again after Christmas and then I can ride him.  I cannot ride him without shoes as he just can’t cope.

Daisy rode Bjørn’s, our trainer’s horse, Kappi for his 20 minute workout.  Kappi loves work (and food).  He is always first up for food.

Anna rode Iacs after Elvis had left the building – both enjoyed themselves.

Daisy then trained Taktur – 80% walk, a bit of trot and tölt (this photo is from a few nights back when she was having a lesson from Bjørn).

Meanwhile BeAnne watched the world go by and spent her time deciding whether to bark at it or not.

Well that was four hours of my life I won’t ever get back.

The girls and I went to Lerwick to do the last of our Christmas shopping – both gifts and food.

We left at home at the crack of sparrows (early – ok, 09:00 and that is very early for me) to avoid the Christmas rush.

This is the Shetland “Christmas Rush”.  There is one main street in Lerwick called Commercial Street or “Da Street”.  The place was empty at 10:00, when we arrived and was just as empty at 11:30 when we left.

With wonderful free parking (and cannons from Fort Charlotte looking over for extra protection), we did our messages and dodged the rain.  Fort Charlotte was originally built in 1665 to protect the Sound of Bressay from the Dutch.  Apparently it never saw any action (I did not know this).

This is my most favourite Christmas window.  The huskies move their heads.  Every year they appear and every year I want a husky.

Anywho, we discovered why Da Street was deserted, because everyone was in Tesco’s stripping the shelves bare.

Never ever again.  It was my definition of Hell on Earth.  People everywhere.

I am happy to be home with my horses.  We managed to get home during daylight and Daisy and I mucked out The Minions, changed rugs, fed everyone and distributed haynets to the needy.

Now that is my idea of fun.  Not shopping.

Guess who turned up at Thordale today?

Have you worked it out yet?

Yay, it’s our Anna from America.

She is here visiting her boyfriend and popped by just as we were about to play with The Minions.

So, we forced her to join us.

She was introduced to our newbie, Tiddlypom.

It is lovely to see her and poor thing, I think, is seeing Shetland at its utter worst.  Rain, wind, more rain and a bit more wind.  Today was beyond vile. We went back to the house, afterwards, completely soaked.

Tiddlypom is learning fast to shovel in as much as possible as quickly as possible.

I love the way they all line up in height.

Of course, I showed Anna my antler collection and they were duly distributed.

BeAnne was enchanting and wearing them as wings.

That dog can wear anything with flair and class.  Bless her (and all my animals), they do put up with so much!

Happy days.  Christmas can now begin.  I have both my lovely daughters home and I am happy, happy, happy.

After the initial hellos, Floss wanted to see The Minions, especially the new one.  As my daughter, she has her priorities in the right order but then my daughters both know what is important.

Floss was amazed at how big the original Minions had grown and how well (*** cough *** read fat) they were.

BeAnne said What Ho!

Like every Minion, Tiddlypom took his time to suss out the newbie, ie Flossie.

He is always very fond of BeAnne (I mean, who isn’t.  What is not to love?)

But he soon realised that Floss was a soft touch.

With magic hands that could find The Spot and that was that.  Another victim, sorry, friend.

The Christmas tree can now be decorated.  That’s the girls’ job and for a change, no arguing.

I am very happy.  Everything is right now.  One more trip to Lerwick for the final ingredients and that is us.

Let Christmas begin.

I have noticed, recently that there has been a distinct lack of Minion manners.  They had their feet trimmed the other evening and, I am ashamed to say, were fairly unhelpful and downright rude.  Not good.

So today everyone was groomed, had their feet lifted and led nicely round the school in both directions.

Little Tiddlypom watched fascinated by this work.

When it was his turn, I picked up his feet, tried to teach him to lead and gave him a wuffly hairdo!

I think he is beginning to be a better shape now. – more covered and a happier eye.

Leading is an important skill to learn and it is never a bad thing to remind folk how to do it.

I am a great believer in animals teaching animals.

Big hugs all round.

And then I put a new rug on Storm that fitted beautifully (a huge thank you – you know who you are and Storm and I are very grateful).

And a new rug with padding for Tiddlypom.  Interestingly, later this afternoon, I found him lying down for the first time in his shed, fast asleep.  I have never seen him lie down before so he must be feeling warm and wumfy.