Today seemed the right day to try on The Minions’ very special bespoke hats.

What can I say?  They looked fab and wore them very well.  Some horses suit hats and some don’t.  The Minions do, definitely.

We tried a variety of styles with Daisy favouring the jaunty angle for her boy.

Personally, I favoured the entire ear cover for mine.

Waffle and Storm were very happy to wear their wonderful hats.

And if you are thinking we are cruel, mean and horrid – these ponies did not mind one bit and were happy to continue playing and eating without a care in their world.

Shetland ponies will always let you know if they hate what you are doing.

Silver was less keen so, rather than force the issue, Daisy wore his hat for him.

She waited for him to come and talk to her, which he duly did.

He did not feel like wearing his, which was fine.  No pressure.  No pressure at all.

Secretly I think everyone was rather jealous and hankered for their own personalised hats.

So, here are a few pictures from today’s hat wearing adventure.

Enjoy x

Last week Jo went south to collect her tweetie pie, Freja, a Harris Hawk.  She was born in April (I think).

I have been dying to see her (Freja, not Jo) but we have been well-behaved and waited until we were officially asked as Jo and Freja have to become accustomed to each other.  So, today, when I popped round with some visitors to meet the ponies, afterwards she offered to show Freja to me.

Holy crap on a cracker.  What a bird.  I was in awe and just sat on the ground clicking away with my camera for ages learning about a new animal with my breath blown away.

Look at Freja’s talons – they are incredible….

… and the back ones mean business too.  Scary stuff.

Her feather are beautiful.  Totally hypnotic and laid out perfectly.  Nature is an incredible designer.

She even has a bell placed carefully above her tail feathers and between her wings.

They eyes – the hypnotic eyes are watching everything.  So prehistoric.

Jo is already working hard at this all-important stage to develop a relationship with Freya.  It was an education watching them together.  This sport is something I know absolutely nothing about.

Anyway, for those who have forgotten what a Shetland pony looks like, here is one I saw today.  She followed me round all afternoon, while I was taking some photos for a friend.

Personally, I think I prefer ponies to birds but that is just me.  It is all that flapping – I’m not good with that but I am enjoying taking photos (I secretly can’t wait until she starts working).

Apologies for lack of decent/edited photos. The card stopped working…and we can’t work technology.

Frances and her OH are away at a party today. The costume theme was the 1940s in Brazil. These were our reactions to their outfits.

We’ll let your imaginations run wild.

This left Anna and me (Daisy) in charge of the blog and the dogs.

Jo turned up with her snazzy new van, complete with mobile blacksmith station.

She very kindly replaced shoes on Hákon, Iacs and Klaengur. And then had a ride on him to see how much he had changed.

He is so chilled out and loves going round the school. He is so much more responsive now and truly enjoys being ridden.

I had a quick go, while Anna was getting Hammy ready for his big day.

He was started out by being long-reined round the school. You must constantly remind Hammy every time that he has done this before. It sinks in pretty quickly though.

The next step was to attach a block of wood to his traces, that he would then pull round the school. He barely batted an eyelid and took it all in his stride (This is a very big deal for Hammy).

Last, but not least, was the introduction of the cart. After a little bit of hesitation, we made it around the ring twice calmly with the cart on him and Jo holding on to it just in case. We called it a day after that.

We are so proud of Hammy for reacting so well today. He has truly grown up this year and is turning out to be a lovely pony with huge potential and willingness to learn.

We have to say though, it has been exhausting sometimes…

So how are they getting on, I hear you ask?

Very well.  One big happy family (except for Andrew who has been renamed Greta Garbo, because he “vants to be alone”.)  Fine.  He can get on with it.  Fakur is keeping him company and the field is big enough for them to all co-exist peacefully.

Indy is cool with everyone.  He is definitely one of the guys and fitted straight back in the minute he came home.

He is always talking to his friends.

He genuinely likes The Minions and recognises them as his gang.  They take huge liberties with him and he doesn’t mind at all.

He sweetly guides them when the herd is on the move, never being pushy or scary to them.

Hammy is very happy to have little people who are less than him in the pecking order.

And Storm is best friends with BeAnne.

The Minions talk to everyone and they are looked after in the herd.  It is very nice to see.

I am so glad there is no arguing.  I hate fights and bullying.  Spending time with them all this afternoon was easy and peaceful.

Daisy and I just sat on the grass while the horses and ponies wandered around us, coming over to chat and spend time with us.

A perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

“Wot I did today by Frances…..”

Daisy rode Klængur because I wanted a second opinion on how he was going after all my hard work.

Daisy said ‘Klængur felt calm, safe and willing to listen. A dear boy – that he is”.

Success.  I am feeling very pleased.  Hours of just walking, bending and talking to each other has paid off (yes, I do talk to horses).

Floss had a riding lesson on Iacs from Anna.  She did brilliantly,  learned rising trot, steering and worked on her balance. Thank you Anna.  Hugely appreciated because it wasn’t me.

Wu was, just Wu (in case you are missing him).  We luffs him and feed him fish. We are his servants, obviously.

This afternoon, I took Haakon over to Jo’s have a wonky shoe removed as I didn’t want it to damage his feet..  Afterwards we took him and dogs for a walk on the beach.

The tirricks (Arctic Terns) were on very good form and I enjoyed taking photos of them.

Anna decided to swim in the sea.  We decided she was mad and left her to her 4 minutes (how long you have to live in the water).

What?  Did you say 4 minutes?

So then Anna had this idea to take Haakon swimming.

He thought she was absolutely mad!

He smiled (to be polite, because he was brought up proper) and then dragged her out of the sea.

A strange but fun day – we all laughed and that is all that matters.