Apart from waiting for the Shetland pony mares to produce (these are my neighbour’s)….

…. there are little Shetland hill lambs, or “ickle whams” (said with a pathetic voice), everywhere and I mean everywhere.

Lambs go through phases. Teensy tiny on the first day they are born.  The next day, they fill out and are still very sweet.  For the next few weeks, they play together doing the equivalent of the Lamb Grand National (galloping in groups everywhere) as well as boinging around the hill.  You are a tough person if your heart is not melting.

And then, suddenly, overnight, when your back is turned for only 5 minutes, the lambs turn into teenagers and are not quite as cute.  They become lumps who are vile to their mothers demanding milk all the time and head-butting her to get it.  The ewes look tired and bored of their lambs by then.

But, at the moment, everyone is incredibly small, cute and dinky which is why I thought I would quickly take some photos before they turned into lummoxes.

The “ickle wams”tug at my heartstrings this time of year but, having previously had pet orphaned ones, I am not fooled.  I know what they will turn into.  They are not like foals at all.

I love Eurovision.  I refuse to be ashamed of this confession. I have watched almost all of them since time began.  This is one night of the year when you laugh with bewilderment for almost 4 hours – perfect.   I accept it is not everyone’s cup of tea but, when it is on I watch it.  No Matter What or Where.

So this morning I had a bijoux hangover – must’ve been a dirty glass.  Personally I blame the staff.  You just can’t get them these days.  So I slept in until 11am.

Jo messaged me to say she was riding at 14.30 and suddenly my potential Pyjama Day bored me and I wanted to go out too.  I popped over, collected the trailer, threw Haakon and his stuff in it and returned to Sandness.

Fiona had arrived too to ride Hreyfing.

I unloaded Haakon while Jo and Fiona went off to catch their mares.

And then we watched them all turn tail and bugger off up the field.  I did not laugh, I did not. I am not that kind of person.

No, I am not (cough).

So, while they were faffing around trying to catch their horses, I tacked up Haakon.

I have submitted Haakon’s application to GB’s Olympic Eating Team.

More faffing (or tacking up) while I got on and Haakon stuffed his face – much better than having a battle about not eating food while we wait.

And off we went.

We had a lovely time. The views were beautiful and we all enjoyed ourselves.

The wind and the ride blew away my Eurovision hangover and I spent the afternoon trying to convince two “non-believers” that actually it was worth watching and a very good evening’s entertainment.

I am not sure I was very convincing.  Their loss!

Relaxtion means lying back in the bebbies’ field, thinking happy thoughts and watching the boys (no, not those kind of boys but my equine version).  It is almost relaxing until you open your eyes!

Yup, that relaxation session finished very quickly so I sat up to see what else was going on.  When the boys are in a playful giggling mood, it is perhaps not wise to be a potential target.  I stood up sharpish.

It would be nice with all this playing if their teeth could pull some of their fur out.  It is still very much work-in-progress for me. I do a little at a time and am collecting it all up too.

They are all starting to look rather tatty. It is that time of year and hopefully as it gets warmer, their summer coats will make better progress.

By the way, Happy Birthday today to Iacs, aka Mr Bimble – Daisy’s much loved Icelandic horse.  He has lived with us all his life and he is 19 years old.  Only one person has ever fallen off him, that I can remember, and he is safe, funny and very very frilly (his brain loves him too)!

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Iacs was one of the horses used in Himmelblå – a Norwegian drama series which aired in Norway, Sweden and Iceland.  He naturally took to potential stardom with all the alacrity of a professional.  You can wave anything at him – I have honestly never seen him spook.  He is not that type of guy.

(the black horse is Fákur frá Stóra-Vatnsskarði)

I called the boys up for their silage.  This is the last bale, I think – they are going off it rapidly in favour of the green grass.

Iacs is always last to arrive and miserable.  He has recently taken to standing by himself looking very dejected and I feel sorry for him.

He is not even interested in stuffing his face.  He is bored.

After yesterday’s ride of failure on Fakur, I have been thinking about riding Iacs but I had to firstly ride Taktur in a brisk walk for 20 minutes round the school as per his trainer’s instructions.

Afterwards, Taktur had his hard food in a bucket outside without the help of chickens and Loki (who I discovered head first in the bucket – hmmm).

So next was Iacs.  He was so surprised when I took him out of the field.  Pleased it was his turn.  Firstly, I gave him a huge brush and he lost about half his body weight in winter fur.  I even clipped his claggy ears which, if bad, can make him into a head-shaker.

Iacs worked hard in a good outline, with impulsion and some basic dressage moves.  I could also see he was on the brink of tölt.  Iacs was happy and enthusiastic in the school.  When I asked him to halt, he instantly offered turn on the forehand in case I wanted it (bless him).

This is Iacs’ happy face and his mood had lifted now.  Note the frilly has life and reason to live.

Next was Haakon’s turn.  We just stretched, bending and then tölted circles, figures of eight and round the school, trying to establish a good rhythm rather than outline.

I am exhausted now.  So that was one razor blade and two barrels!  My poor legs.

Everyone is shedding their winter coat.  I do what I can brushing it out a bit at a time but it is beginning to get everywhere and travel with me.

Today, for lunch, I had cheese on toast with at least 10 horse hairs in it.  I tried to pick them out and then gave up and ate the whole thing, hair and all.

I brushed Fakur this morning.  I wanted to ride him in the school as I thought he was looking rather dejected and unloved in the field.  I rode him briefly in the school.  He felt like an unexploded bomb getting more and more tense so I bailed on the basis that “He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day”.  I am not stupid.  If my waters churn, they are usually right

So I gave him some silage and put BeAnne on his back.  He just stood there while I rode Haakon instead.

The bebbies were on sleepy form. We had completed another module in their education and they were zizzing in their field afterwards.

More and more hair is coming out and I do my best to groom them, a little at a time while they stand and chat to me.  This is all from Storm who is full of bits that just ask to be pulled out.

They were all very good in the school earlier – they led nicely individually, no teeth at all and picked up their feet without an argument.

So I am feeling quite smug at my industrious day – oh  yes, and we had another bonfire and I rode Taktur on my own in the school.  He was the perfect gentleman.