I had a lovely afternoon walking the dogs on Sandness beach, taking photos and generally enjoying being almost the only person there.  This is one of my favourite places to go.

There had been a spring storm yesterday and last night so the beach had been rearranged again by the pounding waves and tides.

Masses of seaweed had been brought ashore and I am a huge seaweed fan of the edible variety.  I didn’t pick any as it was not fresh (i.e. I don’t know how long it has been floating about for in the sea without clinging onto the necessary rocks).  I do know some folk eat it and I want to get a lesson of how and where to cut it.  I could munch on this stuff forever.

I took Loki and BeAnne with me on my walk.  They sort of enjoy it on the beach (prefer the fields) and they don’t tend to explore or race about like Celt used to. He loved this beach.

(in fact I would go as far as to say BeAnne was rather sulky).

So onwards and upwards to see the girls.   I thought I would take loads of lovely photos of them but somehow I had fiddled with the setting on my camera lens.  I felt a bit of a fool when I uploaded the terrible photos onto my computer.  They are now instantly destined for the bin.

Another time.

Still it was a nice walk.

I have been trying to encourage the bebbies to use their little shed, the one where they were first lived when they originally arrived at Thordale.

I want them to think this is their bedroom, somewhere to go when the weather is vile.  There is rubber matting and straw surface with three buckets in the corners.  There is also a wall of silage too in case they are peckish!

Although their little paddock is still a soggy mess, the gate beyond is permanently open into a huge field which is totally theirs.  The grass is beginning to grow now and I don’t want to overload their systems as this can lead to other complications like laminitis.

The bebbies came out of their shed as ever to greet me and happily went back in as their feed buckets were placed in there with their breakfast.

Every so often one would come over to chat or look outside.

There is a certain amount of changing buckets to see if someone else has more or needs help to finish theirs.

There is no fighting or shoving – the bebbies tend to share very happily still. The only thing they argue about is attention.  You are not allowed to talk to two or three of them.  One will start to annoy another to get rid of him.  Storm is worst for this.  He may be smaller but he uses this to his advantage as he can reach places a larger Shetland pony couldn’t!

Breakfast finished and then it was time for a chat.

Storm is still very keen on reversing into you so you will scratch his arse!  He is very funny about this.

Funny little peoples, really who have totally made the long Shetland winter a bit more entertaining.

On our trip to Sandness yesterday to see our non-existent foaling mare, we found Jo exercising her dogs in the field with a particularly good deep pond and stream in it, i.e. Snati’s diving board and swimming pool.

Both Snati and BeAnne are keen swimmers, though BeAnne is a bit more reserved in her enthusiasm and she is not keen on Snati’s methods.

Snati, on the other hand, will happily throw himself off the bank to attempt to catch anything, and I mean anything that is thrown into the pond.  In this case it was mostly dried horse poo.

So, as always having my camera, I set it on the fastest continuous shooting and off we went.

Jump 1 – from the lower bank with complete submergence

Jump 3 – from the higher cliff, from top to bottom!

Jump 3 – same again, he really is a loony.

Loads of water everywhere.

Once the pond was quiet and the other dogs were away hunting rabbits, BeAnne had her own little swim around by herself.  I love the way her tail looks like a rudder!  She takes her swimming very seriously and it is something she loves to do especially in the summer.  She reminds me of the phrase from a Joyce Grenfell song.  Thus BeAnne is “Stately as a galleon, I sail across the floor, Doing the Military Two-step, as in the days of yore.”

Snati, however, is not.

While we were moving Velvereta to the stable the other week, we brought Melinda with us as she was looking very thin too.  The vet checked her and said she was still producing milk.  As Zoot was in the field with her, all fingers pointed at the little madam helping herself from the bar.  So much for weaning themselves.

So we removed Melinda and put her in another field to put on some weight.  The vet, at the time, checked her over and said he could find no reason for this weight loss.  We will continue to monitor her progress.

Meanwhile, because Velvereta tragically died, this left Melinda on her own.  None of our ponies/horses ever live on their own.  So we went and fetched Verona as she was the other mare due to foal.

She looked fine, but not in foal.  She is keeping Melinda company and we have noticed that she bullies her off her hard food, so perhaps that is another reason for Melinda’s meagre frame.

Today, I thought I would go and look at Verona to make my mind up once and for all about whether she is in foal and I think I have come to the conclusion that it is a definite no.  I looked at her from all angles and I am pretty sure she is not hiding a foal anywhere.

So that will be no foals for us, which is not such a bad thing as the Gods seemed to have given us The Bebbies to look after.

This year, Indy will not run with our mares but go off for a holiday to another stud.   Anyway, Taktur is going to be busy this year.

If I am having a foal withdrawal, there are plenty of Shetland pony bebbies nearby that I can snog and scratch.

The view from my garden – lovely peace and quiet.

As I had such a tedious day yesterday, I thought I would go and have some Bebbie Time.   The minute they spied me, they came running, giggling.  I noted the mood.

So I threw them the carrots I had brought onto the ground. They were hoovered up enthusiastically.

I think the bebbies stayed still for about a minute and I took some portrait shots.  Not enough time for one of Storm, though.

Then off they went again, giggle, giggle.

An innocent face?

And the teeth come out!

So off they go, again.

**** sigh, little boys  ****

In the end I gave up trying to talk to them.  The bebbies just wanted to play, play and play.

I think the pictures speak volumes on how they are and how they are feeling.  I hope you like these photos – look at their enthusiasm and their regained love of life.

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For me, those pictures say it all.

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Remember, on 28th January, they looked like this…..