I was told that horses cannot live in a garden – oh yes they can!  This is my OH’s sacred vegetable garden that he has given up on due to the vagaries of the Shetland growing season as well as the non-appearance of everything he planted one year.

Therefore, there is grass and I have some hungry horses.

I think equines suit the garden.  Much better than vegetables or flowers, if you ask me.

Having eaten down the veg plot, the horses all arrived, en masse, looking for something or someone.

To keep Her Maj out of any low-flying hooves or noseys, I plonked her on the back of Iacs.  She likes Iacs best.  He is used to being her chauffeur.

Captions needed for this photo, I think!

If  anyone takes the piss, she “has at them” fiercely.  BeAnne takes her riding very seriously, and rightly so.  Not everyone can ride, you know.

Haakon was officially told where to go and he didn’t care.  Been there, done that.

BeAnne settled herself down to a nice snooze on her favourite horse.  Daisy (who owns and rides Iacs) is now redundant.  He has a better jockey now.

Into the indoor school I go with a horse to work with.  I have followers who are not here to help but to mock.

BeAnne has jumped off Iacs, so I plonk her on Fakur who just looks, as usual, very, very embarrassed.

And off they go.  BeAnne has sat on Fakur since she was a puppy but he still is not sure of what he is supposed to do.

But BeAnne is not deterred by movement.  She rides better than most people I know.

(and, yes, she can even do a passable sitting trot)

I love foals.  I do.  I miss the fact that we are not having any (Velvereta and her foal died a few weeks’ back and Verona shows absolutely no sign of looking pregnant).

I was asked to take photos for a Bergli Shetland Pony Stud and there were such nice little bebbies about – both standards and miniatures.

This was the home of the one that we spent hours trying to get to suck a few days’ ago – he is now doing very well.

(I see him as “my little boy”.  So proud – sniff!  He is still lovely).

Look, look drinking!.  He’s got the plot.  At last.   Phew.

The others were enchanting.  All being fairly new, none of the foals were particularly friendly or curious to meet us.  In a few more weeks, I expect we will be climbed over.

Darling, darling little peoples.  Some were more inquisitive than others.  This gorgeous colt had the most beautiful head and eyes.

His movement also took my breath away.  I liked him very much.

I am lucky.  At least these foals are next door and I can spend time with them if I need a quick foal-fix.  Imagine living somewhere where there are no Shetland pony foals?  No, I don’t want to.  That would be my idea of hell.

And, of course, I have my own roly-poly thugs to keep me entertained.

I can live with many things.  Some might even say I was a very tolerant and laid-back person, (I can hear my family snorting with disbelief from here). If I thought for one minute that the boys were going to just live happily side by side then I would be content to let them stay in next door fields.

But sadly not.

Ok, I thought, get to know each other and then get back to eating, please.

But they didn’t, did they?

My poor, poor fence and Taktur was obsessed with the little ones.

I went up there to catch either Taktur or Haakon to ride only to find Taktur galloping up and down the fence trying to now jump it.  That really was the last straw.  The colts ran into their little paddock to hide.  They hadn’t actually anticipated the potential arrival of an Icelandic stallion.  Scary stuff.

I can’t let them in together yet.  The colts need to be gelded first or this could happen.

So, I moved the bebbies to a new-to-them field opposite the school.  It has a very effective electric fence and is large enough for them to run around.

The stallion poo-piles might also encourage the appearance of the necessary parts I want to get whipped off!  Two down, one to go.  Just Storm’s to arrive.

So I left the boys exploring.  If it rains and is suddenly cold, I will let them have Duvet Days in their little paddock with the shed.

And as for Taktur.  There are now two fields between him and his disciples so he can bloody well get on with the task of eating.

(Bloody horses.)

I bottled out yesterday (lost my nerve) and kept the bebbies in their small paddock as I didn’t want everyone to meet over the fence in the rain and hear screams in the night…… (yes, my imagination did run riot).

So, this morning, I wanted to ride and the horses couldn’t have been further away if they tried but were settled and stuffing their faces (all the more reason to ride as I don’t want some to get much fatter!)

I brought the bebbies out to be brushed, have feet picked out and do some nice leading.  I thought it would also tempt the big ones down to investigate and save me the long walk.

It didn’t.

So I gave up and let the boys eat the grass down around the house for a few hours, ever hopeful the big guys would come over.

Err, nope.

So, I let the little boys get used to having the dogs around.  I am fed up with the unnecessary chasing.

The babies investigated all they could.

Shall we place bets as to how long it is before someone comes inside? (perhaps when my OH is in Lerwick!)

Meanwhile, the Icelandic horses started to resemble cow creamers.

And the bebbies went one way….

And the Icelandics, the other.

***** sigh ***** I bet they meet tonight and all hell will break loose over the fence.

Maybe, I should bring the bebbies into my house tonight ………..

My exercise regimen at the moment is riding three of the Icelandics.

First I rode Iacs because he looked so miserable yesterday when I had promised and then rushed off.   He was very good and tried his best.

Next was Taktur – who has to Power Walk first on buckle-end of the reins to loosen up and then in a relaxed outline for 20 minutes (10 minutes either direction).  We listen to inspiring 80’s disco songs because they have a good up-tempo walking beat.

And then thirdly, Haakon who was on fabulous form and, having warmed up, tölted round and round the school like a demon (if demons tölt!)

Each had about 20-30 minutes and I felt very worthy afterwards.

I’ve also noticed that this last bale of silage is mostly being ignored.  No one is interested in it and the horses need energy.

So I made the executive decision to let the big lads into the next big green field for grazing.  They were very enthusiastic about my choice.

But, as you can see, its’ boundary is the bebbies’ hill park.

Taktur is very fond of the Bebbies…..

…. as they are of him!

Anyway, I have read Taktur the Riot Act, told him to behave or at least to not lose shoes on the fence or weight by fence walking instead of eating.

One hint, just one hint of shoe-losing, fence-destroying, fence-walking, bloody-mindedness, etc and I will either wire up the whole side (Icelandic horse side) to the mains or move the horses over to a field miles away.  Their choice.

Meanwhile, as it is raining (but warm), I gave the Bebbies, who happened to be hanging around their shed, a large pile of carrots that I threw into the straw.  Hunt the Carrot is a great rainy-day game.  Hours of entertainment.

All I could hear was crunch, munch, crunch, snuffle…..!

So here’s hoping.  It would be nice if they could all live side-by-side in peace and harmony (though, tbh, I am not holding my breath).