The latest thing the Shetland ponies do is to stand as far away as possible, far, far away in the distance and just look at me while I shout until I am a little hoarse (see what I did there, geddit?) for them to all come up for their breakfast.

And they do nothing.  Just stand there.

Eventually one of them gets the message that they should come up for their food.  Once one starts, they all start moving.

I find this very frustrating.  The ponies always used to be standing by their buckets pointing to their watches at breakfast time.

I think the problem is the mud.  A few days of rain and the whole track has disintegrated into a muddy mess, just about everywhere.  I do feel for them, especially Newt, as he is so small and getting through it is becoming a problem.

Here is another muddy bit which I can see they all hate.

Eventually they all arrive.

I spent the morning in the rain trying to make more lay-bys around the muddy bits, which hopefully the ponies will appreciate but I know it won’t take long before that turns into more mud.  This track is not going to hold up in winter.  So much for my plan.   Floss is home on Thursday for a week so I think between us, we will put the ponies on the far hill for a month, or until the really bad weather starts.  I am hoping the Autumn Flush is finally over and they won’t get laminitis.  It will also give the track a much needed rest too.  What to do? Pros and cons with every plan.

Yesterday, we had a lot of rain – it was cold and windy too.  So I put up lots of haynets inside the containers and left everyone to it.

They ate lots and made a some mess which I duly cleared up.

Last night, I struggled out in the dark to find the containers full of ponies.  Great, I thought as I hung up more haynets inside, they are getting the message.  While I was turning on the red lights, and tried to get any stragglers inside (it was shitting down by then), they all took umbrage, walked out and left.  “Rot in Hell”, I shouted after them, “you ungrateful lot!” and I turned off the lights wondering whether they preferred no light after all.

My “scientific experiment”, such as it was, proved that Shetland ponies do not like me spending money on unnecessary lights, worrying about what frequency best suits their eyes and driving miles for a selection of coloured coverings.

No, because this morning, when I went to collect up any empty haynets, I was greeted by almost ankle-deep poop.  The most ever I’ve seen since the containers arrived.

Which is scientific proof that ponies use containers for shelter if there are no lights.  And yet they remain ungrateful.

(and Ted, for anyone’s who has been missing him).

Once I’ve finished making my after-supper sheep, I do the last walk around the croft getting everyone in.

The ducks and hens have usually put themselves to bed by then.

And I shut their wee door, do a quick count – 5 brown, 3 black hens and 12 ducks.  They all squeeze in fairly affably and luckily there have been no ducklings this year so that is a god-send.  I don’t want anymore.  It’s a tight squeeze anyway.

Then I shut the big hen-house door and wish them all a very good night.  I worry if anyone is missing and will go out of my way to find them, carrying them into their house for the night.

Next up, is the sheep if I find them waiting at the field gate.

Again, they know the routine.

I leave this gate open so that Dahlia and Gussie can also come in if they want, but they usually don’t arrive until breakfast time, preferring to live in the field. They are hill sheep, after all.  The field shed is open for them if the weather gets too bad.  The others go to bed in the stable. Lambie’s bed-time is a strict 10 p.m. and they all have their own spot in the shed.

There are haynets for the ponies in the red-lit containers which are sometimes eaten overnight or not  They can make their own decisions.

And then I look at the sky to quickly check if there is anything worth photographing before I go inside for the night.

I would be lying if I said I stayed up all night to photograph the best aurora borealis to be seen in the UK for 40 years.

However, I did take a few photos last night, but it was blimmin’ cold and I was very tired.  I must’ve popped in and out to stand in the compost heap (in my slippers) at least 10 times last night but, to be perfectly honest, when it clouded over I gave up and went to bed instead  for warmth and comfort.  Seeing everyone’s photos this morning on social media made me realise it was glorious.

I might try again tonight but don’t hold your breath.

Anywho, this morning I was on my own. OH had an appointment in town first thing so he was long gone by the time I was feeding the animals.  There were lots of rainbows from the showers that interpersed my work so I kept stopping to take photos.

First up, were the Ancients (Icelandic horses) who OH is usually in charge of.  I never feed them. This is not my job so I was amazed at just how well behaved they all were.

I waited around while they ate their breakfast.

Luckily they just about all finished on time so there was no arguing.

And I was very impressed.  OH has them well trained.

After, I collected all the buckets and then went and did everything else – Shetland ponies, sheep fed, ducks second breakfast and put out to their field, etc…..  and lastly a cup of tea with Monster.

It has got a lot colder recently – 5℃ today with a bitter north wind which brings it down to -1℃ so I opened up a bit more of the track for the little ones.  They spotted me doing this and came rushing over en masse.

Silver was kindly waiting for Vitamin who didn’t want to leave the haynets.  Frustrated with her lack of speed, he gave up and cantered up the hill, along and around to join the others.

And then there were 8, when Vitamin realised she was on her own.

I think my current plan is to keep everyone at home for winter now.  The Shetlands will remain on the track and I will open up small areas of grazing each week so they get more fibre and still have access to the containers.  I am not rushing out to put on rugs either.  That’s what the containers are for.  The Icelandics are fat.  The no-ribs-kind-of-fat so they can stay out, rugless, in their field for a while too.  It has masses of shelter (old buildings) so they will be ok.

Anyway, finishing that job, I walked up the hill and mucked out the container area and track.  Grubby ponies, I thought to myself when I looked up to see a beautiful rainbow with the pot-of gold end landing on Clothie, my croft where the Icelandic horses currently live.

After lunch, I went to Turriefield to weigh, pack and label vegetables.  On my way home, I stopped to take this photo of Foula, just because it looked like a painting.