Fog today.  What a surprise – I wasn’t expecting that.  Most odd.

Despite this, there is one who never forgets The Routine and I found him waiting for me.  The Handsome Stallion in the fog.

So, I ignored him and went off first in search of the bebbies to give them their breakfast.  I was worried they would be lost at the furthest end of their huge field but, being clever bebbies, they were close by.  Close enough to hear me open the gate and fill up their buckets.

They enthusiastically ran into their paddock where I feed them.

Anyway, back to Taktur.  He is a fussy bugger.  Recently he said he might like soaked sugar beet pellets but only as a side order to his main dish of topline mix, conditioning cubes and rolled oats.  Putting the two buckets side by side means he can’t tip them up and scatter them round the field (drives me nuts).

Taktur has to be the slowest eater in the whole world.  He is like Ferdinand the Bull.  He takes a small mouthful, lifts his head, thinks about some poetry, sniffs the flowers in the ladies’ hats, chews vaguely and then considers another mouthful.  Dinner can take hours.

My nemeses  (yes, that is the plural for Nemesis – I looked it up)  are the chickens.  Their one pursuit of the day is his food and at £20 a bag, they are not having it.  This new method of feeding is very successful.

It also works against the small terrier vacuum attachment.

I dedicate today’s blog to everyone who has had a bad week and/or a bad day.  These noseys will help you find perspective and make you smile.   The little fuzzy moustaches are very squishy, tickley and kissable.

If you are feeling fed-up, then what you need is this – to be investigated thoroughly.

Or this – to be sat on with the request that you tickle Storm’s bum!

Today’s blog has a 100% guarantee to put a smile on your face – the best therapy in the world.

Floss is home from university for the holidays (Easter, I think – I have lost track).  She came home with a huge pile of work that she is diligently ploughing through.  She occasionally deserves a break.  So what is better to clear the head than a bebbie moment?

They all take it in turns to offer sympathy to her plight of trying to study.

The bebbies have come out of their shells completely now.  Storm, who was the shyest of them all originally, is always the first up.  He loves having his bum scratched and will reverse up, almost sitting on your knee, to get his point across!  It is very funny.

Did you know he has two black spots on his back?

The other two are beginning to look a bit more substantial now.

It will take a bit longer, I think, for Storm (but he is my favourite).  He has much more catching up to do.

The field the bebbies are currently residing in is huge and goes far back over the hill.  When they do turn up, however, I can see that they are very happy as they are incapable of going anywhere without playing.  They play all the time – a constant source of amusement for each other.  I could watch them all day – Bebbie-Watching.  I wonder if there is a tourist market for this?

They sneak up on each other, pretending to be all innocent and chatty and then strike, like their teeth “just happen to be in the area”.

No one has any bite marks, though, just silly grins on their faces.  No more slow, miserable and weak ponies.  They are becoming stronger and bouncier by the day.  They are still having two daily regular meals of hard food and I hope that the size of the field will build muscles now.

I have just discovered Storm deliberately rolls in his empty food bucket.  I have no idea why but he seemed to enjoy it.

So don’t be lulled into a false sense of security while they look all innocent and butter wouldn’t melt – 3 bebbies are really 3 Tiggers – They’re bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pounce….Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!

Today was a day I never thought I would see.  My younger daughter, Flossie, and I went out for a ride together.

Flossie has never been a particularly keen or able rider in her youth.  As a child, she had no balance or co-ordination due to neuro developmental delay (retained Moro, Plantar and Palmar reflexes – three of the infant reflexes).  I have never forced either of my daughters to ride.  If they wanted to learn, then fine and while Daisy was determined to ride from an early age, it has taken a while for Flossie to want to do this.  Her choice completely.

She has had a few lessons sporadically through her life and was a very accomplished carriage driver from a very early age.  But horse riding was difficult for her.

I have always wanted to take her out for a ride and today we agreed that this was The Day.  She tacked up Iacs on her own.

And off we set with me riding Haakon.

BeAnne came too.

Iacs was the perfect gentleman.  He never put a hoof wrong.  BeAnne pottered alongside and we had a lovely ride.  There was even the odd trot when Iacs tried to catch up Haakon, who seemed to have a bee in his bonnet about waiting nicely or walking alongside his friend.

Iacs’ behaviour was exemplary.  He looked after his precious charge very carefully.

I trust Iacs to look after Flossie no matter what.

BeAnne knows the drill on treks.  If cars appear, she immediately goes to the side of the road and waits.

So that was an afternoon I will never forget.  Taking my daughter for her first trek with me.