I am not talking to BeAnne Duvet Soufflé Princess Chantelle Shaznay.  She was caught doing a Terrible Thing last night.  We were just talking to the horses outside the front door, giving them the last of the carrots, when Daisy said “I think BeAnne has a chicken”.

And she had.  She had cornered it in OH’s shed and was bouncing about trying to get it out.  We rescued the poor chuck and BeAnne vanished back into the house knowing full well her crime and also sorry she was caught.

OH managed to find the chicken who was hiding behind some boxes in shock. That poor chicken had nearly been fully plucked by Madame.  As there were no open wounds, I gave her a slug of Rescue Remedy and OH took her back to the hen house.  Apparently she scuttled off none the worse for her plucking.

But that is not the point.  We do not eat the croft chickens in this house.  Every dog knows that (even Loki has learned).

BeAnne knew she had made a big mistake.  She dithered about and I made her sit in her bed for the evening, which she hates as her official place is on the sofa.

And then she sulked……… and boy can she sulk.  If there was an Olympic team for sulking, BeAnne would be the captain.

This morning, BeAnne was reticent and quiet.  She knew what she did and she waited for me to apologise for her bad behaviour.

Loki remained oblivious to this contratent, even though he still has certain cat issues that need working on.

Hopefully the chicken that BeAnne was chewing on is over the worst, though I would be surprised if she ever laid another egg again.

(this is not her, btw, just some of my girls this morning in the sun).

While BeAnne sulked, Daisy had a superb lesson with Bjørn. She rode Klængur.  Daisy is back off to university on Friday evening’s boat.  I don’t know what I am going to do without her and I don’t know who is going to ride my horses for me.

Meanwhile, Her Maj is still sulking….

Nobody loves me, everybody hates me
Think I’ll go and eat worms….. (and not chickens!)

We thought we would sell Struie Pippa last year but withdrew her from Aberdeen Sales as the prices were pathetic.  We then had a recount and thought we could manage.

One spinal operation and another ankle operation pending, who are we kidding?   So the decision has been made.  Pippa is for sale again and this time she is going to the Lerwick Marts on Friday, 4th October.

I will be sad but I must be realistic.  She is a lovely mare who has some absolutely incredible foals – Thordale Erebus (2nd in his class at the International Breed Show, now a licensed stallion), Thordale Dougal – in The Czech Republic waiting to be licensed as a stallion and Thordale Phyllis, a lovely mare who just wanted to be hugged.  I loved all her foals and miss them hugely.

Anyway, Struie Pippa – she is 40″ Black Mare, born: 08.05.01 (so 12 years old) By Glenbogie Stroller (004441) Out of Cassochie Pollaidh (016917).   Her breedlines combine the best of Wells (Vijay), Transy and Harviestoun.  A good substantial lady who has superb foals.

I will be sad to see her go but needs must.  We have many mares and my ankle is now added to my knackered spine – the list of ongoing medical miseries that doesn’t seem to be getting any better.   Sometimes reality has to kick in.

Pippa has a good abundance of mane. She moves well, eye-catching, square and with flair.  This sale is due to necessity rather than choice.

And the most beautiful expressive head.

Dammit, I hate sale time.  I really do.  Life is not fair at the moment.  Someone is going to get a bargain and a huge asset to their Stud.

Floss and I went to see IndyPingPong and Hammy again.  This time with carrots.

Hammy is doing his best to be supportive (or is that Indy supporting Hammy) and they are close friends, which is good.

Hammy knows that if Indy will play, then everything will be better.  He does try but Indy doesn’t want to at the moment.  Jo says they were thrilled to see each other and do play but I haven’t seen this yet.

But Indy is not in the mood for a game because he has sussed there may be carrots….

So, while Floss shovelled carrots into Hammy, I gave Indy his ration, scratched his chest for him while kissing his nosey and told him that everyone out in Blog-Land loves him and thinks he is gorgeous.

He took it all in his magnificent stride and I hope he is beginning to believe us.

Meanwhile, back at Thordale, the Icelandics are happily not missing anyone, not even Hammy.

Daisy dished out some broccoli stalks over the fence.

There was no arguing or barging, just the art of gentle persuasion ….

…. and Jedi mind tricks.

Everyone had their fair share.  Daisy always donates equally to every good cause.

She even told Taktur that his recent behaviour was not gentlemanly and he may have listened a little.  I doubt it, though.  He is going through his Kevin stage at the moment so there is not much hope.

This is the view from my backdoor.  Perfect.  My Icelandic boys.

Is it wrong to wish I had IndyPingPong and Hammy here too?

In the pouring rain, I went to see IndyPingPong and Hammy in their new quarters.  I wanted to check that Indy was alright after yesterday’s fracas.

Hammy will be Indy’s only winter companion now which is sad because he loved being with the other geldings last year.  If Taktur moved to another field, I would have Indy back in a heartbeat.  Last winter was the happiest I have ever seen him.  But what to do with Taktur?  He needs to be trained this winter, using the indoor school at mine.  He needs his company too.  If I put them in separate fields at Thordale, they will both spend their days looking at each other….. plotting, which is not healthy.

I called them both over to have a chat.

Hammy barged past and I could see Indy was not pleased about this but let it go.

While Hammy hopped up and down the fence doing every circus trick he could think of to get my attention, I tried to talk to Indy.  He was not happy and still rather scarred emotionally too, I could tell – I know him very well.  He was not his usual bouncy self.

Depressed, even.

This is not like my Indy and I will go down everyday, even tying up Hammy if I have to, to talk to my special boy.

Carrots, I need carrots.  A good supply.

Today we took IndyPingPong away from his mare(s).  We had left him with Verona after the Walls Show and we wanted to do this before I go away leaving everyone else to look after my animals.  So we loaded them up, dropped Verona off into the mares’ field and took Indy to Thordale to see if he could live with his old herd.

Everyone was thrilled to see him and came rushing down – Haakon looking particularly majestic.

Hammy was very happy that his bezzie mate was back.

There was thorough sniffing and all was looking good….

… until Taktur came galloping up.  He had been miles away on his own as usual.

Last year Indy and Taktur (then a 3yo colt) managed to winter together in mutual, well I wouldn’t go as far as to say friendship, but they tolerated each other without much fuss.

This year the rules had changed.  Taktur was not a colt in his eyes but a year older and more stallion about things.

We thought they would get on with it and there was stallion bellowing and investigating.

And then the first blow was struck and that was it….. The end of a fragile friendship.

Jo and I watched for a few minutes and decided, no, enough was enough.  This was not going to work and we were not prepared to wait and see what happened or risk bloodshed.  So Jo went into the field to separate the two arguing stallions (they were not quite fighting but the relationship was quickly disintegrating before our eyes).

I knew I wanted to take Hammy out as he would be Indy’s field companion, so as he came past, I opened the gate and he ran through.  The others were very unsettled by everything.  Then Indy and Taktur found themselves arguing by the gate I was standing by so I shouted at Taktur.  Instantly he dropped Indy and stood licking and chewing while I yelled and yelled at him about his foul behaviour (he is a “Mummy’s boy” and I am glad he still remembers it).  This gave Jo a second to nip in and shove Indy through the gate into the paddock with Hammy.  They were quickly removed to the indoor school before anyone had a chance to think.

We examined Indy for damage and he had a black eye with a cut underneath.  My poor boy.  Hindsight is a very accurate science and you don’t know what will happen until you try.  We had hoped Taktur would not have been quite so stallion-esque about things but he was and nothing will change his hormones.  I don’t want Indy damaged, or Taktur either.

Anyway, Indy will spend his winter with his best friend, Hammy.  They make a lovely couple and it was nice to see them just continue from where they left off last spring.

Jo has taken them over to hers’ and put them in a huge field. She will check Indy just to see he is ok from his battle.  I will miss him desperately (and Hammy, though I could see everyone breathe a sigh of relief when he left) and there will be no Shetland ponies at Thordale this winter.