So Much Gutter

This time of year when horse folk In Shetland (and Scotland) ask you how you are doing this winter, the standard reply is “there is just so much gutter about” and then you both look sadly at the ground and nod in agreement.

And believe me, there is gutter everywhere.

Everyone is heartily fed up of it and it is all I can talk about these days because it is That Time of Year when this and the weather takes up your every waking thought.

There is nothing we can do.  We are doing our very best and it is just one of those things that we always have in winter.

I feel so sorry for the horses.  We are regularly losing horseshoes (and us our wellies) to the stuff.

But some are more resourceful – Klængur has one hoof in the fish box!

It is the two little ones I worry about most but they now spend their nights in their little paddock with a shed so they can get right out of it as well as have some protection.

We take them back to the Big Boy herd, who have come up for their silage, during the day so they can see their friends and Newt can plot their downfall and his world domination.

The others, who are bigger, go back out in the afternoon to a large field where they can mooch about for grass and get of the gutter if they want.

Life still goes on, gutter or not.

Her Maj is not a fan, either and refuses to walk in it!

7 thoughts on “So Much Gutter

  1. Sam

    And now I have a new word to use. Glad to hear Newt and Albie are not in the gutter 24/7. Newt’s “Book of Revenge or How I took over the world in 10 easy steps” just might make the Best Selling List. I’d read it.

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  2. Linda

    BeAnn has the right idea…
    Fortunately (especially for us), animals seem to have a boundless store of patience, but giving them something to look forward to each day – FOOD – definitely helps!

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  3. Cathleen

    Never heard of gutter, except as a drain, in south Scotland. Is it a northern term? Our problem here is snow, arriving, freezing, leaving and then coming back! Had a foot at one point, and more forecast for tomorrow . Good luck with your winter, yours is so much worse. The wind must be hell!

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  4. Terri

    I’ve never heard of gutter used that way, but it makes sense (something icky/sticky). Do cleats/spikes attached to Wellies help prevent the mud from sucking the boot off? I’m with BeAnne — avoidance. (easily said by someone sitting in her cosy home on the other side of the pond, with no livestock depending on her for their health and well-being)

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