Tag Archives: Icelandic horses

A Perfect Day

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It’s been a glorious day.  Total calm and the sun has shone.

I am trying to be organised because I leave for London tomorrow.  If I see something I should take, I grab it as I go past and quickly put it by my bags before I forget again.  Carpe diem because in the next second I will have forgotten.

Pepper has assured me she will behave and not go visiting or looking for me.  I believe her not.

And because it was so nice, Floss and I fed the ponies a little early giving them all their hay in a big heap to munch through.

Please can everyone pray for no dramas during my absence as Floss is (very capably) holding the fort.

So I shall pack my bags with vaguely clean clothes but not ironed because I can’t find the ironing board and fly off south.  I’m not sure if I will write the blog or not. I’ll see how I go.  This is my holiday, after all.  A break from everything.

Back soon!

Definitely Autumn

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It is definitely Autumn now. It smells like Autumn. It feels like Autumn and the garden has quickly departed from it’s hanging-onto-the-last-of-summer mode and moved swiftly to Autumn. There will soon be dead leaves everywhere too.

I used to say Autumn was my most favourite month in Shetland but I think I am changing my mind. These days I prefer Spring.

In Shetland dialect, the word Hairst is used = n – the harvest; the work associated with that season. Da hairst’ll shön be comin on, wi aa hit’s wark; autumn. Dey mairried ida hairst.

Anyway, I had finished my afternoon chores (sheep coming home, haynets out for the ponies and giving the ducks and hens their tea-time grain), when I saw someone lurking and looking hopeful – Iacs.

So I turned around and went to the kitchen for some carrots.  Five, to be precise.

I mean, I couldn’t exactly walk away and give that hopeful little face nothing.

Everyone had one carrot and that was the ration.

But the little face refused to give up. Ten out of ten for perseverance.  The others had looked slightly surprised but grateful.

I went back inside the house hoping Iacs won’t starve to death over night.

A Huddle of Horses and Ponies

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Today was much calmer, weather-wise.  Phew.

It makes a huge difference to everyone when the weather is nice. Everyone can regroup from the past few days.

I was on dog-walking duty this morning, so decided to incorporate an electric fence check as well.  I like to know there are no bad bits or problems as there are a certain five Shetland ponies who will know in an instant and then take full advantage.

Upon my return from the fence-check-dog-walk, I found all the horses and ponies together, which was interesting considering the big ones have absolutely no interest in the little ones.  I know this because the minute they were all in the same field together when it snowed earlier in the year, Kolka, Haakon and Iacs behaved about as badly as anyone can.  Rotten dinosaurs.

Luckily for everyone at the moment there is a fence separating both herds.

I won’t lie – I am dreading winter. I hope it is kind to us and all the animals get through it. I am trying to be prepared as much as possible and thinking ahead with supplies and stores.. It can be very tough on the animals, especially if they hate going inside.

(though Vitamin and Fivla love going inside.)

As it was now a flat calm, I gave the Shetland ponies a treat. They had their two haynets emptied out so they could stuff their little faces.

No one needed asking twice if they wanted this.

And there was a lot of shovelling accompanied by happy munching sounds. Very satisfying.

We are reaching the time of year when we take every day as it comes and adapt accordingly.  That’s all we can do.

It’s Blowing a Hoolie

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It’s been blowing a hoolie all day (hoolie = fierce wind, gale).  Tis the season now and the autumn equinox.

As it was so blowy, I decided that I would put all horse/pony food out in their flat “storm” bowls – they don’t blow away as easily and I hate chasing after buckets in the wind. It’s a thankless task.  They can go for miles, always just that bit in front of you and difficult to catch.

 

Obviously I had Pepper with me offering to hoover up any leftovers.  She is such a wee pig and useless on the bucket catching front.

I had a quick glimpse at Kolka’s scar, which I think is healing up as best it can.  As long as it is not infected or painful, then there really is nothing more to be done.   She wasn’t really into me looking at it for too long as the wind made her reactive and nervy at the slightest movement.

I left the field, clutching all my buckets to wash and put away, finished up and went indoors for my breakfast and my daily difference of opinion with Monster.

Along with my daily Wordle and Connections which I failed at dismally.  Monster was absolutely no help.

Back to a Normal Saturday

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I took this panoramic photo to show where everyone eats their breakfast.

From right to left, which is also the order I feed them:-

Kolka in the corner, with a touch more food than everyone else so she doesn’t got off to steal Haakon’s.
Haakon, who also has a sachet of boswellia added and is a slow eater.
Iacs – he has his four anti-cancer pills in his food at the top so if he is pushed off his food, at least I know he ate them.
Then Vitamin who eats very quickly. Wolfs it down.  She would only steal from Fivla, if she could.
And lastly Fivla who is possibly the slowest eater in the whole world (Haakon is a close second).

Once everyone has eaten and I have done all the remainder of my chores (put tomorrow’s food on to soak, put the sheep out in their field, swept up the sheep shed), I go back to the horses’ field and collect their buckets to take away and wash.

There was a soft light this morning and Iacs looked particularly nice in it.

He is very much an autumnal chap, I think.

I went inside and made a quick breakfast for myself, and then left the house, much to Pepper’s dismay.

Saturday mornings have gone back to being for Turriefield again.  There was lots of vegetables to weigh, pack and label.

I was particularly taken with the natural fractal geometry of Romanesco broccoli (I had to look that up).

It is extraordinary.  Nature at it’s cleverest.

And back home again just before lunch to my ever-waiting wee dug, Pepper, who has since followed me everywhere ever just in case I wanted to go out again without her.  That’s not happening on her watch.