Clarted in Mud
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
7h ago
Guess who came on the dog-walk with me?  It wasn’t even a particularly sunny or nice day but still Monster whinged and walked with us.  It was nice to have the company.  The dogs always rush off, possibly disowning me. However, Monster had one small mishap when he under-estimated the depth of the ditch he wanted to cross and so very nearly fell in head-first!  His front end was filthy and clarted in dirty ditch-water mud (yes, I was trying very hard not to laugh – poor chap). And then he wasn’t. All the mud had immediately vanished – just a slight bit on his paw and manly ..read more
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Spring Snow
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
1d ago
Yesterday, we woke up to snow – not a huge amount but enough to be annoying for everyone but I refused to put open a new bale and start lugging hay everywhere. And so, after breakfast, I opened the gate and let all the Shetland ponies into the middle of their track field where the grass is slightly longer and easier to find. Oh, they were one happy little herd, bouncing around everywhere. Lots of galloping and playing silly-billies, which was sweet to see and confirmed no one has laminitis….. yet. But the sun shone all day and the snow quickly melted leaving me thinking the ponies don’t ne ..read more
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Yesterday
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
3d ago
Yesterday….. My day started at 5 a.m.  (I don’t think I slept the night before but apparently, according to Eddie the WatchBoard Computer, I did). And I drove off to our local, and only, airport at 6 a.m. arriving 1 1/4 hours later. Breakfast was a very creditable, no, delicious, bacon buttie and cappuccino to wake me up. The plane first stopped off at Kirkwall, Orkney (this is a new thing according to Loganair). And then went onto Aberdeen. And so to Woodend Hospital, via an NHS minibus. This is the very place (hospital, not the minibus) I had all my spinal surgery (x 3), which is a ..read more
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It’s Jolly Cold
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
4d ago
Every year I wait and wait for the first signs of spring and this is the photo I love the most – the primroses are starting to flower on the banks of the burn (stream).  Soon, the bank will be completely covered and I will have my wall of wild primroses. But it is still jolly cold and I stupidly took off Fivla and Vitamin’s rugs this morning – and of course it rained sporadically all morning and there were some vicious little showers. I felt very bad for Fivla, who spent her morning in her shelter spot refusing to budge, all bare-nekkid without her rug so after lunch, I grabbed a dry on ..read more
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A Host of Golden Daffodils
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
5d ago
It was sunny, if still very windy, this morning and I walked the track with the dogs looking for possible escape routes and any problems.  The ponies are in the field next door where there’s better shelter for them. The equinoctial gales are giving it their best – we are currently on Day 3 with no let up until  maybe Monday) and it is all a bit meh outside. For those asking, this is the shelter – an old tattie rig (potato field) that has lovely high drystone walls.  Perfect shelter for small ponies from every angle as it is also at the bottom a steep sided valley. The ponies u ..read more
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Tired After all the Worry
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
1w ago
After yesterday’s excitement, I spent the morning with a stonking migraine all morning.  I am not suprised at this.  The stress over Monster’s absence was too huge for me and my imagination to cope with. A massive four day gale (with sheet rain in the morning) has also begun and everyone was happy enough indoors in the morning, though OH took the dogs out later for a walk as Pepper started climbing off the walls.  Luckily, the rain had stopped by then.  Ted would’ve happily never moved from his bed again but he did go, if grudgingly. Ditto Monster – he hasn’t moved all day ..read more
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AWOL
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
1w ago
Oh, what a night…… it was awful. Monster didn’t come home.  He left at around 6.00 p.m. while I was cooking supper last night and was never seen again.  OH and I were very worried.  This was absolutely not normal behaviour for Monster whose tummy is akin to the atomic clock.  He has never knowingly missed a meal – ever.  And he missed his crunchy-munchies (Ted’s snack time for his eye-drops before bed), his ten o’clocks, his 3-a.m. o’clocks, and then his 7.30 a.m. breakfast. I was awake all night praying that the cat flap would go and I would hear the noise of a hungry ..read more
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Sowing Seeds
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
1w ago
A calm and easy breakfast for everyone equine (I am loving the new “dining area”) and off I went to Turriefield, a community vegetable growing project 7miles away where I have volunteered for years.  Their core aim is for “as many folk as possible in Shetland to be able to access healthy, fresh, chemical free produce.” And I have a new job!  I am learning how to sow seeds, which I find very interesting. I learn best by being told what to do with the reason for it and then off I hopefully go doing it correctly. I filled seed pots with compost. Today I planted broadbeans, leeks, ko ..read more
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Private Dining Area
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
1w ago
Bored of the mud (jeezo, it is everywhere), I sectioned off a bit of the next-door field with electric fencing so I can I just dish out the food into six bowls (without being hassled by Storm), open the gate and call everyone in to eat. This has resulted in breakfast being quite a calm occurrence now rather than the usual bun-fight with added falling-over (that would be me) or getting stuck in the mud (me, again). Vitamin gets herself a separate bucket because she needs more calories. As does Fivla who can’t eat with the others because she hates being hassled.  Vitamin just thumps anyo ..read more
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Today Dreich
My Shetland | Everything Shetland
by Frances
1w ago
Yesterday was lovely.  Today was dreich (dreary, bleak). And very windy.  Windy enough to be annoying but not windy enough to be termed an actual gale. After making a sheep in my shed, I stretched my legs and walked over to check on the Ancients (I can see the Shetland ponies from the house). I took an apple to see if they were ok.  I worry hugely about colic in this field. All well there and they were drinking the water I lug over in the Eggbox, which is good. I stood and watched these two cousins “chat”. Aged 30 and 28 years old, Haakon and Iacs have lived together for ov ..read more
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