My Little Pony

That's it folks, I've found my calling in life!  This little girl is already a huge 'My Little Pony' fan. Well who wouldn't be?!

I am officially this little HF's very own My Little Pony.  We had a little chat, well erm a snuffle really but don't tell ;-) and I offered my handsome services as her forever pony and I was accepted.

The acceptance sounded a bit like raspberry, coo, coo, gurgle but I got the meaning!

And what better way to celebrate? A munch on some haylage just for me and a little riding practice for the HF, she is rather a natural.  

I'm a little worried as she already looks the perfect size on me, think we need to have words with FH about feeding her so much hay as I don't want her to grow too quickly…...

…. because we all know what will happen then…..

This Dragon has designs on My Little Foal…. she's gonna have a long wait….. this one's mine for the moment :-)

Back soon friends, snuffles and mini pony ear waves! 

Three Muleteers and a Baby

Wow, it's been a while since we've posted, we have missed all of our blog friends and have missed commenting on your many blogs.  We have managed to follow them a little though, often at 4am with no ability to comment but we have been enjoying your posts nonetheless.

I've stolen the Muleteers blog just for a little while to update you all, don't worry their new year's resolution is to get back to chatting to you all!

Needless to say it was a very busy 2014 with the addition of our newest Muleteer member in May, hard to believe she is now 8 months old - yikes!  I was chatting with the minis this morning about life in general and remember wondering how on earth we would manage with all of our furry gang and a new baby and 'life' as well…..

Well we're relieved / delighted / pleased / exhausted to report that it can be done! All of our furry clan are doing fantastically and their new little sister loves them more than we could ever have imagined.  They have all enhanced each others' lives as we hoped they would.  It has been very hard though….. there have been nights where we haven't slept much when the last thing we wanted to do was muck out beds, fill hay nets or walk the dogs but these things gotta be done. And done they have been, MH has become PA to The Muleteers most of the time and is exceptional at housekeeping duties, grooming and scratches with assistance for the rest from me and HF when the weather allowed. Thanks MH you're a star :-)

We have strapped HF in to her baby carrier and walked the canine comedians daily who have been exemplary and taught HF the beauty of nature (and the delights of chasing shadows!).  Murph grows a little greyer each week as he realises his puppy raising duties have taken on a whole new level of complicated, he solemnly allows himself to be pulled and teethed on and just wags a lot.  Milo is HF's partner in crime, he can make her smile just by walking in the room and dutifully assists with clean up duty now that she is loving (read throwing, smearing, tearing, mushing, dribbling) real food…. obviously no faces are washed in this 'clean up' ;-)

Dragon has been ridden lots by Smiley Human and me when I can manage it, she has turned in to a wonderful riding mule enjoying cantering on the moor and pottering around the lanes. She is also a delight for HF who squeals at her, we can already 'hear' her saying "when can I ride Dragon?" Dragon just peers at her benevolently with a maternal look in her eye.

The Mini is still the apple of his Mummy's eye (sssh don't tell anyone, there's room in my heart for all of them ;-) and is HF's fluffy favourite.  Somehow The Mini has claimed HF for his own and when she appears he is quick to make sure the others don't get a look in….. although petrified of most adults and only willing to let them have a cursory touch he is quite happy to be climbed on and pulled at by HF who is particularly fond of his ears, who wouldn't be!

Roller is the ‘My Little Pony’ that every little girl would love to play with, he has been officially ‘backed’… with Roller this involves having HF placed on his back while he turns his nose to check she’s on board and then some standing very still and then a little s-l-o-w walking and some more standing – perfect! Roller’s fluff is also delicious to sink little hands in to and boy does he smell like heaven J

And of course our trusty huntress Diesel is busy terrorising the local mouse population and when not doing that is snuggled up tightly with her mini pals hiding from the winter weather. She tends to give HF a wide berth at the moment, happy to watch from afar (sensible you may say).

Oh and the humans? Well HF is just the best little person we could have hoped for! She was rather poorly early on but is now much better and is just the happiest little baby.  Full of squeals, coos and raspberries, her favourite things in the world are her furry brothers and sisters, music and food…. takes after her parents there. And then there's me and MH…. I think it's fair to say we are greyer, more tired, slightly dishevelled and occasionally incoherent but we are definitely happier than ever with our expanded Muleteer gang, they all make us very proud and happy!

Here's hoping for a healthy, happy, fulfilled 2015 for everyone reading and we look forward to catching up with you all again soon!

Teaching Her All We Know...

The perfect way to spend a day...

Phew it's been a bit busy!

We've been busily teaching HF all we know about life here at Muleteer HQ.  HF is just the most brilliant pupil (we think she might be a secret mule, her ears are in disguise), she is learning quickly and we enjoy our daily lessons with her, we chat while FH does the clean up duty.

So we've been teaching HF about the essentials in life...



Eating

Oh yes this is the important one HF.  Food is to be enjoyed in abundance.  As we understand HF is neighbraying for more food on a regular basis and can't get enough, well she is a growing girl isn't she?  Hopefully not growing too much though as we want her to stay small enough to ride us minis for a while yet!

Sleeping

HF has adopted Roller's art of sleeping and is very good at this skill.  She sleeps and sleeps and sleeps some more, she's not fussy where she sleeps either, although limpet attached to a human seems to be a favourite, I wonder what the humans would think to having a limpet mini mule asleep on their chests??

Windy Pops!

Oops, this is something that The Mini has been discussing with HF, he is the King of windy pops and appears to have explained the skill well to HF.  People stand back in amazement at the decibels of disgrace issued by the cute little HF.... she's mini mule trained you know ;-)

Pooping

Hmmm ok in a similar vain we've taught HF about the joys of liberally spreading poop everywhere.... Dragon has been trying to teach HF about being tidy, nah, us minis have persuaded her that liberal quantities and spreading are best!

Looking Cute

Oh yeah we muleteers have this one off perfectly and it seems our foal has mastered the art too, wait a go baby, this ensures excellent service from the big humans :-)

How could the humans resist us cuties?!

Work…

Well Dragon has been trying to extol the benefits of work to HF but it would seem that HF is not keen on doing 'mule work' and has decided that she will be the one hitching rides on the big humans for the moment…. we like the look of that carrier thing, do they make a mini mule sized one?  What do you mean I'm too heavy?!  The good thing is that FH can tend to our needs (hehe muck out) whilst carrying HF, teaching them young is good and ermmm well it's good exercise for FH!

Diesel has been trying her own version of the cling-on.... no one told her that clinging to FH's foot is not quite the same thing?!

And Finally…..

We Muleteers see our duty in life is to make people happy!  It would seem that HF has also adopted a similar motto, she is such a good HF we almost forget she is a human…. maybe it's because we taught her all we know? Yep we're taking full credit!

We can hear the summoning neighbray of HF, it is suspiciously like lunchtime... actually every hour is lunchtime in HF's world (girl off to our own heart!) so we better go tend to her.  FH! Come quick!

Sunny Happy Baby

Spring has definitely arrived at Muleteer HQ… it has taken the form of a certain little lady Human Foal.    This Sunny Happy Baby has brought the most delightful of weather to us all, we think we'll keep her ;-)

HF has been busy checking out her kingdom, we're pleased to see that she has ensured plenty of blossom on the apple tree so that us Muleteers will have a plentiful bounty of snacks in the Autumn….

She has brought Dragon blue skies for sunbathing in and showing off those mulificent ears against!  Dragon is VERY happy with her new charge and is insisting on greeting HF with happy mule chuckles whenever she appears… Dragon it may be a while until she's up to riding you!

And of course not to be left out the canine furries are enjoying their new charge too and guarding her well….. hmmm Milo is the guardian of the hand lick and nappy snuffle (ick!) 

Murph is wondering what next?!  He has just finished bringing up the puppy to some form of adulthood (yeah right….) and now his has a new charge to pull on his ears and guard, no one is getting past this saggy Cloth Dog.  Oh well the life of a labrador is hard but he has broad shoulders and life is good :-)

Our humans would like us to thank you all for your lovely comments and wishes, they are very happy to share their new addition with you all, sorry for not replying to everyone individually - normal service will resume in a little while!  In the meantime sending you all a wish for a slice of our happiness, we're off to sing some nursery rhymes..... we're pretty good at Old MacDonald's Farm in this house!

And as for Human Foal?  Well it's all a little tiring so she's off for a nap.....

Sweet Dreams xxxx

Human Foal Has Arrived!

My Little Human has arrived!

Finally!  Our Human Foal has arrived and it's fallen to me The Mini to introduce her :-)

Can you believe who came to visit me this morning?! It was My Little Human!

Human Foal decided to grace us with her presence on Saturday 10th May at 2.03am (hmmm early riser are we?) at a decent mini mule sized 7lb 15oz.

We have decided to name her Lara Imogen Patience, of course us Muleteers had first approval of names and have been sounding board extraordinaire over the last few months of choosing.... we particularly like Patience as it's what us long ears are good at teaching you humans ;-)

FH, MH and our new playmate are all doing fabulously and all is well.  Our little Human Foal came out to see us earlier, and here are some pics (sorry there are rather a lot but what better excuse?!)

Who is this?! 

We knew she'd arrived!

First approval belongs to The Mini!

Dragon approves HF's ears... although there may be an extra set?!

Diesel checks out HF with The Mini keeping a close watch

The Mini stakes his claim

The Mini has something to say to 'My Little Human'...

"I.....

......LOVE......

.......YOU!

 Would you like a ride?!

OK, maybe a little too soon but a quick lie across my back with FH is good enough for now!

Her ears are a little on the small side but heyho ears aside we love her still and Roller is pleased that he isn't the only one with weeny ears ;-)

Roller in his inimitable fashion stayed focussed on.... eating and promises to appear for foal snuffles later, secretly I think he is devolving HF duty to me - yippee! I, The Mini do hereby stake my claim to this Human Foal and promise to teach her all I know.... especially mischief!

Spot the baby?!

MH also made sure that he and My Human Foal inspected some of her future duties like filling haynets, inspecting the hedgerow for yummy cow parsley and stomping in mud.  Well done MH, always good to start them young...

Haynet duty.... 

Get used to mud HF, there's plenty here in your new kingdom 

Just behind you is the Cow Parsley little one, yummy to eat :-)

So dearest little Lara we can't wait to play with you, snuffle you, get you muddy, carry you, teach you the best muleteer fun tricks in the world and be your bestest friends.

Love Always,
Your Muleteer Brothers and Sisters xxx x xx

We're Having A Foal!!

Finally the secret is out!  Guess what everyone?  We're having a foal!  Well to be precise FH is growing us our very own human foal, our very own partner in crime, our very own mini mule rider!

FH told me to stop being rude and telling everyone she'd eaten too many chocolates at Christmas ;-) Hehehe I've known for quite a long time!  I've been checking out my future mini mule rider for quite some time and making sure it recognises my dulcet tones..... I have to say I'm hoping that it comes out with proper sized ears and mini mule sized hooves, FH is hopeful too?

It's never too early for me to try and bond with Human Foal (I shall call it HF for short).... I wonder if it will be of the filly or colt variety?  And will it love me?  Of course it will, FH says it won't be able to help it :-)  Just to make sure I have been giving it kisses and snuffles....

The only problem is that some people keep trying to edge in on my territory.... first there's the pesky cat! She thinks it's her foal!

She seems to think the bump is quite a good cuddle shelf and something to play kitty cat games with!

And then as for Roller well he's trying to get in on the act too!  Something about him being the first mount for the Human Foal, well maybe I'll let him train it first and then it'll be ready for some mini mule moves extraordinaire!

FH says we have to share the new HF with the others but we know that secretly this foal is just for us minis, finally a human that will be smaller than us!  We promise to look after it and play nicely and teach it everything we know!  It's due to arrive in early May, great time of year for a ride..... what do you mean it'll be a while til it's ready FH??? We'll be careful, honest!

We're off to tidy up the stable nursery and look at babygros with ponies on..... best make sure they're brown.... the mud doesn't show that way ;-)