Friday 27th December - All 12 seen

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. 🎅🌲🎁

Three very friendly ponies were resting to the southwest of the ammo compound at 10:20 this morning. They all approached to greet me and enjoyed plenty of strokes and rubs. While giving one of the ponies a long neck rub, I noticed the other two wandering off to the southwest. Once we finished, we followed in their direction and found the remaining five ponies grazing near ///bitter.icon.ranges. These ponies were equally friendly, coming over one by one to say hello and enjoy neck and back rubs.

The ponies alternated between grazing and returning for more strokes and rubs. They were all very affectionate, offering head rubs and nuzzles. The darker pony seemed to prefer some alone time and wandered into the bushes to nibble on gorse. Later, she was happy for me to approach and spend some time with her, but whenever another pony joined us, she pinned her ears back, prompting the newcomer to quickly leave. All the ponies were happy, relaxed, and in excellent condition. I said my goodbyes to the group at noon.

The yearlings had been busy munching on gorse deep in the bushes since my arrival. However, by 12:15, they had nearly reached the path near ///beaks.compacts.curly. Yearling 282 emerged onto the path and stood beside me, curiously sniffing my hands. The other three continued grazing in the bushes on either side of the path but came over to say hello and be checked. Despite being damp, the boys were happy, relaxed, and looking well.

The cows and the ponies were good today.