Sunday 16th March - All 12 seen

The ponies were grazing on gorse from the bushes along the sides of the main path, just up from the entrance by the car park, at 16:05 this afternoon. Davinia was the first to notice me and trotted down the path, greeting me with soft nickers and gentle nuzzles before enjoying a long neck scratch. The other ponies were just as friendly, all coming over to say hello and relishing plenty of strokes and rubs. They were happy, relaxed, and looking well.

After our greetings, most of the ponies returned to grazing, with a few briefly wandering north to munch on heather in the pasture. Others chose to rest at the side of the path, happily receiving back and neck rubs. The dark bay pony’s left ear tip looked about the same as yesterday, though the swelling had gone down slightly. She was otherwise fine, and it didn’t appear to be causing her any discomfort.

At 17:10, the yearlings were gathered for a drink near ///skim.brings.risky, west of the tall grass bank by the ammo compound. Yearling 276 was his usual super-friendly self, eagerly coming over to greet me and enjoying plenty of head, neck, and back rubs. After a while, the other three crossed the path to graze on the heather to the northwest, with yearling 276 soon joining them. They all took occasional breaks from eating to come over for strokes and rubs. All four looked content and in good health.

By 17:35, the ponies had followed the path further northwest and were grazing among the gorse bushes near ///letters.brew.hawks. I spent some quiet time with each of them before saying my goodbyes about thirty minutes later.

The cows and the ponies were all good today.