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Hannah Russell
Features Writer
@hannahrussell26
4:15 PM 9th April 2021
family

Celebrating Little Alf’s Birthday With Hannah Russell

 
Happy April everyone!

This month marks Little Alf’s birthday. On the 1st April he had his 10th Birthday and celebrated in lockdown style. Since we are still in lockdown here in the Yorkshire Dales alongside the rest of the UK he had to have a birthday in lockdown, but I made it extra special for him as always.

As his 10th birthday was coming up, I decided to plan a full day of fun activities. The weather has been a little temperamental over the last few weeks with 19 degrees some days and other days we have had snow so I had to wait on the forecast to see what we would be able to do!

Luckily on the 1st April it was a calm day just pretty crisp and cold. He started his birthday with a full pamper session and groom.

At the moment Little Alf, Pepper and Paddy are all losing their winter coats so he loves being groomed as he is super itchy and since Shetlands have thick woolly coats through the winter months there is a lot of hair to shed. This is not ideal for me as I actually get allergies to horses especially this time of the year! But I braved it and wrapped up while giving him a full groom and his hooves a shine.

After his grooming session he was ready to go out for the day! So I took him for a walk around the village. A lot of the home owners who live in the village love to see Alfie passing by and often wave from the window. He even received a carrot from someone which pleased Alfie.

Midday he opened his birthday presents which consisted of birthday treats and a new feed bowl. He also had some fan mail to open and one of his fans had sent him a packet of polos which he enjoyed!

After his busy morning he went back to the fields to play with the ponies and later that evening had a huge supper with the other ponies.

I can’t believe he is now 10 years old! Little Alf first came to live with me in 2012 when I had just turned 16 years old, and he was only 7months old then! It’s scary how time passes so quickly.

I think he loved all his treats on his birthday…