Daniel, whose terror of anything feathered and flapping is legendary, has amazed us all by taking up residence with a duck.

At first we thought Mr Mallard was just a coincidence, but his daily appearances in Daniel’s stable now lead us to believe the relationship is much closer.

All Daniel’s regular riders have suffered painful falls when he was startled by something suddenly taking wing under his nose. Jenny was the first casualty when he took fright – and flight – as a duck rose squawking from a reed bed.

But now Mr Mallard has come into Daniel’s life – having been summarily shown the door by his next door neighbour, Mrs Horse.

The black mare values her personal space. Visitors are unwelcome in her carefully arranged kingdom of purple things. Even the sight of Daniel’s head resting on the shared partition to spy on her at tea time – peeping from under his lashes, whiskers twitching – sends her into a rage. By the time she has charged, ears flattened, at the wall the offending vision has vanished.

Mr Mallard doesn’t extend his special relationship with Daniel to people coming into the stable. He became agitated when a rug was shaken out, flapping from his straw bed and hurtling between Daniel’s ears and the door lintel. Daniel was totally unmoved by the low-flying bird and now moves, ears back, to protect his feathered friend.

“Don’t be treadin’ on mi mate,” he warns.

On Sunday, Baby Horse tried on his Christmas present, a quilted numnah with white fur lining. The gift was hung over Daniel’s door for a short time. There is nowhere else to put it after Baby broke off his saddle rack.

Daniel was most intrigued by his brother’s gift, sniffing inquisitively at the soft nylon fur. He turned to the back of his box to nudge at his own saddle, with plain brown numnah. “There’s no nice fluff on my stuff,” he said.

The sodden ground has restricted our riding to the lanes, but we are hoping to go on the Christmas Trail Ride at Craven Country Ride on Sunday.

Work on the Land Rover is progressing. The engine has been removed and we don’t expect to see it before the new year.

We are hoping the Boss might give us a lift on Sunday. He has, after all, been spared from hefting the stubborn and unco-operative Baby into a trailer for several weeks.

If Daniel can “pluck up” the courage to extend the spirit of Christmas to Mr Mallard, maybe the Boss will feel similarly festive towards Baby. So far, we haven’t dared ask!