The latest thing the Shetland ponies do is to stand as far away as possible, far, far away in the distance and just look at me while I shout until I am a little hoarse (see what I did there, geddit?) for them to all come up for their breakfast.

And they do nothing.  Just stand there.

Eventually one of them gets the message that they should come up for their food.  Once one starts, they all start moving.

I find this very frustrating.  The ponies always used to be standing by their buckets pointing to their watches at breakfast time.

I think the problem is the mud.  A few days of rain and the whole track has disintegrated into a muddy mess, just about everywhere.  I do feel for them, especially Newt, as he is so small and getting through it is becoming a problem.

Here is another muddy bit which I can see they all hate.

Eventually they all arrive.

I spent the morning in the rain trying to make more lay-bys around the muddy bits, which hopefully the ponies will appreciate but I know it won’t take long before that turns into more mud.  This track is not going to hold up in winter.  So much for my plan.   Floss is home on Thursday for a week so I think between us, we will put the ponies on the far hill for a month, or until the really bad weather starts.  I am hoping the Autumn Flush is finally over and they won’t get laminitis.  It will also give the track a much needed rest too.  What to do? Pros and cons with every plan.