On my way to collecting up Haakon, Iacs and Kolka’s empty buckets, I turned around to see this.

I honestly think Pepper wants to be a duck.

You do, Pepper, you know it!

Although Mum-Duck is not Pepper’s greatest fan, she does tolerate her.

These three ducklings love me.

I feel like Agent K when he opens Locker C18 in MIB II.

I am a realist. I think they worship the food probably more than me, though.

But it is nice to be adored, even by three hungry ducklings.

I can sometimes boop their beaks!  They always look a bit surprised.

Meanwhile, in other duck news (which constitutes my social life these days), Penthesilea’s Mum (the one with the green eggs) has taken up with Black Ducky’s son!  The one that lived next door to her.

It’s all a bit Game of Thrones.

And Penthesilea (again more green eggs, now removed and buried where no one will find or roll in them, dear God, please no) has her eye on the other new big boy, though his sisters are not very keen on Penty.  So shades of Jane Austen.

I possibly need to get out more.

We have no internet.

My service provider has reliably informed me that we will possibly have no internet until Wednesday. A fault at the exchange, apparently. Grrr, I said.

So, this will be brief as I am writing the blog piggy-backing off my mobile phone signal, which is sporadic at best or non-existent at worst. I don’t need this. I really don’t.

Meanwhile, back in Slimming World, aka the Minions, while I was pottering about doing chores, I saw Newt by himself standing by the gate looking a bit down.

I gathered up a brush and went to talk to him, only to discover he has been having diarrhoea. Poor wee lad. I cleaned up his tail, washed his tiny bottom and put some nappy-cream. I gave him some pro-biotic paste hoping this would help calm his innards down.

Then it occurred to me that maybe the others might have diarrhoea too, so I checked them all, brushing tails and dishing out probiotic, just in case.

I think it is the 2 hours of grass a day that they are having. The changes are taking a while to settle in their tums.

I will just keep juggling everything and everyone while hoping the internet will return soon.  And Newt seems a bit happier now and he has a darling little froo-froo forelock.

Is it too early for wine?

Well, I have a better idea of what to do now for Fivla.

I found the foldy-up table and carried it to the feed-shed and set up my “work station”.

I am weighing everything.  All Fivla’s dried food for the day minus 1- 1/2 kg allowance as she is on the track at night.  They would probably tell you at Turriefield, where I pack veg on a Thursday afternoon, that I fairly meticulous on the weighing front.

Then I have my buckets.  Lots and lots of lovely buckets.

I made Fivla a wee pen too, which she hates at the moment, so she can eat her first feed of the morning uninterrupted by the circling vultures.  She is fed little and often, to avoid insulin spikes hopefully – five meals a day.

This morning, I let Vitamin join Fivla and they had a bucket each of soaked fibre-beet, which Vitamin adores and therefore Fivla adores too.  Vitamin guzzled it like a hippo coming up for air occasionally.

The Moral Support Crew are around too and whinny for every bucket Fivla gets of her daily allowance.

Then Fivla goes on the track for the night with everyone (though Vitamin is still in the middle bit with all the grass) and she gets her exercise and the non-existent grass is low in sugar levels.  The others move Fivla along all the time while they search for something to eat.  They also have soaked hay which she chews on and spits out.

So that’s the plan. I am learning all the time. A friend, whose horse is in the same situation, has been invaluable, walking the track with me and helping me devise my plan.

I will be honest, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing with Fivla.  There are so many factors to think about:-

Should Fivla be on her own?
Pros: She can eat at night her own food without Shetland vultures stealing.
Cons: She is on her own and can only see the others. She does like mutual grooming very much.  If she is with the others at night, she won’t eat anything, just chewing hay and spitting it out – for 12 hours solid.  She can’t eat the soaked hay and the others will bully her off her soaked hay replacer and ad lib fibre block, all of which they don’t need.

Should Fivla go on the track during the daytime (about 10 hours)?
Pros:  She would be with the others moving around and socialising.  She does not have laminitis (certainly another possible symptom) yet.
Cons:  The Autumn flush has come and any short grass is full of sugar.  I would worry this could trigger laminitis.

Can Fivla manage on four meals of fibre and hay-replacer a day?  I will weigh it (bought scales today) so she will have 1.5% of her bodyweight (1.5% of 228kg = 3.42kg) in dry food divided between four meals in 12 hours.
Pros:  She is eating and I can make it very mushy, so she is also drinking.
Cons:  She just stands in her paddock, waiting for her buckets and eats. No movement, nothing.  I am tied to home totally and have to be there four times a day to give her any food at all.

Things to consider – Fivla’s mental health.  She is very depressed.  She is not really interacting with the others much but will groom them.  She is, however, wuffling (a little neigh under her breath) when she sees her bucket, which is a good sign.

So much to think about. Nothing is written in stone.  I am thinking Fivla is in the paddock for a couple of weeks, or at least until the autumn flush finishes – it is getting colder next week with plenty of rain.  If she can manage doing 12 hours by herself, then she gets an even smaller section and she can have night-time food too.  Or I leave her for the night with the others chewing and spitting out hay wondering if any is going in.

It is good to write this down but I am none the wiser.

My learning curve is now vertical.

Fivla’s blood results are back. They showed insulin dysregulation and I am totally floundering trying to find out what that means and and how to care for her.

First thing, I took Fivla out of her field.  No more grass and there she stayed while I went to work packing vegetables.

The others were surprised but not unhappy to see Fivla.

However, I am worried about Vitamin, who will miss her best friend hugely but this is the best for Fivla.  I may put someone in like Newt in with Vitamin during the night-time so she has a friend, albeit Newt.  Poor, poor Vita-moo.

When I got back from work, I made another decision and took Fivla out of the track, putting her in the “slimming” paddock. Albie offered to keep her company.

I gave them some of the night-time soaked hay and noticed Fivla is quidding (spitting it out after chewing) badly, which is not brilliant.  The equine dentist is due mid-October but I doubt it will make any difference to this.  She is 27 and her teeth are going.

But my plan is for the weight to come off, no laminitis, no colic and for Fivla to be happy in her new environment.  I am searching the internet for a good hay replacer that we can feed four times a day.