What to do with the Minions.  Last night, they stayed on the track mostly because they refused to come in so I left them there and then spent the rest of the night worrying that they would probably get laminitis on the few blades of new grass (t’was Monday so they got a small new bit of track).

Anyway, this morning the ponies all came up saying they were hungry and I took this for a good sign that I still had some influence over them.

So what to do?  This afternoon, when they saw me in their wee paddock, they all (and even Waffle) came in to see if I was putting out some chocolate cake for them.  There is very little on the track – it is mostly moss.

And it was too late for them, as I shut the gate, and gave them last night’s leftover and untouched soaked hay.  It’s need to be eaten.  I hate waste.

Realistically, I need to decide what to do – do they all stay on the track 24/7 and hope for the best while cutting down the soaked hay in nets to possibly nothing and only having their 50g sugar beet + balancer ration.  This is what we did last summer and it did work and they did lose weight.

Pros – they are out exercising eating barely nothing.
OH stops mucking out every morning.
I can go south for a weekend to see daughters.

Cons – they could potentially break out in the night into lush grass despite prison-like fencing.
I get to muck out (poo-pick the track) for everyone 24/7 and that is a lot.

Or Tiddles and a fat friend comes in over night (4pm – 8am) and eat soaked hay.

Pros:  Tiddles and fat friend would not get a full 24/7 sugar blast.
Cons:  They would hate it and possibly me.
Going south would be difficult.

So, answers on a postcard, please as they say on the telly.  I am edging towards grabbing Tiddles and a Fat Friend for the night so they can’t overeat the absolute nothingness on the track.