Anyone else really struggling?

mine isn't too bad but it is bad enough that I'm jealous of everyone that has stables for their horses! mine have a shelter with a concrete base but the water run down towards it so I can't put any bedding in for them! it was fine up until new year but now is getting muddy and still trying to keep the hole in my mares foot clean, which is fun!
 
yes im struggling. horses have stables and field shelters but the ground is so very wet i could cry. didnt want to face them this morning wanted to stay in bed and not go to the yard but had to go in a foul mood and temper, did what was only basically necessary and came home to a cold house . its horrible.
 
dorsetladette said:
She's telling fibs!!!

I have 3 out 24/7 on sandy soil and it's not fine - it's really not fine!!! I've never had a problem with mud, but even my 'it never gets wet' field is struggling. I'm totally done with heaving water through ankle deep slurry type mud. I've not ridden since 1472 and and I think that was the last time I also saw the sun.

We're all in the same boat (pardon the pun). Last night I was trying to work out how to minimise the amount of hay needed between now and when the grass grows back, but I can't even see us being able to close off a field to rest it anytime soon. I think the BHS or similar need to set up a free support line for horse owners in winter.
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I concur. Also on Sandy soil. The grass is being pulled up by the roots as there's nothing holding them anymore, the ground is so soft. I've given up trying to prepare the area around the shelter. Grass mats were put down in summer, but no grass growth meant that they just sank in the Autumn once rain started, but we're not allowed to use hardcore or anything that doesn't rot down.
 
I've just sent the young horse that isn’t mine home as the land is completely saturated and I have moved the other 2 young ones onto the Spring grazing I was aiming to save until March, so that will end up needing repair work, but their winter field was just too muddy. The older 2 are now coming into the hard standing pen during the day and then get an hour on good grass before going out into their winter field which is bare and a bit muddy but not too bad.
I have never known it this bad
 
We’re on sand. Not much in the way of mud but parts of it turn into a lake instead…

10 acres between 8 ponies at the moment, most of whom are under 13hh. I have about two acres of grass left that I am strip grazing into. Feeding haylage alongside that to make it last.
 
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Oh god yes, I’m utterly miserable. Drowning in mud, horses can get out of it as top half of the hill is dry enough but I feel awful for them having to slog through hock deep mud to get in and out the shelters and to the water etc. It also makes life so hard, putting haylage out is like an SAS mission trudging through the mud sucking you down, trying not to fall over etc. I haven’t managed to get their feet trimmed in 9 weeks as it’s just too muddy which I feel awful about. I hate it all. The only thing keeping me going is that we are in February and it HAS to improve at some point…….
 
There’s standing hay at our field which of course yard owner won’t let us use 😆. Fields holding up considering. Only three on seven acres of chalk. Sadly our shire cross mare died and as a result the ground is less churned up. Ponies look a bit fed up!
 

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Yep, I am too.

Some nights once I've finally managed to heave the wheelbarrow through the deep mud to get it where it needs to be, I have to stop myself from just standing there and crying! Trying to get hay from bales of haylage stored outside, wind keeps blowing wet muddy tarp around and not staying back, rain is constantly battering down on you, then carrying said hay in heavy nets either by pushing them in a wheelbarrow through mud soup while trying not to get stuck yourself or falling over or carrying them over your shoulders while penguin walking through the mud to stay upright. Then going back through it all with heavy barrows full of sh!t; all while doing it in the pitch black after a long day at work with just a head torch. Oh and God forbid you stop in that mud for more than 5 seconds as you'll get suctioned to it! My back is killing me, I'm constantly filthy and I just can't be bothered.

My youngster who has the coat of a grizzly bear is also developing dreadlocks made out of mud that just won't brush out, his belly underneath is absolutely disgusting and there's no way you'd be able to put a girth on it while it's like that where it's all dried in! I'm going to have to clip a girth section out at this rate. And there's nothing nicer than brushing dried mud and having it all get blown back in your face at the same time or having a wet muddy rug blow back over your head when putting it back on after changing a liner.

The only good side is that once through the areas of mud, the fields are okay albeit a lot of surface water and a little bit slippery. My two have a shelter each with rubber matting so can at least get out of it but it's safe to say, I'm truly fed up too.
 
dorsetladette said:
She's telling fibs!!!
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I mean, this is mad. Everywhere's different. Mine are out 24/7 and don't have mud (Suffolk, good draining land) and I don't even have the best draining land on the yard.

Previous places (further south) I'd have been up to my knees in mud this year.

There's so much variation between soil types and topography, you just can't generalise.

I hope it gets better for the OP, though. I know how soul destroying endless mud and rain feels.
 
February is awful, it will get better.

My horses had 2 breakfasts this morning then out onto 30 acres which does have some grass with their friends and I'm pretty sure they've stood at the muddy gateway most of the day.

We don't seem to get the extreme weather the rest of you are experiencing but we're on clay and mosslands and those who rent little fields are under water.

We do have to accept this is probably the new normal. Wet land, low grass growth and hay shortages meaning high prices and feeding year round. We need more hard standing on small plots and unfortunately fewer horses if the budget isn't there.

Someone on our lane has just sent all her horses off to grass livery in Wales for the rest of the winter and is making some hard choices about what she'll be able to do next year. It's heart breaking when you've done fine for decades.
 
JFTDWS said:
I mean, this is mad. Everywhere's different. Mine are out 24/7 and don't have mud (Suffolk, good draining land) and I don't even have the best draining land on the yard.

Previous places (further south) I'd have been up to my knees in mud this year.

There's so much variation between soil types and topography, you just can't generalise.

I hope it gets better for the OP, though. I know how soul destroying endless mud and rain feels.
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It was meant tongue in cheek.
 
Mine normally live out and the land is very well draining.
I nearly got flattered tonight when i tried to bring one in before the others.
They have the same rugs on that were more than sufficent when it was -5c with a -10c wind chill, they were happy living out then but today they were cold and damp.
 
Mines usually out 24/7 & chooses to be that way, but this year his paddock is completely saturated with a layer of water in most places.

Despite me opening the gate every morning to give him access, he now only literally ventures out for a change of scenery for an hour or so during the day. The rest of the time he's choosing to stay in with his nets either inside his shelter or on the mud mats outside.
Without those mud mats I'd have lost my sanity this winter, no doubt.

The livery down the road is holding up well but they're in for days and days on end & only out when its dry.
 
I must admit I am feeling a bit down about the mud/mess/water but it is February. I think i always feel a bit like this at this time of year , though I am looking forward to only having 2 ponies by the summer which will feel a lot easier
 
It took me over ten years to find a little place to rent by myself, ponies live out 24/7 but well hay’d, small area of hard standing (well mud control mats) and lots and lots of welly sucking mud!

They have areas to get out of the mud so I’m trying not to worry about it, fields will recover if I remember to chuck some poo and grass seed about 🤞
 
GrassChop said:
Yep, I am too.

Some nights once I've finally managed to heave the wheelbarrow through the deep mud to get it where it needs to be, I have to stop myself from just standing there and crying! Trying to get hay from bales of haylage stored outside, wind keeps blowing wet muddy tarp around and not staying back, rain is constantly battering down on you, then carrying said hay in heavy nets either by pushing them in a wheelbarrow through mud soup while trying not to get stuck yourself or falling over or carrying them over your shoulders while penguin walking through the mud to stay upright. Then going back through it all with heavy barrows full of sh!t; all while doing it in the pitch black after a long day at work with just a head torch. Oh and God forbid you stop in that mud for more than 5 seconds as you'll get suctioned to it! My back is killing me, I'm constantly filthy and I just can't be bothered.
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I could have written this! A perfect summary !
 
A quick mud/wet winter tip for ANY of you who are using wheelbarrows to cart hay across muddy areas.... use a builders sack instead (the big one tonne bags with 4 handles). Put your hay into that and drag the bag across by holding two handles. The bag will ski/slide across the top of the mud very easily as you are pulling (which is slightly lifting its front edge) rather than pushing front edge down as you do with a wheelbarrow.
 
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