Anyone else really struggling?

I’m really struggling with one of my oldies this week. He persists on lying down in the muddiest part of the field each morning .

He has dry areas under the trees but no never lies there . Each morning he is down and he can get up on the second attempt . He does make a meal out of just rolling around like a whale when he sees me .

He is absolutely sodden in mud and having to change rugs each day . I’m so fed up now of the weather 😢
 
Its not just the feet. Some of my tack is looking worse for wear after being soaked on every ride. Trying to get it dry in an unheated tack room to condition before the next soaking :(
 
I’ve just been out for a 3 hour hack and whilst it was much needed for mental health reasons, it’s just such a trial to get the horses in, take their 50 stone sodden rugs off, hose legs, groom (only where tack touches) wrestle wet hoofs into hoof boots, then grapple with straps in gloves, tack up, then cover everyone on Hi vis and waterproofs and finally get on. Then today I had to jump off at one point to get seasoned endurance pony past a quad (unbelievable) but then couldnt jump back on his diminutive 14.1 as I normally do from the ground as I was so layered up in waterproofs that I was sweating!
 
Gah, so wet!!

Our water levels now are higher than they've been since I've been here (5 years).
Eternally appreciative of our Jelka mats which mean I don't feel SO bad about the boys being out.
They are very happy and positively bristling to get out after being in the stables for 4 hours each morning.

But I am fed up of endless slogging around in the wet with wet rugs, wet horses, wet coats, wet dogs, muddy floors.

On the positive, another 6 weeks and it'll feel different.
My summer fields are looking great and I have added 2 things to my 'To Do' list, to make next year easier.
More guttering on the field shelter and I am going to dig a big trench the other side of the hedge to the loafing area and fill it with clean stone as a soak away, to stop so much water heading down to the winter field.
 
southerncomfort said:
If it helps, my trimmer says she hasn't seen any feet that have been particularly affected by the wet, muddy conditions so far, other than the odd bit of mild thrush.
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with many horses and over many years I haven't had any barefeet affected by wet muddy conditions and we are in an area of high rainfall. Also never had any abscesses from either the wet or the change from wet to dry. I have some feet that live out all the time, come into a shelter matted for a wad of hay and then they wander off again. Those feet get picked out when I trim them which is around every 6 weeks in winter. For the rest of the time they are simply packed with mud and work perfectly well on both stone track and soaking wet field. They are not ridden.

if wet/dry cycles is supposed to bring on abscesses then half the semi ferals on the moorland around us would be on 3 legs but they are not. They live on wet, soaked and often boggy moorland in winter and then in summer they have the same dry, baked ground as everyone else has. Now after all this rain they trot very soundly down the roads in front of the car as we drive them along.
 
I always try to not stress about the things I cant change, and I certainly cant change the weather. I know its disgusting, but every day survived is a day closer to Spring, so I do my best to not think about it, I listen to the radio/podcasts/music and just get on with things.

My horses are at home, so I look after them every day, no days off, we are on clay and is foul, but I do what has to be done, dont think about and my horses are happy. Personally I find the more I focus on the weather the worse I feel, because I cant do anything about it, so I accept it and I'm much happier.
 
Even I'm fed up with it and I was away somewhere warm for most of January!

I'm lucky to have all weather turnout, but some of that is looking decidedly soggy. Not deep though, and that is a blessing.

Still loving the indoor/outdoor living that the back door to the stables gives, with a rubber matted patio, 3 X the size of the stable outside. It does mean that they are constantly traipsing in and out though, so the bedding is getting wetter than it would if they were locked out then locked in.

I've found a couple of new riders for Rigs so he is joining H on his hacks. They have been going well, except the back track is now flooded. Both horses are accustomed to going through the flooded area but, when we went today, it was flooded to a depth of 1m!!! BF, on little Rigs, refused to go in as he reckoned the water would be over Rigs' tummy and about up to his knees LOL.

I have a non horsie friend visiting at 10am tomorrow and, currently, I have horse rugs and horse jackets, hats and hoof boots, dog jackets and stable boots, gloves and hats and scarves, all over the radiators, chairs, doors, bannisters...

I'll have my work cut out to de-animal the place tomorrow morning!!!!
 
daffy44 said:
I always try to not stress about the things I cant change, and I certainly cant change the weather. I know its disgusting, but every day survived is a day closer to Spring, so I do my best to not think about it, I listen to the radio/podcasts/music and just get on with things.

My horses are at home, so I look after them every day, no days off, we are on clay and is foul, but I do what has to be done, dont think about and my horses are happy. Personally I find the more I focus on the weather the worse I feel, because I cant do anything about it, so I accept it and I'm much happier.
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That is a good reminder!!
 
AWinter said:
I suppose I'm just looking for support/solidarity that other people are at the end of their tether with this wet winter?

Not helped by the fact we lost our dream yard we were renting last summer and have had to move to very small acreage in a place that my horses find quite unsettling. I have now been looking for 8 months and come up with absolutely nothing, its hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.

It is so wet and our acreage is so small that my horses have been living 22hrs a day on our 10 x 15m hardstanding, with turnout onto the grazing twice a day. Even with this restriction it is so waterlogged the field is a boggy mess. Even the parts where the horses haven't been on yet are soggy, it just takes one trot/canter and there are huge divots in it. The forecast looks like rain for the forseeable future.

I just feel so trapped and guilty that my horses have gone from their dream life to....this. And no matter how hard I try I cannot find anywhere else to go that would be better. Renting land in this area is seemingly impossible and I don't know what to do. On top of that everyone else seems to plenty of land that just isn't that muddy.

Please tell me some of you are also struggling?
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I have 3 horses on just over 4 acres. I manage my land as best I can. One summer paddock approximately 2 acres & 2 others of just over an acre each. One of these, on a slope, is my winter “trash” paddock. It’s so wet & the big wide gateway is muddy even though I had it dug out, drained & stone put down some years ago. My summer field has recently been muck spread & the other paddock is low lying & the wettest. It’s so depressing. My horses go out every day but this year they’re asking to come back in after a few hours.
 
Exasperated said:
No vet or farrier recommends hooves and legs permanently in the wet, especially not soggy mud.
Under cover and into deep, dry bedding for at least a few hours in 24, nappies on their feet if needs be.
Some years back, a local family laid several bales of straw in their carport, and tied the pony up there all afternoon, daughter rode straight after school (it was prone to abscess, vet thoroughly endorsed the plan, and seemed to work).
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Mine come in at night on to dry bedding, and have hard standing in the field for hay, but they prefer the random blades of grass growing in the swamp. Fields for 10 miles radius are all the same.

I work full time, I'm only there in the dark Monday - Friday and we don't have a school so i cant keep them in and work them until the clocks change. (Except at weekends)

This winter is far tougher than 2022 for me!
 
Crackerz said:
This winter is far tougher than 2022 for me!
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I agree!

Mine are out 24/7 with a big shelter filled with straw bedding. The straw is disgusting round the door ways and part way back (cleared and topped up at the weekends), but their legs and feet are (reasonably) clean and dry most of the time. My fields are probably the driest locally as we're on sand and a bit higher than the neighbours, but the relentless rain isn't giving the (usually well draining) ground a chance to drain.

I only see mine in the dark in the week this time of year too as I have to work full time to pay for the little darlings. It's trying to say the least.

Spring is officially 20th March - 38 days away!!! not that I'm counting.
 
I'm seriously considering putting some straw in the shelter and letting them stay out. Physically, I'm done :( . I've had sleepless nights due to sciatica for a month now and it feels like I'm not giving myself rest to get better. I don't think I've ever felt that I didn't want to go to the yard before, but this winter has sucked all all the enjoyment out of it for me. If it just wouldn't rain for a couple of days I'm sure my mood would improve.
 
meleeka said:
I'm seriously considering putting some straw in the shelter and letting them stay out. Physically, I'm done :( . I've had sleepless nights due to sciatica for a month now and it feels like I'm not giving myself rest to get better. I don't think I've ever felt that I didn't want to go to the yard before, but this winter has sucked all all the enjoyment out of it for me. If it just wouldn't rain for a couple of days I'm sure my mood would improve.
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Do it! We all need to be kind to ourselves sometimes. It does make a bigger job at the weekend but it's less regular lifting than daily mucking out.
 
meleeka said:
I'm seriously considering putting some straw in the shelter and letting them stay out. Physically, I'm done :( . I've had sleepless nights due to sciatica for a month now and it feels like I'm not giving myself rest to get better. I don't think I've ever felt that I didn't want to go to the yard before, but this winter has sucked all all the enjoyment out of it for me. If it just wouldn't rain for a couple of days I'm sure my mood would improve.
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I think there's a lot to be said for just 'surviving' at times like this. I have got to the point with my 2 retired ones living out where they are fed, checked over, I put hay out and check waters. But then I have to just walk away and remind myself I'm doing what I can to provide for them and it is what it is right now. There are lots of things I 'could' be doing, but honestly I am exhausted just by the daily grind of what 'needs' doing.
 
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