Hard ground (dare I say we need rain?)

[spotty_pony]

Ground has gone from boggy and wet to very firm around here in the space of about 2 weeks!

My mare in particular I think is feeling it. how do you know when your horse is feeling the ground?

 

[poiuytrewq]

My field is rock solid. When I call my horses in the morning they may as well trot over on concrete. I cringe If they canter. I NEED rain

 

[spotty_pony]

My field is rock solid. When I call my horses in the morning they may as well trot over on concrete. I cringe If they canter. I NEED rain

I know it’s so annoying! I don’t have an arena so I school in the field but today wheb o hacked out I noticed my mare was a bit reluctant to maintain a rhythm… when I asked for trot she tried to canter and then rush and as she is short striding anyway it was very bumpy, she would then drop behind the leg and not want to go forward and kept changing from one to the other.. very odd, almost as if she couldn’t quite get comfy. She wasn’t lame and has had a saddle change in the past 6 weeks too but there is no sign of any discomfort across her back. The only thing I can think of is that I did a bit much yesterday and she is feeling her feet a bit. I’ll give her a day or two off and see how she is then. It’s so annoying too because we’ve JUST got our canter sorted out and have started pole work. She’s new to me this year so I don’t know if this is usual for her in the summer (she is 15 but very low mileage) but it makes sense as the ground has hardened up.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Yes quite possibly that. I have left a bit of field ungrazed and fertilised it in the hope to get decent thick ground cover to ride on as I have no school either.
I certainly couldn’t canter on mine at all. I couldn’t a few weeks ago either, too soft

 

[spotty_pony]

Yes quite possibly that. I have left a bit of field ungrazed and fertilised it in the hope to get decent thick ground cover to ride on as I have no school either.
I certainly couldn’t canter on mine at all. I couldn’t a few weeks ago either, too soft

There is part of mine that has been rideable nearly all winter as it stays dry in one corner so I’m guessing now it is rock solid in that part. I moved areas I was riding in yesterday and it was a bit better. I’ve been researching and apparently I need to cut out the canter work and can still do polework as long as I trot/canter ‘and pop’ which sounds perfect for what we are doing at the moment. I might have to just incorporate the canter work into the polework for a bit. She is a very keen ride and wanted a good canter yesterday so I think I’ve just overdone it! My other Appy is ultra sensible and wouldn’t canter anyway if it was too hard so I’m not used to having to make the decisions as he tells me what he is and isn’t happy to do! The field has been topped recently and my other two are currently in about 1/3 of it eating an area down so will see how we go - a day of rain would solve it all!

 

[Hormonal Filly]

We did a funride yesterday, and the ground was like concrete! We did a couple of small jumps and called it a day jump wise. Walked a lot of it. You could hear and feel how hard it was. Some people were jumping everything!

Really hope we get some rain soon..

 

[Barton Bounty]

Scotland has no rain for two weeks from now

 

[SadKen]

I’m very worried that the already unusually rich grass is going to flush like crazy with sugar when it does rain.

Very worried.

 

[SEL]

It was only about 2 weeks ago I had to cancel the guy coming out to aerate my fields because there was standing water. Now it's like concrete and earthquake cracks are appearing.

Plus I didn't dig over half the veg plot and now I need to dig concrete

 

[Sossigpoker]

Usually around here we don't see ground like concrete until late June - July so so far this spring has been a very strange one. Only a few weeks ago we were slopping about in mud!

 

[SilverLinings]

I’m very worried that the already unusually rich grass is going to flush like crazy with sugar when it does rain.

Very worried.

I'm another one worrying about the flush when the rain comes; having not stabled for over a year I think I will bring in during the day for the first few days when we get some rain. At least if it is this dry in July/August the grass isn't growing so rapidly.

 

[J&S]

Same here in my part of Devon, we were muddy as we had ever been, then the wind came and dried it up and now the sun has baked it. I don't need much grass for my two but would love a night of rain.

 

[Auslander]

Thankfully, I got my fields harrowed last friday, just in time, as they were turning to concrete before my eyes. I'd love a bit of rain now - the fields look a bit thirsty!

 

[Barton Bounty]

My field is still soft, lots of the other fields hold water so never get that dry, anyway the rain is never far away in scotland

 

[Identityincrisis]

We’ve already had a flush of grass, my horse was out for 2 days and nights and went a little footy so he is back on days only and back to normal. Please, please, please don’t assume it’s the ground causing issues with your horses, it’s a high chance it is the grass and a precursor to laminitis, we’ve already had one go down with it on our yard. Sorry I don’t mean to preach

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Tried harrowing over the weekend to try and break down some of the clay clumps that are out in the field. Hopeless!

Yep we DO need some rain, to soften the darn ground up a bit. It was very wet all through March & most of April, then it suddenly blew this hot wind from the East, and baked all the ridges of mud solid. PITA.

 

[PSD]

I’m another worrying about the rain however much we need it. Luckily we don’t have any forecast for another 2 weeks here, but the ground is solid now. Can’t win!

My farmers just opened another field for ours to graze in, which has a lot of grass but it’s long (better than short and lush) but I’m paranoid about laminitis since losing my mare to it 3 years ago. Seems all kinds of horses are being struck down with it at the moment, it’s worrying. I’d rather have no grass than too much! So I’m switching to overnight turnout for this week until the sheep and other liveries graze it down.

 

[PSD]

We’ve already had a flush of grass, my horse was out for 2 days and nights and went a little footy so he is back on days only and back to normal. Please, please, please don’t assume it’s the ground causing issues with your horses, it’s a high chance it is the grass and a precursor to laminitis, we’ve already had one go down with it on our yard. Sorry I don’t mean to preach

We’ve had 4 since they went on the summer fields 2 weeks ago! Granted they probably shouldn’t have turned out on the summer grazing because they were worryingly overweight

 

[southerncomfort]

Usually around here we don't see ground like concrete until late June - July so so far this spring has been a very strange one. Only a few weeks ago we were slopping about in mud!

Very strange. It was so cold here first thing that my heating clicked on! Yesterday I was out gardening in glorious warm sunshine.

I'm not praying for rain. As the poster above mentioned, the grass is crazy enough without a good drink.

 

[Widgeon]

It was only about 2 weeks ago I had to cancel the guy coming out to aerate my fields because there was standing water. Now it's like concrete and earthquake cracks are appearing.

Plus I didn't dig over half the veg plot and now I need to dig concrete

Same here. Some of our hacking was squelchy boot pulling mud three weeks ago; now it's baked solid tractor ruts and I can barely get electric posts into the ground in the fields. I've just contacted a local gallops because there's nowhere good to canter anymore! However - as @southerncomfort says, the last thing I need is more grass, so I'm selfishly not feeling worried about the dry spell right now.

Sorry about your veg patch though - we're watering every morning at the moment.

 

[scruffyponies]

Mine have tough feet (barefoot) and legs. They happily canter and gallop on tarmac, but they let me know if they're not happy with hard ground, which loses bounce in a way that tarmac doesn't. They have just started preferring to avoid the compacted/short grass areas of our field gallops. For the moment they are fine on the longer grass just to the side.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I plan to go out and do some ragworting later on, I'll probably regret this but can't afford to wait for rain really as there are quite a few shrubs popping up - thankfully no flowers yet.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

It's meant to rain here tomorrow but it probably won't.

 

[Bernster]

Mad how quickly it’s changed. Venhes will be cancelling for too hard ground soo!

 

[Squeak]

It's crazy how quickly this weather has changed. We don't look like we're forecast any rain in the next week or two. It would be so nice to have weather in moderation again instead of one extreme to the other.

Mad how quickly it’s changed. Venhes will be cancelling for too hard ground soo!

Agreed - I'm not entering anything on grass until we have some rain forecast (I know I'm very hypochondriac though) - yet another swing of the weather that eventing could have done without.

 

[spotty_pony]

We’ve already had a flush of grass, my horse was out for 2 days and nights and went a little footy so he is back on days only and back to normal. Please, please, please don’t assume it’s the ground causing issues with your horses, it’s a high chance it is the grass and a precursor to laminitis, we’ve already had one go down with it on our yard. Sorry I don’t mean to preach

I’ll get the farrier to check again when he comes on Friday but no signs of laminitis at the moment. She is on restricted grazing. The field in question is definitely hard as it’s cracking!!

 

[spotty_pony]

I’ve been out checking her feet now just in case there is no heat and I can’t feel any pulses. I’ve given her a day off today, and may give her another tomorrow just so I can see if it is concussive related and she gets better with rest. If not, I’ll get farrier to check Friday and am keeping a close eye on the amount of grass that is coming through in her paddock. If it’s too much, I’ll have to halve it again!

 

[teapot]

Verges going a lovely toasted brown here already...

 

[TheOldTrout]

We had rain overnight, unforeseen by the Met Office. We are on clay soil, so a quagmire for 6 months and hard and cracked for 6 months.

 

[Sandstone1]

Yes, surprisingly we bad a little rain overnight too. Enough to wet the ground but do not think enough to soften ground much. Hope it doesn't make the grass go mad!