How trashed are your fields?

kerrieberry2

kerrieberry2

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I spent a good 10 mins yesterday fighting with the gate way of mud to get my wheel barrow out! my wellies were getting stuck like they were in sinking mud, I pulled the bendy bit in the back of my elbow, almost fell face first in to muck and mud countless times! Just makes me want to cry!
 
I need to muck out the field shelter as they are spending a lot of time in there and I can't get wheel barrow near it :-( currently using a
Large bucket .....keeps me warm and uses up more calories is the only positive...more choc yum ...:-)
 
The start of our field is hardcore but covered in a few inches of mud so its fine to get in and out of, the next 20' are super muddy but the back of the field is quite good still - horses have the option of going into the forest or the field so they tend to go out via the forest and head up to the back of the field for eating then come back through the forest to come in - clever ponies :D
 
Pretty sad! Some mud as using my driest field but it's all so wet that afield that normally copes for the whole winter is looking as sad as it does at end of feb.
 
Most of the fields on my yard are very very wet indeed, rivers trying to run through them! Some people's fields are totally trashed, Nell's paddock had plenty of decent areas but also has some very wet and trashed bits, wish this blasted rain was not quite so bad.
I have been bringing Nell in the last 4/5days(usually she lives out 24/7), really just to get her used to it as she can be very nervous in the stable but actually it does give the field a rest too
 
Mine are awful, my fields were pretty good til I took on a h/w cob who fence walked!! He's trashed my fields now, each fence line now has a 'ploughed' track that runs the length if each fence and about 3 ft wide!! The ploughed track must be 8 inches deep of mud before solid ground!!

He's now gone , leaving me with my sec a who you wouldn't even know is in the field.

Will such heavily churned fields return to normal in spring or will I have to 'do' something to it??
 
The two smaller ones about 3 and 2 acres are fairly trashed, top one especially but the horses only go in those for a few hours and not every day. Field mines in is 15acres and although resembles a small lake at the bottom and very muddy at gate/fence line the rest is OK just the odd boggy patch. 4 still out 24/7 in it and plenty to eat none have dropped weight.
 
my field is only really bad at the gate way, about 20 foots worth i reckon! the rest of the field just squelches as you walk on it! my friends mare is in the otherside of the field and were she's been alone, shes totally churned the whole thing from running up and down! and had a tiny grassy area left but she chooses to stand in the knee deep mud!

i have today moved my 2 up to the other winter field, which does have a shelter but my friend is still to fence a bit off for her mare so we can rest the other field! with have 2 big and 2 small and currently 3 of them are trashed!

Im just hoping that they will recover for the summer as I wont have any grass! my friends are leaving the yard, so its no bother to them but its really worrying me! I honestly cant see how it will recover! esp if we keep getting rain like we did the first half of the year!

I just feel so bad for the horses! but at least they have a shelter now!
 
I am glad of this post as I feel really guilty about my fields at the moment and am worried about what my liveries think as the mud is knee deep in the gate ways. However, once through the gates the fields are squelchy but there is plenty to eat. If I put hay out its ignored. I am still poo picking daily for them.
 
We are on a steep hill and the gates of most are hard standing (scalpings) but it is getting more than ridiculous.

I have just returned from a couple of days break on the IOW and took the dogs for a walk on top of the downs. I grew up on these hills which are mostly flint yet there is mud where the cattle have been walking and, I swear that walking on flint tracks my feet were cushioned as the ground is so soft.
 
glad I'm not the only one then! I feel less quilty to the horses now! I do drive around here and people have next to no mud! but they do bring horses in, so I guess I don't have much of a chance as ours are out 24/7! where my friend is moving too she said they live out and they don't have any mud yet, so I'm really jealous, haha!

I've defo never had mud like I do now!
 
I had saved some fresh grass for christmas but as it seems to have rained almost constantly the last few days I have had to bring them in an yard them.This morning I had a small stream running through the field via the gateway which is just sloppy mud the consistancy of a thick milk shake.
 
Mine are completely under water, have been for about 10 days, my boy hasn't been out since that cold snap, not holding much hope for it getting better either, more rain forecast for the weekend :(
 
The yard I'm on has 12 geldings in one winter field (not vast) and the soil is clay...you can imagine. Utterly trashed, more or less impossible to walk up the first bit of it as mud is so thick - vaguely better but awash on the flat bit beyond that. Mine's had 30 mins out in 4 days and no let up with the rain forecast either.
 
kerrieberry2 said:
I spent a good 10 mins yesterday fighting with the gate way of mud to get my wheel barrow out! my wellies were getting stuck like they were in sinking mud, I pulled the bendy bit in the back of my elbow, almost fell face first in to muck and mud countless times! Just makes me want to cry!
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i hear you ^^ I fell over , splat, backwards doing the same a few days ago and couldnt even bend my knees as i did so, so went flat on my back - even my head was in the mud!
 
Mine is trashed at the gateway and up one side, where Sailor goes to play with his neighbours over the fence! he still has a fair bit of grazing left and in a decent enough size field on his own :)

I'm waiting to see how it pans out!
 
NeverSeenSanta said:
i hear you ^^ I fell over , splat, backwards doing the same a few days ago and couldnt even bend my knees as i did so, so went flat on my back - even my head was in the mud!
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I shouldn't laugh, haha! as karma might come around a bite me on the bum but this did make me chuckle! rather fall backwards rather than forwards haha, each time i was going head first towards the barrow of met muck! must have good balance to have stayed up so far!
 
Mine are wet but not a quagmire yet. Outside the feed room door however its all chrned up - to the point where a bargy shetland left my wellies sucked firmly in place whilst I was tipped over backward and had to take half my clothes off before I could get back in the car :(
 
My yard is on sandy soil so things aren't too bad. Even so, because of the amount of rain we've had, even our fields are squelchy. Only mud is at the gateway - certainly not deep though :)
 
My lovely YO has given me the use of a 14 acre field this winter. My two are out with two others and although the gateway and first part of field are muddy the rest of it is holding up ok. No worries about wheelbarrows as we don't have to poo pick and don't have to worry about it getting trashed as its being ploughed up in spring! It means that my boys have been able to stay out most of the time and I'm able to save my paddocks for spring.
 
Ours are horrific by the gates, I got stuck in there this morning going up to check the ponies...both feet, stuck there wobbling and trying to escape!

The middle of the fields are mostly ok but we do have a new pond in one of them......
 
Never seen mine so bad,in 26 years of owning them. The winter grazing has been so water logged that I have had to use the summer grazing.
Hopefully,it will dry out,and much harrowing and rolling will redeem it to some semblance of normality,sooner rather than later.
What does concern me,however,is how badly the fields are poached,and how dangerous it will be,if this crazy wet weather suddenly freezes over. Horses won't be able to get out for fear of them breaking legs.
 
Spottyappy said:
Never seen mine so bad,in 26 years of owning them. The winter grazing has been so water logged that I have had to use the summer grazing.
Hopefully,it will dry out,and much harrowing and rolling will redeem it to some semblance of normality,sooner rather than later.
What does concern me,however,is how badly the fields are poached,and how dangerous it will be,if this crazy wet weather suddenly freezes over. Horses won't be able to get out for fear of them breaking legs.
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^^^^^ This. We are on clay and the first part is totally trashed, the far bit not so bad as they never go that far. Turnout is restricted to a couple of hours and for only 3 of mine. The other 2 are real numpties so they get turned out in the school to save injuries. They are kept at home. As above I am dreading it freezing as it is so poached !
 
This is the worst I have ever seen - not so much mud-wise as we have hard standing at the gates and a hard track running through the field which they are happy to use for moving from one end to the other. But despite it being 25 acres of semi-fell, with all kinds of hillocks, most of the field is just bog. Because it's so big there's plenty to eat but there are pools in places I never thought would hold water.

I just wonder what next year holds - we've had at least a year of ridiculous rainfall, if we don't have a dry spring and summer then who knows what the land will be like?
 
My fields make me want to cry - I have never seen them looking so wet and am very concerned about recovering them, especially as we still have a few mnths to go until we see any decent weather.

I have owned horses for over 30 yrs, but this last years weather has made me question whether horse ownership is really worth it.....
 
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