is anyone else really struggling this year?

[RubysGold]

I am SO fed up :/
Horses have been stood in for 2 weeks and I'm tired constantly, it's so much more work having them in

I also work outdoors and I'm always cold, fed up of being cold

I need to work on fitness for camp, I have till June to get him fit, and I'm lacking motivation, I don't want to ride, and I'm fed up of being on my own.

I don't think I've ever felt as bad as this in previous winters

 

[Twinkley Lights]

I feel your pain last weekend was so hard won , snow , no water , carting huge bales out to field and water from the house ... nightmare

 

[Dizzleton]

I know exactly what you mean - this winter seems to be dragging on forever. We should at least have a little warmth and sunshine by now; but instead we get hurricane force winds and snow! But fingers X'd it'll be over soon!

Keep your chin up that summer is only round the corner!

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

I won't let mine stand in. Thing is ground is not going to get ruined anymore. Plus mine would kill themselves, but yes, I'm struggling big time. I can't seem to get warm and everything is a struggle. Walking out 30 pounds of hay to the high part of the field is a slog. At least I keep the water trug close to the barn so cleaning that is not too taxing. Plus the money, all still living in at night, it's all too much.

Terri

 

[RubysGold]

I don't have a choice about them being in, unless I win the lottery :/
Glad I'm not alone. I so need some better weather

 

[Goldenstar]

I am beside myself I have never been so sick I can't be bothered to ride I have to force myself, the bills for forage are awful and bedding they stay in the field an hour and a half and then mill about trying to get back in getting cross with each other so Ihave to have them brought the girls who work for me are sick too.
It's freezing the house is freezing the car is freezing at least that's how it seems ,everyone is coming here for Easter and expecting me to give the a great fun Easter break , I am more likely to knife someone.
Pass the gin.
Oh and I have a mountain of ironing to do not sure where it's come from .

 

[touchstone]

Yep, this is the first winter ever I've struggled. Even in the harsh winter of 2009/10 I seemed to cope better.

I've currently got an awful cold/virus thing thats lasted three weeks which has floored me. I don't have the energy to do anything, going t bed early with a tremperature every night, and there seems to be no end in sight to this awful weather. I'm going through haylage at a phenomenal rate and the poor horses are fed up and bored.

I only hope that a bit of sunshine when it arrives will make us feel better.

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

You are not alone. It just plain sucks. I'm sure you wouldn't want them being in. Like we're going to have to spend a bit to get the fields back but nothing else we can do. It's just ridiculous.

Terri

 

[scheherazade]

I feel your pain, I am currently looking after 5 horses spread across 2 different yards, plus a full time job, I am constantly tired, my hands are really painful and struggling to find the motivation to ride. Hay and feed bills are horrendous and I'm really worried about paying all the bills.

Goldenstar, can I share your gin?? x

 

[Hawks27]

Hello again, my shoulders almost fixed now so Tea and i can meet you for some more hacks and get you out and about i need to fitten myself up now as droping my weight fast ready for backing him this spring but getting the weight down is easy need to tone my lazy winter legs up lol am sick of the mdu and mud fever and frezing cold arthritic hands but if we can help give us a shout as your only round the corner form my house even if you just need a brew and a defrost

 

[ELFSBELLS]

Yep, have found this winter so hard, constantly cold, my hands and feet have been my problem, feel guilty about not riding so much, but what can you do, spent loads on hay and bedding, we are all due some sunshine soon surely !!

 

[Jesstickle]

I am ok in myself but have zero motivation to do anything with mine. I have forced myself to ride this week because the saddle fitter was coming and because there is a clinic at the yard Sunday which I signed up for in happier times. If it wasn't for that I'd have given up and put her on holiday!

And she's in because she won't stay out more than a couple of hours so I'm racing through shavings.

And she won't put on any weight so looks skinny. Normally the grass has come by now and she's rounding off nicely but nope. still whippet like. I have just upped her to three feeds a day. In March!

It'll go soon though RG. Summer is just around the corner I'm sure. ..

 

[vallin]

Yup. Motivation = zero.

 

[kellybee]

Yes. It doesn't feel like a chore but when it does I'll know I've had enough.

Worst thing is because it's so muddy (literally slop) my appy is so desperate to come in he'll bolt for the stables the minute the gate is open with absolutely no regard for anyone or anything. By the time I catch up with him it's too late to tell him off and I am reluctant to bridle him incase he still breaks away. Therefore, they're all staying in.

 

[Lollii]

Me too ... so fed up with it, we haven't had the snow back but the wind is just ice ... I don't want to take the horses rugs off to ride, they will freeze even with an exercise rug on, anyway I can't be bothered

I have heard there is another month of this - then a heatwave ... bring it on

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I don't think it's all down to the winter, as someone has mentioned we coped better in the harsh winter of 2009/10. I think this winter is the final thing in a string of events.

The past 9 months or so have been terrible for horse owners. Last summer we had more rain than in living memory and we were up to our knees in mud when we should have been on hard parched ground under a baking sun. This weather continued through the autumn & into winter & then we get heavy snow & freezing conditions. The only time the paddocks have been firm for months has been when they've been frozen solid. Now we are told the Jet Stream has moved and we are set to have this cold weather for a considerable time longer.

On top of this because horses have been in more or have been out without any grass in the fields we have all had to feed more hay/haylage. The suppliers are now starting to run out of forage due to the unexpected drain on their stocks. They didn't have as much as they normally had anyway due to the wet summer we had & they couldn't get as much harvested as they wanted to. This coupled with the fact that nothing is growing at the moment, until we get temps or around 7/8 degrees the grass won't grow. It should be above that now but it isn't & as a result harvesting first cut hay will be knocked back.

I hate to be the prophet of doom & gloom but I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.

 

[mulledwhine]

I have put on 2 stone !!!! I normally love winter, not this year

 

[mulledwhine]

Ps would I be mean to sell him for meat

 

[Ebenezer_Scrooge]

I am really struggling too...horse is fed up, his field by the fence line & gate is too churned up but summer field not growing so no point in trashing that too. My mental health isn't good so I am finding it more of a struggle & exhausted all the time, motivation to ride is zero......

 

[Ellies_mum2]

Nope definitely not alone


Had a moment a few weeks back where I was actually close to tears at facing yet more mud and cold and bitter winds and having to break the ice on the water troughs again. Our hay bill varies between £70 and £105 a week. Luckily I haven't had any mud fever to deal with or that would be the icing on the cake. Haven't ridden mine in months as Ebony had concussive laminitus and Asbo was turned away for the winter after being backed last year. Had Ebs shoes put back on 2 weeks ago and still haven't been able to ride as its been too cold and too wet. *sigh* On the plus side I don't have stables to muck out as ours live out all year round.


Bizarrely Asbo is starting to moult and she isn't rugged so maybe she knows something we don't

 

[sonjafoers]

I am smiling to myself at all these posts, mind you I think it's the only way

It's been a tough 18 months as far as I can remember 2 awful winters and no summer inbetween. Down here it seems to have rained for that whole time apart from the odd few days of freezing cold making the diveted ground lethal.

I was on a mission to keep my cob's weight down this winter so that she didn't bloom rather too much in spring, there isn't much chance of that at the moment. She was looking a really nice weight until 10 days ago but now she has lost so much that her slimmest saddle doesn't fit and keeps slipping back and I can see ribs for the first time in 12 years I'm now also back to 3 feeds a day plus haylage.

However, spring will arrive and when we can finally feel sunshine and remove rugs we will feel so happy the winter will be forgotten. Chins up - grass and warmth is just around the corner!!

BTW Hawks27 that was a lovely post

 

[Echo Bravo]

Well the weather has been bad for over a year, not much sun, which we all know horses and humans need also a couple of bad viruses going round at the moment hitting the horses and mostly humans as I've felt bad start of Jan and still coughing, my mare has come out in sympathy, so I'm on Benylin and she's on Koff Syrup, if this keeps up may have to change to each others cough stuff as hers smells nicer than mine, warm weather not far off and grass will start growing and I've 2 large bags of fert and 2 bags grass seed still to go on.

 

[sodapop]

I am sorry people are having such a hard time but I am so glad to know I am not on my own. I can't believe I have struggled to get my confidence back after losing a much loved horse in a horrible accident only to want to give up because of such a horrible summer/winter. I only ride on farmland but that is knee deep in mud, I am sooo cold all the time it feels like my bones ache. My horse has had to be seperated from the herd due to his behaviour and is stood in a paddock of mud. I bought my daughter her first pony in September and she has ended up wanting to give up because she has been unable to do much riding and her pony is getting a bit much for her. I can't believe I am spending so much money on a hobby that has been making me so unhappy! 30 years of owning horses and being told I am obsessed with them and here I am wishing I didn't have anything to do with them

 

[attheponies]

Ditto all of the above - I've also felt close to tears just with the frustration of fed up horses, no grass and the constant, freezing cold

 

[morrismob]

[. Now we are told the Jet Stream has moved and we are set to have this cold weather for a considerable time longer.


Oh please don't my daughter told me this afternoon it won't warm up till May. Horses are at home but apart from the oldie and the baby they are in, the 2 out are as miserable as sin. The hay bill is shocking as is shavings and feed. I am so cold all of the time. Never got over being born and raised in Africa. Now in 2 weeks I have to go ski-ing. Just can't bear the thought of enjoying snow !

Horses have coped so well but they are starting to complain and I can't blame them

 

[D66]

It has been horrible, but this morning when I went out we seemed to have turned a corner. What's left of the grass has turned a bit green, the wind is less bitter and there are bud on the daffs at last.

 

[PeeGee]

The weather is getting everyone down at the moment. We have a village shop(with no heating),the next person to come in and tell me how cold it is outside will need hospitalisation.
What is it about the British? All we seem to talk about is the weather
The wind around here has been awfull, as it is so flat there is no escape, luckily we seem to have avoided the worst of the snow.

 

[RubysGold]

Tis a relief to hear others are feeling the same way!
I do agree, the bad summer has made this winter 10 times harder. Normally speaking, Id be fine through winter!

Hawks: thanks so much! will definitely meet up again

PeeGee: all the liveries talk about is the cold/weather every time I see them lol, I dont mind but its definitely true that British talk about the weather alot!
our yard is so open, the wind cuts across the field and is so cold even if its not bad elsewhere

 

[Em123]

Yes!

It feels like its never ending! Horses havent been properly out for a very long time now, bills have been so expensive and everything is a huge struggle, i am desperate to get out competing but i can hardly get the energy to ride!

 

[dalesponydiva]

In a way, I'm pleased to hear that i am not alone in feeling desperate regarding the weather and the long winter. Up here in my part of Yorkshire, we are battling 12 to 15 foot snowdrifts .... had to have a neighbour come over and "dig us out". No water in the field as the stream is covered with a 6ft snowdrift.. horses behaving like mad idiots - one is charging round the field and we are covering our eyes terrified he will hurt himself! Nets and bags of haylage to drag out 5 times a day and carrying water from the house is taking it's toil on my body. I'm knackered and praying for better weather. Wishing one and all better weather and better health... roll on Spring.