Oh gawd, mud taken to a whole new level

Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
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Bang go my plans for a final week out 24/7 for the horses. My fields have never looked this bad. Ever! I've finally given in. They are all coming in today and will have to go out in the all weather until things dry up. Not much chance of that though. :rolleyes:

How are others coping?
 
Low stocked here but even leading one in and out per day is muddying the gateways :mad: will have to invest in some hardcore. :rolleyes: the actual fields are ok so far but very wet.
 
We are on clay and the paddocks are well eaten down, so not a good combination unless you are wanting to manufacture mud. :(
 
My fields are evil :(. I've had to fence off a strip for them to trash during the day, and they're out on the rested paddock at night. It's so wet though that I doubt the paddock will last long. Really hoping the temperature will drop so the ground freezes!

On the plus side, mud's much more abrasive than grass, so less trimming of the feet required :p.
 
Ive been following the recent threads regarding horses out/stabled etc with interest re what horses prefer. my fields now very wet and muddy and after a night of torrential rain its clear from the dry horses that they chose to spend the night in the barn. Im very glad I have it for them and they can lie down dry because I have never known this much wet and mud so early in the year and we only have 4 on 4 acres
 
TwoStroke said:
My fields are evil :(. I've had to fence off a strip for them to trash during the day, and they're out on the rested paddock at night. It's so wet though that I doubt the paddock will last long. Really hoping the temperature will drop so the ground freezes!

On the plus side, mud's much more abrasive than grass, so less trimming of the feet required :p.
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Ah good point! I can't be doing with it any longer though so they will be going out in the sand from tomorrow. I expect that too is more abrasive? No more mud. Yay! But seven horses to muck out and turnout/bring in every day. :( That will be it I think now until the end of April. I think we will have a mild wet winter, sadly.
 
No, no no! They say a mild october means a cold december. It surely can't keep raining as much as it has been can it?! Ours are trashing the gateway already, there's 5 of them on a hilly 12 acres though, so its not all mud thankfully, well not at the top of the hill at least! :D

Look at the rainfall trends near me, april, june and september are mind boggling!

http://www.brighter-later.net/wxraintrend.php
 
Gatewyas trashed...fields very boggy. Hopefully will dry out fairly quickly as mine are on a genlte slope and well drained....

Have put them out in the trash paddock with hay today to save the fields as much as poss.....

Am thinking its gonna be a wet n mild one too.....
 
Also looking like 2 of mine are going to have to start coming in a week early - the whole field is soaked and not draining at all :( already got ankle deep mud for 10 Meters around the gate!
Think we are in for a long winter :(
 
Sand turn out? I'm jealous!! No mud, and probably just as abrasive for feet. Mine are out 24/7/365, so I cannot escape the mud :(. Unless I yard them... which is starting to be rather tempting!
 
It's the worst we have ever had even living in a very wet part of the country :(. My fields look like they normally do in February. Our horses all came in at night a month ago and have had several days where they've not be turned out during the day due to waterlogged fields - poor souls have to make do with a run in the school and the going on the walker those days which I don't like doing. Also my haylage and bedding bill has rocketed. I really hope the predictions of a severe, cold winter are true, much better than this awful rain.
 
Nannon said:
Also looking like 2 of mine are going to have to start coming in a week early - the whole field is soaked and not draining at all :( already got ankle deep mud for 10 Meters around the gate!
Think we are in for a long winter :(
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Ankle deep? I DREAM of ankle deep mud. Its two inches from the top of my wellies in both gateways I use to get my girl out. She is extremely arthritic and it is a major struggle for her. Useless YO has put bark chips down in the furthest gateway for the other liveries which is a struggle for her as its at the bottom of a slope (other one is only 20 feet from the stable door but hasn't been done at all) but not rolled it first and after, so that is getting deeper and deeper, and she resists being led even to the edge of it because it is such hard painful work for her. There isn't even a reward of grass to look forward to since there hasn't been any since this time last year (totally overgrazed). If it was to freeze she wouldn't be able to go out at all - cannon-bone deep frozen holes are leg breakers at the best of times. Thankfully neither of us will have to put up with it for much more than a fortnight as I'm having her PTS. Never thought I'd be relieved to say that :(
 
Ours is really muddy in the gateway and along the fenceline that borders the first field that you go through to get to ours. Apart from that though it's not too bad, muddy track ways where the horses walk but they seem to be making new ones to avoid the mud. Couple of big pond like puddles at the bottom of the field and a bit muddy under the trees that run down the middle.

Still plenty of grass and only mine and my friends ever come in to be stabled occasionly through the day, other 10 are out on it 24/7 365days a year. It is about 15acres though.

Other two fields are muddy in gate ways but pretty much fine over the rest. They only get used during the day by the stabled horses, with one living out 24/7 in the one next to ours, that one is a bit churned up in places as they run around a lot during the day. Not sure how they are doing so well with all the rain there's been though but not complaining if we were still at our old yard they'd of hardly been out at all the past month or so.
 
Yep. I have mud too. Just the gateways and fence lines though so far. Fields were like swamps this morning though. It must have hammered it down all night.
 
We really haven't had an extended dry period all year. Everything is trashed. It's horrible. Crappy bog clay soil. I have some grass but I hay as well outside. I do not have shelters so mine come in. Really they've been in either day or night all year. I'm totally fet up.

Terri
 
Its hopeless here too!

Livery's field was drained a few years back and we put down hardcore on the gateways and near the drinking trough's - but where I've got mine its like a swamp! Blimmin awful. Lost a yard boot totally the other day; the s@dding thing was just sucked clean off my foot and there I was hopping around in mud like ***** and trying to hold onto two horses who wanted to go out! Bl@ddy h@ll!
 
It poured yesterday it's pouring today I have worked three horses since 8.30 it poured the entire time I am so wet I am dreading getting changed.
The fields have rivers running down them and I had to bring in the last one living out last night because there was a river several inches deep outside his shed.
I have just turned them all out it is brighter looking.
This year as an experiment I only topped my winter field once so it's long hay type grass and I do think they are making less mess it's clay , and poaches horribly so let's see I also only have one shod at the moment and that may be why the field looks better.
I had plans of working the one that came in last night out of the field as he was so settled in that paddock on his own ( he can't go out with others. ) but that's the end of that plan.
 
yes awful here too,my YO has laid huge concrete hard standings in the fields so they havnt got to stand knee deep in mud. our school is unusable as so wet ,the woods we ride in has a river instead of a path! please god if ur listening -weve had enough rain!!!:confused:
 
mild?? we have hill snow, frozen taps and waters!

That said, its still muddy:( it takes a while for that depth of mud to freeze:rolleyes:

I lost my field to flooding last friday so my 2 are coming in and are out in a turnout pen through the day, also awaiting hardcore:rolleyes:
 
fatpiggy said:
Ankle deep? I DREAM of ankle deep mud. Its two inches from the top of my wellies in both gateways I use to get my girl out. She is extremely arthritic and it is a major struggle for her. Useless YO has put bark chips down in the furthest gateway for the other liveries which is a struggle for her as its at the bottom of a slope (other one is only 20 feet from the stable door but hasn't been done at all) but not rolled it first and after, so that is getting deeper and deeper, and she resists being led even to the edge of it because it is such hard painful work for her. There isn't even a reward of grass to look forward to since there hasn't been any since this time last year (totally overgrazed). If it was to freeze she wouldn't be able to go out at all - cannon-bone deep frozen holes are leg breakers at the best of times. Thankfully neither of us will have to put up with it for much more than a fortnight as I'm having her PTS. Never thought I'd be relieved to say that :(
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Sounds absolutely awful. So sorry too that you are having her PTS. Sounds like winter would be a chore for her.
 
We're not doing too badly, which is amazing for a clay bog. Probably because we have so much grass. We've just had a flock of sheep put on to help eat it down.. Even the gateways aren't that bad.

I gave up on the out at night, in by day routine that I usually keep up til Nov 1st a couple of weeks ago when it flooded everywhere. They've also had a week during that time out on the hard standing winter turnout. Lots of other people round here have got mudrash already. I thought I saw a tiny bit of swelling in their fetlocks yesterday, which is usually the first sign with ours (so tiny you wonder if you're imagining it!) so I've oiled their legs today.

It really feels like winter though, they have got much thicker coats than they usually do at this time of year, and the grass doesn't look to be growing much, whereas it has grown til Jan the last couple of years.

Thankfully I managed to creosote the yard last week in that dry spell, so at least the wood has a bit of protection from all the rain!
 
Sounds like everyone is suffering to some degree. I never thought I would look forward to getting the horses in. But I am so fed up of mud, that mucking out seven seems like a walk in the park. They will be so much easier to work too as they will be nice and clean as they will only be going out in the sand. Keeps their hooves really clean too if it's wet, which saves picking them out. Don't you hate picking out a hoof that is clogged in wet mud?
 
I'm on sand, so there is no mud, the top inch of the ground is a bit soft and slippery, and the grass is sparse at best, but their feet stay clean. The yard drains and the arena are a different matter, though - it's been chucking it down all night and the industrial drains just can't cope with the volume of water.
I'm hoping that the, ahem, breeze (read gale force winds) will dry everything up pretty quickly.
Wussy liveries means that they have been coming in at night for nearly 3 weeks now, it's a shame, because they could easily stay out with some hay/haylage in the fields, but the owners want them tucked in at night in their pyjamas :rolleyes:
The broodies haven't walked out of their barn for days, though, only their heads are sticking out, with forage hanging out of their mouths :D
 
Op you sound like you are describing my fields! Im on very heavy clay soil, no drainage and extremly c*** grass, so much so that I feed hay throughout the year. The problem is the land is owned by the church who dont do any grass management but wont let me either! so I just see it as turnout rather than decent grazing. My fields are very soggy and the mud is starting to make it quite difficult to get in and out without going a*** over t**. I have worked it so the yard which is concreted is accesible from the field and I let them go in and out into a 'trash' section of the field as they wish...it seems to stop them getting to wound up and closed in if that makes sense. My TB is a cribber so shutting him in is only done when absolutely necessary as he has access to his stable whenever he wants as do the natives. I have just come to the conclusion that mud follows horses around and to just try and minimise the damage as much as I can...seems very early to be worrying about trashed fields though, really hoping we dont flood out again as we did in the summer!
 
martlin said:
I'm on sand, so there is no mud, the top inch of the ground is a bit soft and slippery, and the grass is sparse at best, but their feet stay clean. The yard drains and the arena are a different matter, though - it's been chucking it down all night and the industrial drains just can't cope with the volume of water.
I'm hoping that the, ahem, breeze (read gale force winds) will dry everything up pretty quickly.
Wussy liveries means that they have been coming in at night for nearly 3 weeks now, it's a shame, because they could easily stay out with some hay/haylage in the fields, but the owners want them tucked in at night in their pyjamas :rolleyes:
The broodies haven't walked out of their barn for days, though, only their heads are sticking out, with forage hanging out of their mouths :D
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You are lucky with your sandy soil. I'm really envious. Mind you our arena always stays nicely drained as it's at the top of the hill. Not so nice in these winds though! You have my sympathies with wussy liveries. I usually am forced to bring in long before now for the reasons you give, but because one of the liveries has a foal I have needed to wean I have said thay all had to stay out until after that had been done, so the transition would be easier for the little one (as can be in next paddock to Mum). The other liveries are all on side with this. But they have to come in tonight. I can't bear the thought of them in all that mud any longer.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Lost a yard boot totally the other day; the s@dding thing was just sucked clean off my foot and there I was hopping around in mud like ***** and trying to hold onto two horses who wanted to go out! Bl@ddy h@ll!
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Lol, I lost a welly last year and the sock stayed with it. I had arms full of hay and just had to continue to put it out. I hosed my leg off, dried it and put it back in my welly, which reminds me - need to buy some more wellies :D
 
Fields are bogs here too. Doesn't help that the cattle have had the run of the fields before the horses use the same grazing. One gateway is especially bad.. total nightmare to walk through it. (How I haven't fallen over in it is amazing). Saying that, there ARE dry patches of land and amazingly we do have some grass. Could be worse i guess.

It surely can't KEEP raining - can it? Longing for a solid hard frost.
 
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