Rain Ranting Thread

[Steerpike]

The gale force winds dried the ground out a bit this afternoon but it's been hammering it down for the last hour at least so fields will now be worse than they were yesterday, I can't believe so much rain can fall from the sky!

 

[SpottyTB]

Oh it's been a truly wonderful day, dry and sunny with the birds singing! Beautiful. Put the boys out in the small paddock to graze down the grass - all without rugs.... by 4pm it was hammering it down and is still going now.. not quite as heavily but its still going.

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

Forecast for next week looks the same as the one before.
I’ve heard farmers say that if they can’t get their barley in in the next two weeks then it won’t be ready for harvest.
Me, I just want to know when my fields will dry out. I just hope this weather is unprecedented and not the new normal

 

[Indieanna6]

Yesterday was lovely - dry and very mild but 50mph winds. Field had started to dry out nicely when I brought in late afternoon.

We had a big thunderstorm around 10pm so I was hoping that would give a clearer day today but apparently not!

Currently 50mph winds and torrential rain with 3 hours of thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon. Looks like a day in for them

 

[Esyllt]

Last night was gale force winds, horizontal rain, and thunder directly overhead. Forecast had said dry but windy, and idiot that I am, believed it and turned them out onto the not so swampy bit I had... I give up. They will come back onto their yard and be taken for daily walkies as turnout instead until (if) it changes

 

[Flowerofthefen]

It was quite warm here yesterday. The wind is starting to dry the fields out a bit. Cant/ won't turnout until field has been rolled, which will hopefully be towards the end of this week. I've got a good routine going with both my boys and they are settled so just got to wait!

 

[tda]

It was lovely here yesterday, sunny, but windy, really warm. Started raining about 9pm
Rained on and off all night, got up to rain, now it's sunny with intermittent showers

 

[Squeak]

Ugh this weather. We have high winds and it's been hammering it down since I woke up at 7. Grim, really, really grim.

 

[Vermeer]

High winds yesterday, last night, and today. Absolutely hammering it down this morning. Made the grave error of checking the weather forecast and it's raining all week. Doubled down on the despair by reading the long range in the slim hope that we are in for a drier spell as some point - guess what, rain until early may sick to the back teeth of it. Field looks awful. Sick of everything squelching. Worrying about my ponies' hooves. I'm constantly covered in mud. Arrrrghhhh!!!!!!

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Which site do you all use for the long range forecast please?

 

[Vermeer]

I just use the met office one... actually hoping it's inaccurate and that we are instead in for lots of sunshine

 

[Backtoblack]

Pouring down here again and the rain woke me in the night battering on the window

 

[GrassChop]

High winds yesterday, last night, and today. Absolutely hammering it down this morning. Made the grave error of checking the weather forecast and it's raining all week. Doubled down on the despair by reading the long range in the slim hope that we are in for a drier spell as some point - guess what, rain until early may sick to the back teeth of it. Field looks awful. Sick of everything squelching. Worrying about my ponies' hooves. I'm constantly covered in mud. Arrrrghhhh!!!!!!

Early May!!! Great

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Just seen a news report that the UK is set set to bask in a mini heat wave with 3 weeks of above average temps and sunshine .........

 

[Caol Ila]

Just seen a news report that the UK is set set to bask in a mini heat wave with 3 weeks of above average temps and sunshine .........

I haven't seen that but I'm going to pretend that it's true.

Bloody windy today and yesterday. If I ever wondered what it was like to school a horse on top of a munro, now I know. Horse did okay (Hermosa, not Fin...I know my and their limits) but we lost impulsion every time we turned into 50mph of headwind. Can't blame her. I was just happy that she wasn't being a nutbar.

 

[Sandstone1]

Just seen a news report that the UK is set set to bask in a mini heat wave with 3 weeks of above average temps and sunshine .........

Someone told me that too, weather forecast does not agree so not sure

 

[Bellaboo18]

My husband lost his wellie in the field/swamp tonight he was not happy! I found it hilarious
I'm starting to wonder if the field will ever bounce back

 

[spotty_pony2]

Gale force winds here yesterday and today but with barely any rain so the ground is drying up a treat. Horses went out naked yesterday. They are in tonight as it’s still very windy here but I am planning on them possibly being able to stay out tomorrow night - they were not interested in coming in tonight tbh I just didn’t want their first night out to be in the wind but I am not sure they would have been bothered!

 

[spotty_pony2]

I just use the met office one... actually hoping it's inaccurate and that we are instead in for lots of sunshine

April Fools day was last week!

Sorry that was meant to be in reply to about the heatwave!

 

[Caol Ila]

Godammit. This was not the spring I ordered. I demand a refund.

Glasgow facing more bad weather as heavy rain set to bring disruption next week

The Met Office has warned of possible flooding and travel issues on Tuesday. Forecasters have told the public to expect heavy rain from Monday night with the warning in place for much of the central belt from 1am till 6pm on April 9.

www.glasgowlive.co.uk

 

[scats]

Rained again all night. The forecast for tomorrow is vile- gale force winds all day and heavy rain.

Sigh.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Just seen a news report that the UK is set set to bask in a mini heat wave with 3 weeks of above average temps and sunshine .........

The BBC forecast for my area actually looks OK after tomorrow for 5/6 days. The following week is currently low winds and a few showers which wr can cope with!! Hoping to get horses back out towards the end of this week ....

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Our land is drying up rapidly and I have actually been able to turn out most of the sheep with lambs. Was actually able to take the dogs with me yesterday and they only got their paws a bit dirty so didn't need a full wash.

 

[Jambarissa]

Ours appears to dry out well enough other than the flood plain bits.

I'm amazed at the resilliance of grass, the churned up mud pit but near the gate has tufts of green growing at the tops of the rivets!

I am hoping that our heavily trashed fields will mean there isn't too much grass this year.

Currently though, it's dry interspersed with absolute downpours. Seems to be ideal weather for midges and flies

My biggest issue is that I need a run up to riding. I need a couple of days of nice weather for it to even occur to me. I'm in awe of the woman on my yard who rides her 3 every day by literally dodging the showers.

 

[southerncomfort]

Long range forecast has changed again.

No change until May, when the south will have warm sunshine, and rest of will continue with wet weather.

To be honest, I think we can all just ignore the forecasts. They genuinely don't have a clue.

Mine were in yesterday because of the storm. Forecast said rain would stop at six so popped them out in the field. Eight pm it was still lashing it down. Ended up bringing them back in.

The winter paddock is in a dreadful state and we've decided now that it's unsafe for night turnout.

Honestly don't know what to do with them. Every last inch of my land has standing water.

I have a 'spare' paddock but it has nearly 3inches of grass growth on it. Absolute recipe for laminitis.

If I put them in the summer paddock where the track is, it'll be a churned up mess within hours.

On the plus side, it's not raining this morning so I'm meeting up with a friend for a ride. Will be the only ride this week as we've gales for the rest of the week.

 

[Wishfilly]

Very windy, lots of rain, I've been off work so have been getting the pony in early to give him more of a break from the weather- he's actively standing at the gate by about 4pm, which isn't ideal as that part of the field is pretty deep mud.

There is grass in the field, but it's obviously not great and he is desperate for anything green at the moment- giving more hay overnight isn't helping.

Every time the rain stops, the ground seems to dry out well, particularly in the wind, but it just gets saturated again as soon as it rains.

 

[Boughtabay]

Mine have been in since the baby cob got gelded. Decided he’d healed up enough for an hour out yesterday & they both came in plastered from head to toe after venturing into the worst patch for apparently the “best” grass. I also spotted that in the absence of grass sycamore saplings are taking over in one corner … there aren’t even any trees near that field it’s all blown over. So they’re back in until I can work out what to do. Last year I moved them to the summer field by now… this year no point! I’m just about managing not to cry about it

 

[Merrymoles]

Utterly, utterly fed up now.

I've had a tough 12 months anyway and could really do with the horses going out 24/7 for a bit of a break but there isn't a single dry cm on the fields we are allowed to use for them to lie down at the moment. We have no grass and my boy has dropped so much weight (he's not a hay or haylage fan) that his saddle won't fit at the moment I don't think. I am completely sick of hearing that the grass is coming when our turnout is just mud at the moment.

To add insult to injury, I'm going to need to scrape all his mud coating off tonight as we are forecast heavy rain and "feels like" three degrees C tomorrow and he really can't afford to lose any more weight. He's already colicked in March and the vet felt that was due to the lack of long fibre in his current diet but I can't make him eat forage!

 

[Fransurrey]

Mine have been in since the baby cob got gelded. Decided he’d healed up enough for an hour out yesterday & they both came in plastered from head to toe after venturing into the worst patch for apparently the “best” grass. I also spotted that in the absence of grass sycamore saplings are taking over in one corner … there aren’t even any trees near that field it’s all blown over. So they’re back in until I can work out what to do. Last year I moved them to the summer field by now… this year no point! I’m just about managing not to cry about it

I've picked up sycamore seedlings this year for the first time and I've been in that field for 5.5 years! I'm hoping that the ones at the top were ash, as we do have ash trees, but without waiting for the 'true' leaves I couldn't be sure. The ones down the bottom were definitely sycamore as the true leaves were appearing. I picked up over 200 over two days. Fortunately the wind made them easier to spot if I got on my hands and knees - such fun!! The topsoil in that field is so shallow we've never had trees take seed, but I suppose there's so much water in the ground, they've found it easier this spring.

 

[Boughtabay]

I've picked up sycamore seedlings this year for the first time and I've been in that field for 5.5 years! I'm hoping that the ones at the top were ash, as we do have ash trees, but without waiting for the 'true' leaves I couldn't be sure. The ones down the bottom were definitely sycamore as the true leaves were appearing. I picked up over 200 over two days. Fortunately the wind made them easier to spot if I got on my hands and knees - such fun!! The topsoil in that field is so shallow we've never had trees take seed, but I suppose there's so much water in the ground, they've found it easier this spring.

Awful isn’t it - the horses can’t go out there with how wet it actually turned out to be in some areas the sinking was too extreme. I think I’ll turn some sheep in and hope they stop too many seedlings being able to commit to growth it’s way too big an area to hand pick at the moment HORSES ARE FUN!!