Snow Falcon
Hoping for drier days
Rain Ranting Thread
- Thread starter GrassChop
- Start date
HorseMaid
Well-Known Member
We're just soldering on, the same as all winter - ours live out, winter field is absolutely trashed, no grass, but they've got tonnes of hay on hardstanding yard with shelter which hasn't flooded, where they spend most of their time, bored. Sweep all the poo up every day, put more hay out. We've survived but it's boring now, I'm not ready to put them in the summer field yet as it's still so bloody wet. We've got enough hay to last ages so on the yard they will stay! They seem happy enough but they definitely need grass.
If this is the future then I want out!!!
If this is the future then I want out!!!
AShetlandBitMeOnce
Well-Known Member
HuskyFluff
Well-Known Member
Oh I'm with you. I took a week off work a few weeks ago as I was so ground down by all the rain and mud. It seems never ending!
To add insult to injury, I got stuck in some mud, twisted my knee, snapped my meniscus (cartilage) and am now facing surgery and 6 weeks non weight bearing box rest. Just from getting a horse out of a field!
To add insult to injury, I got stuck in some mud, twisted my knee, snapped my meniscus (cartilage) and am now facing surgery and 6 weeks non weight bearing box rest. Just from getting a horse out of a field!
dreamcometrue
Well-Known Member
It’s bad. Our cellar has flooded for the first time in 23 years of living here so it must be an exceptionally wet period of time. The mud in my pony’s field is dreadful. The only thought that gives me comfort is that we are all in this together. X
AutumnDays
Well-Known Member
It's is soul crushing isn't it? I could cry. My fields are just swamp, the horses look like hippos, even my shelter is wet inside. Gathered all the gateway mats and layered them up in there to try and give them somewhere with a little less mud to stand, but they are disappearing fast. I hope we all catch a break soon
wiglet
Well-Known Member
Yep, I’m so done with rain, mud and horses. My field was actually drying out nicely until Sunday… now I’m back to a waterlogged swamp.
Worryingly, I had a delivery of hay last week and my hay man said most of his hay fields were still under water and he wasn’t sure how this would affect this years hay. I see a huge price hike and a shortage of hay.
Worryingly, I had a delivery of hay last week and my hay man said most of his hay fields were still under water and he wasn’t sure how this would affect this years hay. I see a huge price hike and a shortage of hay.
Zoeypxo
Well-Known Member
Weather has been terrible for months now our field is trashed, luckily have lots of grass resting but cant use it until the ground dries up!
Our straw supplier ran out about 2 weeks ago.
Out of interest, what weather app do people find most reliable?
I have met office saying strong winds tomorrow (60mph) and bbc saying light winds 20mph, big difference!
Our straw supplier ran out about 2 weeks ago.
Out of interest, what weather app do people find most reliable?
I have met office saying strong winds tomorrow (60mph) and bbc saying light winds 20mph, big difference!
setterlover
Well-Known Member
We are better off than many of you as 15 acres of free draining land and only 3 horses
Some low level squelchyness but nowhere flooded and still grass on the fields but I must admit the constant grey and drizzle serves to pull me down .
Getting through masses of haylege (still have 20 large bales of haylege left) but bedding down the pole barn is costing us a small fortune.
As the user name suggests we have Irish setters 2 young dogs (2 years and 8 months) and this constant wet means it's hard work keeping them clean and dry getting through 2 bath towels most days towelling them off everytime we walk the washing machine is constantly on.!
We do have an half size indoor schooling arena and I can let the dogs run in there but as it's a sand school they bring the sand in with them when they come back in so the conservatory needs constant sweeping out.
The long range forecast is not great more miserable weather varying from drizzle to heavy rain the odd dry day.
I keep telling myself it has to improve soon but it doesn't look hopeful.
Hopefully this will all be a bad memory in a few weeks when we get some dry weather but at the moment it is soul crushing.
Hold the faith everyone this surely must improve soon.
Some low level squelchyness but nowhere flooded and still grass on the fields but I must admit the constant grey and drizzle serves to pull me down .
Getting through masses of haylege (still have 20 large bales of haylege left) but bedding down the pole barn is costing us a small fortune.
As the user name suggests we have Irish setters 2 young dogs (2 years and 8 months) and this constant wet means it's hard work keeping them clean and dry getting through 2 bath towels most days towelling them off everytime we walk the washing machine is constantly on.!
We do have an half size indoor schooling arena and I can let the dogs run in there but as it's a sand school they bring the sand in with them when they come back in so the conservatory needs constant sweeping out.
The long range forecast is not great more miserable weather varying from drizzle to heavy rain the odd dry day.
I keep telling myself it has to improve soon but it doesn't look hopeful.
Hopefully this will all be a bad memory in a few weeks when we get some dry weather but at the moment it is soul crushing.
Hold the faith everyone this surely must improve soon.
dreamcometrue
Well-Known Member
myheartinahoofbeat
Well-Known Member
I have tried many different weather apps but currently I find BBC the most accurate for where I live
tda
Well-Known Member
I think that was the daily mail / daily express
Our local weather guy suggests unlikely as the temperature is also being predicted at 13°
GreyDot
Well-Known Member
We've got rain, mud and now little black, bitey flies in the afternoon, so mine are going out in rain-sheets and fly-masks. It's ridiculous.
meesha
Well-Known Member
Wet since October, paddock they were in gave up ten days ago . Options r to turn out on the OK side which with this weather won't be OK for long or keep in. In at the moment, I'm lucky, large bone dry concrete yard with open 28x12 rubber matted shelter with large shavings bed.
Getting through 3 or more bales shavings a week... muck heap huge and needs removing but that will take a month of good weather to access. Buying a spiked roller to go behind 4x4 can sort field bit by bit...
Forecast rubbish for next week but glimmer of hope on bbc weather site towards end of next week.
Getting through 3 or more bales shavings a week... muck heap huge and needs removing but that will take a month of good weather to access. Buying a spiked roller to go behind 4x4 can sort field bit by bit...
Forecast rubbish for next week but glimmer of hope on bbc weather site towards end of next week.
Slightlyconfused
Go away, I'm reading
We are shut in again, only had a week out all day before rain and shut fields for two days then limit turn out.
In 15ish yrs of being here we have never had this much rain in march and have never been on limited turnout past middle of feb.
We are all just fed up
In 15ish yrs of being here we have never had this much rain in march and have never been on limited turnout past middle of feb.
We are all just fed up
santas_spotty_pony
Well-Known Member
I’m fed up of being plastered on mud and sloshing through mud and water to and from the fields. Roadwork is getting boring and I’m barely riding at the moment as just have lost all motivation!
ponynutz
Well-Known Member
Yep! Ours have been in possibly more than they've been out this winter 
w1bbler
Well-Known Member
Please please let us actually have a summer this year. Last year it dried up mid April ish & we've had relentless rain since July
If this is the new normal- just 2 months of dry weather then I'm done.
I'm luckier than many, my winter field is 3 acres for 2 horses. They are still strip grazing foggage & most of the ground is holding up well ( out 24/7)
If this is the new normal- just 2 months of dry weather then I'm done.
I'm luckier than many, my winter field is 3 acres for 2 horses. They are still strip grazing foggage & most of the ground is holding up well ( out 24/7)
asmp
Well-Known Member
My daughter gave me this print:
cauda equina
Well-Known Member
It's all there. isn't it?
Rain, mud, trashed rug, broken fencing, and the horse appears to be on 3 legs too
cheekywelshie
Well-Known Member
At least you might have the option to turn out, if on livery and fields closed then they’re in 24/7 unless owner goes up. I’m thinking of retiring mine after this it’s just too knackering with a full time job
clairebearfur1
Well-Known Member
Its awful but spring is coming!!!I've decided to make a rain/bad weather thread so that all that are suffering with this endless rain can all come and get it off their chest and perhaps for some moral support!
I am so utterly fed up of it, to the point of tears and not the first ones either! I don't remember it ever being this bad and there is still no end in sight. My forecast is saying we only have 3 dry days over the next two weeks. My fields are wrecked, the hardcore and mats on my gateways are no longer to be seen including the small hard standing I had which has also given up, everything is covered in mud. My back, legs and feet are cramping from trying to walk through certain areas of field and pull wheelbarrows of hay through it. I am really struggling.
Fluffypiglet
Well-Known Member
Mine has been in since mid Nov. Clay fields and overgrazed because there isn’t enough land for the number of horses. Other horses are still going out (mine creates if there isn’t enough grass and is likely to injure himself in the deep mud) and it worries me as to when mine will be able to go out again. So little grass, standing water, deep mud. Everything that is still being turned out has mud fever. I wish the YM would just shut the fields for a bit to let them recover slightly but not an option unfortunately as others still want theirs out. I’m so fed up. We do have it better than some but it’s definitely stressful. Riding is now a chore rather than something I want to do. Plus some of our local bridleway are dangerously deep mud and impassable so more road work. Bah!
Fransurrey
Well-Known Member
I've just withdrawn from my first endurance ride of the year. I expect it'll be beautiful weather, but the incessant rain and alternating freezing cold/mild spells are still playing havoc with horse's PSSM1. He's been so sluggish I even trimmed his frogs to go abscess hole hunting (none found, we're putting it down to combination of flushing grass and soft soles). As a result there's no way he's up to 16 Km in a couple of weeks. Not sure I will be, either. Have somehow strained my medial glute (probably all the sliding around on mud) and sitting is agony at the moment. Making full use of standing desk at work, although people must think I've got ants in my pants!!
MuddyMonster
Well-Known Member
I'm definitely over winter.
We're lucky that although fields are very wet we've still been able to turn out. Hacking is still do-able so it could be a lot worse
For me, the biggest thing I'm struggling with (as someone with SAD) is that we've usually had some break from the wet and grey by now - I think we've literally had a handful of days I've seen the sun!
We're lucky that although fields are very wet we've still been able to turn out. Hacking is still do-able so it could be a lot worse
For me, the biggest thing I'm struggling with (as someone with SAD) is that we've usually had some break from the wet and grey by now - I think we've literally had a handful of days I've seen the sun!
SpotsandBays
Well-Known Member
Yep that was me
(well my neighbours land but where my lot graze). I heard a bang at 8:30pm but didn’t see anything so forgot about it until the board knocked on my door at 10:30pm asking for access. They were NOT wearing appropriate footwear for that field!After umming and ahhing and trying to sort it with a giant stick, they had to give up and diverted the electric from elsewhere. I got in at about 12:30am - fun!
setterlover
Well-Known Member
If this weather is the future for us in the UK then horse keeping is going to be very expensive .
I can see lots of people drastically reducing the number of horses they keep plenty not replacing horses they sadly loose and livery yards cutting the number of horses they have on their land which means to remain economical they will have to really hike up prices pricing a lot of people out of horse ownership.
I used to easily manage 5 or 6 horses ( a couple of retirees,a couple of rideable and a couple of youngsters to bring on to replace the ridden ones when they retire ) now down to 3 with one on borrowed time (doubt I'll have him next winter) so will be down to ,2 even that is hard work and expensive given the weather we have been having.
Lots of farms are also struggling with the weather planting winter wheat has been impossible animals having to be kept in rather than grazing the fields putting up feed costs using stock of winter hay long before winter.
Some have restrictions on when they can spread muck and are fast running out of time to get it done.
It's pelting down at the moment and has been all night and most of the morning looks like it is set in for the day.
It's all so depressing.
I can see lots of people drastically reducing the number of horses they keep plenty not replacing horses they sadly loose and livery yards cutting the number of horses they have on their land which means to remain economical they will have to really hike up prices pricing a lot of people out of horse ownership.
I used to easily manage 5 or 6 horses ( a couple of retirees,a couple of rideable and a couple of youngsters to bring on to replace the ridden ones when they retire ) now down to 3 with one on borrowed time (doubt I'll have him next winter) so will be down to ,2 even that is hard work and expensive given the weather we have been having.
Lots of farms are also struggling with the weather planting winter wheat has been impossible animals having to be kept in rather than grazing the fields putting up feed costs using stock of winter hay long before winter.
Some have restrictions on when they can spread muck and are fast running out of time to get it done.
It's pelting down at the moment and has been all night and most of the morning looks like it is set in for the day.
It's all so depressing.
Lucky Snowball
Well-Known Member
Feel for you all. My school is good. Fields clay mud. Poo picking sloppy and struggling in divots using a skip as wheelbarrow is impossible. Takes ages. Fed up with riding in the rain, ruining tack. Forecast keeps saying showers so I tack up and wait and wait and wait then ride again in the rain.
Above the snowline
Well-Known Member
Ducks will probably become very popular- oh I nearly forgot about bird flu
Nudibranch
Well-Known Member
Last summer was crap and wet and the hay and straw crops were poor. This winter has been something else. Not even proper winter, just one long soggy autumn. I topped up my lovely hardstanding last spring and it has disappeared under mud. The fields aren't bad as they are sloping but the main gateway is absolutely shocking and it just gets tramped onto the hardstanding and into the shelter.
Like some other posters I have had horses a very long time, and never have I seen wet and mud like this. We start lambing in 2 weeks, outdoors as they're hill sheep, but I've been resting the bottom field to use as it's nearest the house. Problem is, to get to it I have to wade through the absolute worst gateway with my lambing box full of reasonably expensibe kit every few hours. One slip in the mud and it's game over. I can't even get the tractor down there at the moment. Yet 2 summers ago everywhere was like concrete with scorched brown grass.
I'm just off to load up and try and get a ride; our normal access to safe hacking is gone because the field we have to cross is getting churned up so myself and the neighbour are kicked off until it dries. If it dries! So it's trailering out a lot, as the other alternative is a 500m section of main road playing Russian roulette with huge farm vehicles and speeding delivery vans. Currently it's a wall of drizzle yet the forecast states sunny spells.
Please, please be an El Nino blip and not the new normal....
Like some other posters I have had horses a very long time, and never have I seen wet and mud like this. We start lambing in 2 weeks, outdoors as they're hill sheep, but I've been resting the bottom field to use as it's nearest the house. Problem is, to get to it I have to wade through the absolute worst gateway with my lambing box full of reasonably expensibe kit every few hours. One slip in the mud and it's game over. I can't even get the tractor down there at the moment. Yet 2 summers ago everywhere was like concrete with scorched brown grass.
I'm just off to load up and try and get a ride; our normal access to safe hacking is gone because the field we have to cross is getting churned up so myself and the neighbour are kicked off until it dries. If it dries! So it's trailering out a lot, as the other alternative is a 500m section of main road playing Russian roulette with huge farm vehicles and speeding delivery vans. Currently it's a wall of drizzle yet the forecast states sunny spells.
Please, please be an El Nino blip and not the new normal....
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