Relentless rain - who else has had enough?

I am really fed up of it, it seems so have been raining for months. The last decent weather we had was last March! In the 20 years we have lived here I have never seen my fields so wet and muddy. We are definitely thinking of moving to a drier climate when my OH retires. Just got to figure out how to take the dogs, horses and cats with us.
 
Field looks like the somme.....
Horses and me sick of it, they are really bouncy as although they are out 12hrs as they spend most the time sulking in the shelter....never seen four horses in a 18x22ft..(its open at two ends for safety)
 
So glad it's not just me! I lost my cob last month and am missing him like mad (and searching for a new horse) BUT I don't miss seeing him hock deep in clay with his mud fever and looking totally fed up. The pony has been yard-bound since December now - I give him 10 mins in the garden now and again just so he can roll but the field is a no-go and will be for sometime if this rain continues...

Where to move to - Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain?!?!
 
This is my first winter running my own livery yard and I am sick of the mud and wet. Me and my little apprentice are exhausted with it. I have still. Managed to turn out and poo pick but afterthe rain in the past two days I have made the tough decision to shut the fields before some horse or person is hurt.
 
OMG yes!!! It's so depressing :( The horses are normally out most of the day at this time of year, instead they're only out for 2 hours. Most of my liveries are only turning out once per week, which has never happened before. We're lucky that we have good facilities (horse walker, round pen, outdoor and indoor arena), the horses are happy but I'm so fed up of mucking out!

The people I feel most sorry for though are the arable farmers, they have barely nothing drilled and what they did get in is ruined. They're going to struggle, not just this year but next. Straw and horse feed will be through the roof next winter.
 
This weather is seriously making me question having horses - the last 12mnths have been like an endurance test with everything becoming just a chore because of the weather.

Summer was pants as so many competitons were cancelled, followed by the worst hunting season we have ever had due to the continued wet ground - it all starts to seem a pointless after a while.

I have had to reduce the number of liveries we have as our ground cannot cope - it has been fine in previous years, but just can't risk ruining all the turnout and the ensuing recovery costs.

Even the dogs are miserable as can't loose them on the yard as it is so 'mucky', and am limiting their walks to save the constant washing of towels and kitchen floor.

If this is the 'future', I am not liking the look of it....a lifestyle that doesn't depend on the weather seems more enticing by the minute!
 
tallyho! said:
Not even snowdrops have cheered me up this year... i am so depressed. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than pretty flowers I'm afraid.

Sadly... the depression that is keeping the weather system like it is now over the UK is set to stay thanks to the melting ice-caps and logging of rainforests.

It will never end.
Click to expand...

not quite... The uk pattern from climate change is for warmer wetter winters but for hotter drier summers - so lots more summer drought in south east and melting Tarmac. And more extreme events throughout the year. Its sucky :( not sure the thought of hot droughts makes me feel better when i look at the mud and rain!
 
I lived in nz, perfect weather not too hot in summer, or too cold in winter (Auckland area obviously south island is freezing).

Pony club was great, all facilities great etc but downside, rubbish hacking! And they hunt with wire fences... Bit too risky for me!
 
Fed up ... thinking about relocating ... Got to be a better country to live in than the UK and the sh&&&t we have to put up with?

Isnt it weird that in England our flag offends so many people, yet our benefits don't......
 
In November I had to clip my shetland because she was sweating so much in the mild weather.

Tonight, even in a combo she was literally shivering and her legs were sopping wet up to her elbows. Belly caked in slop and looking so cold and miserable that the BF shifted three large rounds to corner off a stable for her in the barn. I spent the day flailing brambles just so my big two could stand somewhere that's not slop, and my dad and bf are taking tomorrow off so they can put the partitions up so we can bring all three in to dry out.
 
It's disgusting - nothing but mud and TBH I cannot see an end in sight, if last summer is anything to go by. I have said to myself that if we get another grotty, wet summer I shall be selling up, there is no point in spending lots of money on a hobby that I no longer enjoy.
 
Oh gawd I'm so sick of it too :( Keep telling myself it will get better soon but I really feel depressed, its so unrelenting. My paddocks are like swamps and my 2 horses are plain miserable. Oldie tried to turn around and go back to her stable this morning. Dont blame her really

Come on spring please elbow winter out of the way now
 
It really has been the worst time to be a new horse owner! I did quite like being able to avoid going to the yard in weather like this :P but now I have to, arg! Still, Neddy's face makes it all worth while!
 
It must be bad, every day my 3 are charging across the field with mud flying everywhere to come in, they are at the entrance to the stables before i've even shut the car door most times. Normally they live out all year only coming in if its really pouring down for a long time, this year they are gladly bringing themselves in every night and unwillingly shuffling out in the morning looking thoroughly miserable.

The only good point is in taking pity on them is I've been going to get them in in my lunch break which means no time for stuffing my face with junk, my work friends have got used to picking bits of hay out of my hair brushing mud off my arse, pointing out i still have half the field attached to my shoe etc :D

Anyway since it was something approaching sunny, well not raining anyway for a WHOLE day I have decided it is now offically spring and they will be moving into one of the summer fields tomorrow where the mini shetland wont sink up to her knees in the boggiest bit, and there is actually grass. I just can't take the mud any longer and seeing them looking fed up
 
My shetland is really footy, we brought her in last night and after she ploughed the BF down whilst I attempted to wash her legs in warm water (something I'd never normally do for fear of encouraging mud fever), we changed her rug and left her to dry. Thankfully it looks like she doesn't have mud fever but since brushing off the dry mud she's still not dry down to her skin so I guess she's living in the barn for the long haul til her poor little feet are less tender.

Who ever heard of a rugged shetland being cold? First time for everything though!
 
I've been fed up with it since December, I hope next month is the start of a dry season as lord knows we could do with it!
 
I have finally taken the decision that the horses are going to stay in. I got the hunter in last night and she was absolutely covered from head to toe in wet, horrible mud.

Bottom field a bit better so little mare not quite so dirty but the fields are trashed.

They can both go out after big horse has been hunting the day before but thats it until it dries up.

And I try and turn them out every day without fail. I can't believe I managed all winter and now I've been beaten and its nearly March!!!
 
The people who lived here before us put cream colored floor tiles in the kitchen...which has the only access to the back garden. It is mud coloured at the moment. I will clean it when the weather drys up enough to make it worthwhile!
 
Posted too soon and can't edit!

Anyway, I have pretty much lived in wellies since November 2011, swopping them for riding boots or trainers occasionally. I may graduate to actual waders at this rate. My brother always says if it's snowing, it's winter and if it's raining it's summer...sunshine means you have accidently left Ireland!
 
I'm in Leicestershire on the Soar flood plain and it's living up to it's name. The ground is bow so saturated that even a small amount of snow melt or rain results in more flooding. We've been using a local road which floods to get the horses legs clean and give them some exercise. Field is a mud bath so horses not bothering to go out much.
Don't know whether anyone else saw the C4 program about last years floods but it was very worrying. However this time last year we were all worried about the drought. :rolleyes:
blue skies and sunshine today but after snow and heavy rain yesterday the floods up again:(
 
The fields are truly dire, but you know what? I'm just thrilled that it isn't pitch black when I set off in the morning. Still need full lights, but I can see where I'm going. Not often I'm optimistic when everyone else is depressed, but there you go!

Chloe has taken to waiting in the (open) stable when I arrive. Only Henry is waiting at the gate, now. She's a delicate flower, that one!
 
In 13 years on this yard have never seen the fields anything like so bad. But just a word for our little hero pony. He and I lead the way every morning in the dark while my OH has the two big boys behind us. He stands solid as a rock, backs up as required, and holds me up as we negotiate the two gateways with me slipping and sliding and sinking in the mud. The two horses might pranny about but never him as I hold open the gates wide enough for them to get through. Thank you Rumbee Bear!
 
Usually our ponies stay out from Oct-March for their annual break.

This year they've been in full time since January....our fields are like swamps, its just horrific. The ponies are now living in at night and go out in the day for a short while either in the least boggy field or in the school.

Our 'exercise track' now resembles a ploughed field with water obstacles! My long suffering and amazing groom deserves a medal!!
 
I'm genuinely so down I have been crying this morning.
My old mare is stiff and sore from the damp, the filly looks like a bag of spanners since she is now refusing to wear a rug, and has got one fat hind leg and one sore one. I suspect mud fever, but can't get through the layers of mud to find out, and can't dry the legs if I wash them.
Mine live out with a shelter, but the field the shelter is on is flooded and half way up my wellys in mud, so un-usable, and they are on the 'dry' field which 'only' has coronet deep mud and standing water.

I can't sell up as the filly is worth nothing, and my old lady is going nowhere, but if this goes on much longer I will have a breakdown I think. It's never a sign of a stable mind when you sob every time you go and feed & hay up.
 
My girls had a lesson in a howling blizzard yesterday and this morning we woke up to flooded fields.But,the weather forecast tonight was for warm,sunny dry days for the next few days.Can't wait!
 
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