what state is your paddock in

debsflo

debsflo

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mine have never looked so bad . fine until the thaw and now we are knee deep in mud .my land is fairly wet so i section off a trash paddock on the best bit which does get muddy but not like this .i was told its probably because the lower ground has still not completely thawed so water is lying on the top.i am praying for a bit of frost or dry weather in the hope things improve ,otherwise horses will be swimming. are yours bad ?
 
Mine is hideous! The ground is normally fairly sandy and well draining but is still frozen about 4" down so the thawed snow has nowhere to go apart from making puddles in patches and the rest is like slime. Baz has had the run of a couple of acres but I have fenced him into the top 1/2 acre tonight following his bucking and farting antics earlier when I went to catch him - the field now resembles a very well used rugby pitch with hundreds of deep divets everywhere. I hate winter.
 
paddock? what paddock? Infact, I've lost three horses. They used to be in a green patch of ground with nice lovely rugs on and now there seems to be three swamp-things in the err.. swamp what used to be a green patch. The swamp is carnivorous too. It nearly took my leg today but I managed to work my foot loose from my wellington boot and escaped with my life. And the wheelbarrow also made it although I was quite worried it wouldn't.

It's gross.
 
Really, really awful. To the point where mine have been in two days this week. My horses never stay in but they are trashing it completely. Hopefully it'll freeze again next week!
 
Ours are a terrible mess too. Worse ever seen. Like mud soup. My horse will usually go out in anything and stick her head down and trough, even if there's nothing to trough but she's having none of it at the mo and goes out and stands at the gate pitifully and digs 'til I give in and bring her in.
 
Handy's field is just mud. Gateway is atrocious, almost got stuck trying to get horse out of field! He's come in nearly every night this week caked in mud. He shares field with 9 other geldings. Hopefully another field will be opened up to them soon. There's no grass at all! He slides when getting up after a roll and isn't at all keen to be out atm (would rather be tucked up in bed!)
He wears his mud socks in the field but making very little difference.
 
Mine are pretty minging at the front near the gates but not too bad at the end.....I'm not too worried as come spring I section them off and let some areas have a rest and rotate all summer to keep the grazing fresh and fatties in trim!! I would rather have turnout allbeit muddy than have horses stuck in stables all winter, that, I'm afraid I cannot agree with.
 
On heavy clay so winter's always been a nightmare. Got hard standing in all the winter paddocks a couple of years ago, hiddeously expensive but I'm sooo glad of it; I don't lose wellies any more!
 
We're really lucky actually coz we've got 2 winter fields & 6 geldings are in my boy's field. We've used one since October..Since the snow the field we were using is pretty wet & muddy but not absolutely terrible..still got grass in it but it's really big & because our herd is only six they don't seem to churn the whole field up just sort of round the edges & the gate. Yesterday we opened up our second field, which is pretty dry & has nice lush grass saved from the summer so hopefully it will last us till April till we get into the summer fields.. Sorry to make you all jealous, my yard has fab grazing...the downside is now they have the run of both big fields i have miles to walk to get him in at night!
 
Che has his own paddock and most of it is OKish but the gateway and the fence line are hideous and guess where he spends most of the day!! the worst thing is when he sees me walking over to bring him in he throws himself on the floor and rolls. Twice this week I have resorted to hosing his rug down whilst hes still in it and using the yard brush to scrape the liquid mud soup off!!! He is disgusting :( We are on heavy clay so it is inevitable Im afraid, I still prefer turnout to staying in though.
 
My boys haven't been out since the snow went last week as the fields are now too wet and my yard doesn't allow turn out unless there's been a frost. :(

But my paddock at home isn't doing too bad. But the two little ponies don't wear shoes and don't run around much so it never gets too bad.
 
luckily mine is sandy soil so its pretty much dried out now. but the other day it was horrendous,like a sandy bog. took two nice dry days and its dry. the only thing ive got is loads and loads of poo picking to do. as there was no way of doing it in the snow as my fields are hilly with my muck heap at the top of one of them. didnt realise how bad they were. but its actually shameful. roll on summer when i can do them every day.
 
One of mine is really terrible- full of mud and bogs, it's completely poached- luckily I've decided to use this as the sacrifice paddock. Fortunately I have another paddock that I turnout her out into during the day and just bring her in for the night in the muddy paddock. The winter paddock is actually in good condition, but she isn't out too long in it so that helps. I'm hoping to be able to give my top paddock a rest in the spring- it really needs it!
 
We have gone from rock solid ruts to utter thick toffee mud which sticks to boots and hooves in massive clumps and feels like it's almost weighing you down. Must have spent about 45 mins this evening trying to get it off the horse's face, neck and mane.
 
Mine would be terrible as we are on heavy clay, but during the wettest times in winter they all go out in the all weather turnout with haylage nets. So they still have white socks and no mud fever and easily brushed off rugs. I would never be without the all weather. Yes, horses prefer grass and more space ideally (when it's not muddy and wet), but the turnout I have them in has plenty of space for play and cantering around, and I am far less nervous about injury. One year I gave them the choice by opening up the fields to the all weather. The horses hardly ventured out into the fields at all, preferring to stay out of the mud and munch on the haylage.
 
Cut up to the extent I can't tell the mounds of mud from the poo...one paddock (three horses rotating through 4 paddocks)....moving to paddock number 2 tomorrow. Of the other 2, one has yellow "grass" in, but the other looks hopeful.
 
I've no idea, some of it is still covered in snow (and has been for a month) and I've not seen it in daylight for 2 months! Round the gate is a little muddy but horsey generally comes in pretty clean so presuming rest is not too bad!
 
I have it not too bad, gates and edges of field bog, middle and far ends of fields still green.
Would love a nice hard frost now till spring, i hate the sticky mud that makes you boots weight a tonne, and sloppy mud that just sucks your boots in
 
Pretty dam good :) Photo taken today just after snow has finally cleared!

165116_490652606248_512706248_6372202_5737775_n.jpg
 
Ours is like that in about 2/3rds of the field but like a bog at the bottom and by the gateways. The heavy mud on my boots through the boggy bits must be doing me some good, my calves are killing me most of the time!
 
muddy!!!!!!!!!!! but big field behind (which luckily we've got till April) is looking pretty good only round the gate is it muddy. Letting the other 2 fields down lane have a rest because they are very boggy at bottom and therefore by gate as on little hill.
 
Ha Ha, I can be smug, the private yard where I keep my horse is fantastic, the fields look good as they are poo picked every day and any divots are replaced on a daily basis. There is not a fantastic amount of acreage but with care they can look good all the time. When I kept my horse at home, there were 2 on approx 4 acres which (admitttedly) is a lot more than most people have, the land was very very wet been on the moorland with rubbish drainage but I looked after the fields very well. Poo picking every evening after work with a miners lamp on my head, any divots were replaced every day, it was bloody hard work but worth it when comments from my friends were "You wouldn't think that there were horses grazed on them". The problem with a lot of yards is that they are greedy and have far to many horses on too small an acreage, am sure that the old saying is "an acre and half per horse". :D;):p
 
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