When is the rain coming? and how's everyone coping?

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MissMincePie&Brandy

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Rock hard ground, sand schools that have become too deep and dangerous to ride in. Even the ground in the woods, which is always usually soft all year round is like concrete! There's so little grass that I'm still feeding as much hay as I would do during the winter. I've noticed more coughs, and a few horses on our yard have puffy fetlocks and a few are what I would describe as footy, including my retired TB who is arthritic and has navicular.

How is everyone else getting on?

I'm just doing lots of road walking, and then boxing out to hire better surfaces for my schooling and faster work, which is all adding up and becoming expensive :(
I'm also soaking their feet and putting kevin bacon on afterwards, which seems to be keeping the hooves in good condition at least.
 
The cobs feet are very dry and starting to crumble and crack, they normally go 10 wks inbetween trims (there barefoot) but its only been 8 so farrier is coming next week to sort.
TB is currently out of work due to back probs but her feet are dry too, shes normally got lovely feet :rolleyes:
Luckily though we have a menage with a good surface, not that i need it at the moment :o
 
BBC weather forecasts rain for this weekend from thursday on the west wales coast & worcestershire. Hoping its going to come this time we need the grass to grow to for hay at home! v:(
My cousin's arena was ok, its rubber topped though.. was starting to get deep & horses hooves were fine when I was at home.. they are pretty sturdy now luckily
 
Argh! It's awful!

I gave up my stable (grass livery now) so that my arthritic horse could be out 24/7, which is better for his creaky joints and has helped him but he could really do without being on this hard ground all of the time. During the day he goes on a starvation patch (very little of anything on it so gets lots of soaked hay) and I've actually put his old stable rubber mats out so he has something softer to stand on if he chooses to.

Our arena is so deep, despite watering, that it's not worth risking riding in as will do a whole load of damage to soft tissues. Even the yard down the road, who have a better surface than us, are struggling to keep the going good - they're now watering and leveling 3x per day apparently to stop it from getting too deep.

I am bored of just walking everywhere, am bored of not going on bridleways because they are hard and uneven, bored of not being able to go XC. My horse is bored of standing on a hard field all day long and of being hot. My YO is fed up with horses eating the grass down, it not growing back and then it burning where the horses have wee'd on it.

So all in all, we desperately need rain!! :(
 
Well I've got a TB as fat as pig and lado is starting to drop a little (but I cut his weight gain feed down and he's getting lots of exercise to be honest so he needed to loose that grass belly) so in some ways I don't want the grass to grow but in others I really do wish it would rain as I don't want it eating bald and scalding with the sun, so I'm divided!
 
Kenzo said:
Well I've got a TB as fat as pig and lado is starting to drop a little (but I cut his weight gain feed down and he's getting lots of exercise to be honest so he needed to loose that grass belly) so in some ways I don't want the grass to grow but in others I really do wish it would rain as I don't want it eating bald and scalding with the sun, so I'm divided!
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I know what you mean and our YO did say yesterday that the only reason she isn't frantic about lack of grass yet is that all of the horses on the yard are overweight/don't want to put anymore weight on.

I'm not bothered about more grass but I would like the ground to be softer!
 
Lol you can't please some people....when it's raining you all want the sun and when it's sunny you want the rain! We have to put up with similar conditions (rock hard ground, no grass, dry feet, dusty coats etc) pretty much all year round. The ground where I am gets so hard that as soon as we have just a tiny bit of rain it gets really slippery and then just floods because it can't drain properly. We never have grass, the ponies just have their hay (well, dried alfalfa, there is no grass to make proper hay), split into 5 feeds throughout the day so they never go too long without, plenty of hoof oil, hacks are mainly in walk with short trots. Must be nice to have woods to hack through, grass for horses to eat, be able to canter on your hacks...lol ;)
 
My grass looks seriously ill- all yellow and dying back- and that's in the summer paddock that has yet to be grazed! My mare's coping ok, not footy or anything she just seems to like spending more time in her rubber matted shaving filled shelter- unfortunately it doesn't stop her stuffing her face!
 
Was decidedly wet all weekend and last night (Devon). Rather entertaining thunderstorm stuck around for about 3 hours on Saturday... Got rather soaked on a visit for a dog walk to beach and SW coast path (not even close to warm enough for sitting on the beach - OH got it right in waterproof trousers and winterish coat + fleece!

Typical - the only bit of the country that was soggy for the bank holiday was one that relies on tourist income!
 
I can guarentee that it will rain this Saturday where I am! I have been cramming like mad to learn my first ever dressage test that I was hoping to hack to Saturday morning and you can bet that after weeks of glorious sunshine it is going to hammer it down!!! We too also desperately need rain as our fields are terrible and the tracks for hacking are like concrete. My Yo has been watering our school every night to keep it useable and that seems to be working but is far from a perfect situation when water companies are warning against wasting water. I just wish it didn't have to rain this Saturday :-(
 
Well the grass is fine and our school is still ok to ride in, it is better when damp but its not bad now. Only thing is the pony is getting fat because we cant do any fast work, and as so few on the yard are in work he is being used to mow down the grass in some of the fields with the aim of me working it off him but its not happening :( but his feet are fab (no shoes) they have hardened up nicley and the extra road work we have been doing has made them a better shape and we are now working more on hacking out on our own not around the fields as I may as well go on the roads as it is just as hard so he is coming on well with that and getting more confident. Cant complain though it has been fab having sunshine and we have not had many of the issues that others here have had.
 
Well I hope it comes for you all and then perhaps it will stop here. I think there has been one day in the last two weeks when we haven't had at least some rain:mad: Jeez, if I wanted to be rained on I would have gone to live in BC. Jade says she has snowflakes :(

My gateways are bogs, my yard looks like Salisbury Plain after the tanks have been playing and there is water lying everywhere, it's just like being back in Wales. The water table is now so high that there is nowhere for water to go to, even on our sandy soil :(

This field is sand and usually as dry as a bone at this time of year, you can see the standing water and that is uniform, not only in puddles, this foal is going to be thoroughly puddle proofed before he is a week old :D. Useless. It is also mosquito heaven, we lasted about five minutes out there yesterday during a break in the rain before we all could stand being bitten no longer.

It's been raining all night, 1.15pm and it is still raining. I have been putting blankets on cold, wet horses, ridiculous:mad:

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Hopefully we are going to get some on thursday/friday. It will be nice if the ground gets a bit softer and everthing is less dusty but if it brings the grass on it is bad news for my porker mare as she will have to start coming in during the day.

No doubt when it comes that will be it for the rest of the summer and come hay cutting time we'll all be praying for a hot dry spell!
 
Haven't been riding my mare due to the tooth issue, but we go down every week for a lesson, and instructor has a fab school to ride in. Out hacking, it's just walking and trotting.....the bridlepaths are clay, which sets like concrete... :(
 
Even here, in Ireland, where it's always raining, we hadn't had rain for weeks, was beginning to despair, but we got rain on sunday evening, and it rained for most of yesterday, cloudy, windy and cold today, but no rain, it's starting to get back to normal here, just when we were starting to get used to the lovely sunshine!!!!!
 
Perfect weather for horses - considering most evolved in deserts (apart from our forest/moorland types). I'm jumping, cantering, trotting (in bone dry field) but I have got a barefooter so not too worried. No grass - no fatties!

I think it rather splendid we are having some mediterranean weather.

You'll be sorry when the rain does come... but at least hay for next year will be able to grow tall :)
 
Enfys said:
Well I hope it comes for you all and then perhaps it will stop here. I think there has been one day in the last two weeks when we haven't had at least some rain:mad: Jeez, if I wanted to be rained on I would have gone to live in BC.
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LOL. True enough, we had 20 days of rain this past April with temperatures well below normal. We haven't even been able to open the pasture yet because it's too muddy and the horses will just tear it up. Lucky for me my girl doesn't mind standing hock deep in muck in her paddock. :D

It hasn't been warm enough here for the mosquitoes yet, but I'm sure we'll be seeing them soon.

I will do a west coast rain dance for all of you over there in the UK so that you can have ours. :)
 
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CanadianGirl said:
I will do a west coast rain dance for all of you over there in the UK so that you can have ours. :)
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East coast version coming from Ontario :D

Canadian Girl, rain is the price you pay for your lovely mountains and lakes though ;)
 
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Forecast for rain this weekend in Hampshire - hope it actually arrives this time.

I will be doing my rain dance thats for sure - this will consist of washing the car, leaving the horses out without rugs, leaving the washing out on the line...might even leave the car sun roof open:)
 
Becca-84 said:
Lol you can't please some people....when it's raining you all want the sun and when it's sunny you want the rain! We have to put up with similar conditions (rock hard ground, no grass, dry feet, dusty coats etc) pretty much all year round. The ground where I am gets so hard that as soon as we have just a tiny bit of rain it gets really slippery and then just floods because it can't drain properly. We never have grass, the ponies just have their hay (well, dried alfalfa, there is no grass to make proper hay), split into 5 feeds throughout the day so they never go too long without, plenty of hoof oil, hacks are mainly in walk with short trots. Must be nice to have woods to hack through, grass for horses to eat, be able to canter on your hacks...lol ;)
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LOL! We are the same - athough I won't feed alfalfa and mine are on straw. I live in what is basically a desert.

We canter on the roads and any tracks that are not too stony but we are barefoot (or in hoofboots for really long hacks).
 
We are desperate for rain here.

Our fields have hardly any grass despite being fertilised twice so far, they need rain. The tracks are like concrete so its walk and trot only on hacks. We have a lovely sand school which is still usable but the dust is unreal. We have some some gallops we can use but even they are getting really dusty now.

The Met office says we are going to get some rain on Friday night, Metcheck says that we may have some on Sunday afternoon but nothing before. Goodness knows :rolleyes:
 
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