Sanversera
Well-Known Member
yes 40+ years of it. small bales. its so exhausting.
Winter is a cruel mistress
- Thread starter Little bit old-fashioned
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Little bit old-fashioned
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Thanks to everyone for sharing all your comments and suggestions! 
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
Oh yes the abcess. Started writing about it then got reply from farrier so parked that part for a bit
as you are dealing with one any advice on something i could cover her feet in. Want to coat them in something - perhaps red horse hoof paste - as worried about both getting re infected after i treat this one - or one of the others getting one as her poor hooves are cracking from all the wet then frozen spells so want something i could slap on the front as well as underneath to try and keep us going while long term hoof care plan put in place. Got her in October so again first round of winter and getting to know her feet. Farrier back from holiday Friday and will try to get down if poulticing doesn't draw out by then. Got to do battle with that tonight in the pitch black with a head torch and amber warning rain. Its set to continue to belt it down until tomorrow morning.
I am going to work on the - if she is very silly or fussy when I try and do it then she she is well enough that I can wait until I can see tomorrow morning to poultice if neccessary.
I managed to dig up a trench of top soil from around the gateway this morning (back killing me) but ran out of time to poultice before work, so I at least have a tie up spot with hard standing underneath so she isn't placing the hoof back in any top soil mud while I work on it.
She is out moving around eating with others and bright and herself and getting better so am hoping it is making its way out already and I can clean disinfect and then work out some sort of barrier to get us to the finish line.
But it's times like this when the loss of the field shelter - even just as a dry place to properly clean and poultice before going back out to walk around on it - really stings.
kerrieberry2
Well-Known Member
no real advice on anything that you could cover the hoof in, especially with it being so muddy. I'd probably just spray with iodine once its done. I had my horses in a clay field last year and my gelding blew an abscess, that I didn't even know he had, and it never caused him any further issues.Oh yes the abcess. Started writing about it then got reply from farrier so parked that part for a bit
Farrier back from holiday Friday and will try to get down if poulticing doesn't draw out by then. Got to do battle with that tonight in the pitch black with a head torch and amber warning rain. Its set to continue to belt it down until tomorrow morning.
I am going to work on the - if she is very silly or fussy when I try and do it then she she is well enough that I can wait until I can see tomorrow morning to poultice if neccessary.
I managed to dig up a trench of top soil from around the gateway this morning (back killing me) but ran out of time to poultice before work, so I at least have a tie up spot with hard standing underneath so she isn't placing the hoof back in any top soil mud while I work on it.
She is out moving around eating with others and bright and herself and getting better so am hoping it is making its way out already and I can clean disinfect and then work out some sort of barrier to get us to the finish line.
But it's times like this when the loss of the field shelter - even just as a dry place to properly clean and poultice before going back out to walk around on it - really stings.
this year, however, my poor mare has had a stubborn one and the vet mis-diagnosed her, so didn't dig out the abscess, which then tracked up and tried to come out of the coronet band but also got trapped, so £1150 later, the vet had to dig a massive hole, right up to the top of her foot to release the pus! so now I've got to keep her booted and wrapped up, so it doesn't reinfect. thankfully my field is on chalk, so not too muddy but its still be a massive stress
KikiDee
Well-Known Member
Not as rough as your situation but yes this winter has been/is tough! Moved old retired horse in March to field-share with a companion horse - moved in March so likewise haven't really worked out the best set-up yet. Great all summer, field is split into 2 to try and rest some grass. The bit they are on now is hilly so top half is ok and dry but bottom half is the wettest part of the whole field and now just pure mud and a slog dealing with every day and I want to cry for my poor horse sinking hock-deep in it (he doesn't seem to mind and can of course walk over to the dry bit of field, but it still upsets me). Companion horse is a bully around food so a military operation every day to separate and feed them, stables are old and rotten (which I knew but only wanted to use them as a shelter o rin emergencies) but this means when other horse finishes eating it just barges straight through the closed door, so I have to supervise at all times during feeding when I could do with getting on with other jobs. I want to cry every time they decide to run around and churn the field up more. I'm dragging out 2 builders bags of hay every day for them, through the knee deep mud and my back is knackered from it. No idea where I'm actually getting my next hay order from when this bale runs out as everyone has sold out, don't ask me about that 
You're not alone! I know it will soon be spring and everything will dry up and it will all be lovely again but dear god.....
You're not alone! I know it will soon be spring and everything will dry up and it will all be lovely again but dear god.....
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
Oh gosh so sorry to hear that. And the vets bill! Spring can't come soon enough - or just an end to all this blooming rain so the fields don't get any muddier and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.
Shall we appreciate the irony of what my immediate thought to respond with was....
"Remember you can't do anymore than you are already doing to keep her tucked up and safe from the mud and you can only do as much as you can do."
..... am totally aware this entire thread is about my own inability to apply that thinking to my own situation ....
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
Dragging the hay through the mud isn't fun and I totally feel for your back.Not as rough as your situation but yes this winter has been/is tough! Moved old retired horse in March to field-share with a companion horse - moved in March so likewise haven't really worked out the best set-up yet. Great all summer, field is split into 2 to try and rest some grass. The bit they are on now is hilly so top half is ok and dry but bottom half is the wettest part of the whole field and now just pure mud and a slog dealing with every day and I want to cry for my poor horse sinking hock-deep in it (he doesn't seem to mind and can of course walk over to the dry bit of field, but it still upsets me). Companion horse is a bully around food so a military operation every day to separate and feed them, stables are old and rotten (which I knew but only wanted to use them as a shelter o rin emergencies) but this means when other horse finishes eating it just barges straight through the closed door, so I have to supervise at all times during feeding when I could do with getting on with other jobs. I want to cry every time they decide to run around and churn the field up more. I'm dragging out 2 builders bags of hay every day for them, through the knee deep mud and my back is knackered from it. No idea where I'm actually getting my next hay order from when this bale runs out as everyone has sold out, don't ask me about that
You're not alone! I know it will soon be spring and everything will dry up and it will all be lovely again but dear god.....
The only silver lining to all this back breaking manual labour of winter is I havent been this slim since my early 20's. Shame it will all have piled back on by summer when it could be shown off in dresses
Oh the hay situation as well. I hope you find someone to sell some. That's been another huge stress for everyone this year. Let's hope it means we'll get a bumper harvest next year.
KikiDee
Well-Known Member
Dragging the hay through the mud isn't fun and I totally feel for your back.
The only silver lining to all this back breaking manual labour of winter is I havent been this slim since my early 20's. Shame it will all have piled back on by summer when it could be shown off in dresses
Oh the hay situation as well. I hope you find someone to sell some. That's been another huge stress for everyone this year. Let's hope it means we'll get a bumper harvest next year.
I actually tell myself this every evening - I have lost over a stone since start of winter so silver linings
I can get small bales but at £8 a pop and I reckon I'd be putting out 2 a day, nobody seems to have big-bales left round here. Yes I keep telling myself next winter will hopefully at least be easier without the added hay dramas!
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
I actually tell myself this every evening - I have lost over a stone since start of winter so silver linings
I can get small bales but at £8 a pop and I reckon I'd be putting out 2 a day, nobody seems to have big-bales left round here. Yes I keep telling myself next winter will hopefully at least be easier without the added hay dramas!
for the weight loss 
for the cost of haydorsetladette
Well-Known Member
I have no lighting or electric either. I use these
I have a lot of them now so have charged ones in the car, charging ones at home and 'good' ones in the feed room. They are magnetic so you can stick them to gates etc. I have a shipping container as a feed room and tie up against that so this is where I stick them when I need too. You can also balance them on kick board etc in shelters and stables if needed. I love them. They are not to bright that they blind you like my OH head lights (I can never see what I'm doing when he's 'helping' in the dark).
Strip Light LED PIR Motion Sensor Wireless USB Rechargeable Cabinet Closet Lamp | eBay UK
Wireless PIR Motion Sensor Light – Easy & Smart Lighting Solution. No hard wiring required—install it anywhere in minutes. Smart Motion Detection (PIR Sensor). Easily adjust brightness from5% to 100% by pressing and holding the button, allowing you to create the perfect lighting atmosphere.
www.ebay.co.uk
I have a lot of them now so have charged ones in the car, charging ones at home and 'good' ones in the feed room. They are magnetic so you can stick them to gates etc. I have a shipping container as a feed room and tie up against that so this is where I stick them when I need too. You can also balance them on kick board etc in shelters and stables if needed. I love them. They are not to bright that they blind you like my OH head lights (I can never see what I'm doing when he's 'helping' in the dark).
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
That is a brilliant tip thank you! We have solar ones (currently on the water logged field shelter) that we are moving at the weekend to outside the haystore we built ourselves out of reclaimed fence panels and roofing felt - (so much cheaper and bigger than a garden shed) so it will give me light at the feed stations but these would be perfect inside for now and future. Ill be ordering today!!I have no lighting or electric either. I use these
Strip Light LED PIR Motion Sensor Wireless USB Rechargeable Cabinet Closet Lamp | eBay UK
Wireless PIR Motion Sensor Light – Easy & Smart Lighting Solution. No hard wiring required—install it anywhere in minutes. Smart Motion Detection (PIR Sensor). Easily adjust brightness from5% to 100% by pressing and holding the button, allowing you to create the perfect lighting atmosphere.www.ebay.co.uk
I have a lot of them now so have charged ones in the car, charging ones at home and 'good' ones in the feed room. They are magnetic so you can stick them to gates etc. I have a shipping container as a feed room and tie up against that so this is where I stick them when I need too. You can also balance them on kick board etc in shelters and stables if needed. I love them. They are not to bright that they blind you like my OH head lights (I can never see what I'm doing when he's 'helping' in the dark).
dorsetladette
Well-Known Member
The longest ones for best light coverage!!
They make great replica light sabras too
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
As lots here have developed their own yards over time, does anyone have any mobile stables recommendations that aren't up in the sky expensive but still half decent quality? I'd love it if they could install too.
I'm exhausted and whilst previously I had visions of saving a bit of money installing ourselves I am honestly at the stage where I'd pay pretty much anything not to have that task to do. Will also take a pro couple of hours and us days probably.
We are based in south West.
I'm exhausted and whilst previously I had visions of saving a bit of money installing ourselves I am honestly at the stage where I'd pay pretty much anything not to have that task to do. Will also take a pro couple of hours and us days probably.
We are based in south West.
Suechoccy
Well-Known Member
Think of this year as the Learning Year. You are discovering things, changing and amending those things.
You are a Super Manager who is in the midst of carrying out a detailed programme over several months of Continuous Improvement Process.
Along the way you are learning new ways of doing things - these are your Marginal Gains.
You will be compiling a list of all the jobs that will need doing during summer when the ground is dry.
All of that gives you the total satisfaction that next winter and subsequent winters, you will ace it!
You are a Super Manager who is in the midst of carrying out a detailed programme over several months of Continuous Improvement Process.
Along the way you are learning new ways of doing things - these are your Marginal Gains.
You will be compiling a list of all the jobs that will need doing during summer when the ground is dry.
All of that gives you the total satisfaction that next winter and subsequent winters, you will ace it!
suestowford
Well-Known Member
I did several years on a boggy winter field with only natural shelter. No hardstanding and a lot of praying that there would be somewhere I could put hay out where it wouldn't get blown into the next county before they could eat it. I recall a lot of falling over in the mud too. You have my sympathy.
Just remember, it will never be this bad again!
Just remember, it will never be this bad again!
Suechoccy
Well-Known Member
Litle tips I've learnt over the years...might be helpful to others.
Builders sacks make excellent "sleigh bags" that you can fill with hay and drag along the ground easily when it's too wet/muddy/poached to use the wheelbarrow
Sweep any hardstanding (inc roadplanings) daily and it saves a gradual unseen buildup of mank and mud
Use a woolly hat or cap with integral head torch
Fit solar powered and USB-rechargeable lights inside stables and above inside of any feedroom door
Put roadplanings, mud control mats down in summer onto levelled dry ground.
Install gutters on any stables or field shelters to direct water away and into IBC tanks. Install overflows on such systems for when those tanks are full!
Builders sacks make excellent "sleigh bags" that you can fill with hay and drag along the ground easily when it's too wet/muddy/poached to use the wheelbarrow
Sweep any hardstanding (inc roadplanings) daily and it saves a gradual unseen buildup of mank and mud
Use a woolly hat or cap with integral head torch
Fit solar powered and USB-rechargeable lights inside stables and above inside of any feedroom door
Put roadplanings, mud control mats down in summer onto levelled dry ground.
Install gutters on any stables or field shelters to direct water away and into IBC tanks. Install overflows on such systems for when those tanks are full!
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
Love this. Great way to look at it. The Learning Year.
There have been marginal gains and a few:
- knowing water logged field is summer paddock only makes much easier to work out decent grazing rotation. It is also the flatest field and a big square so will make perfect summer riding paddock after a full winters rest and a harrow.
- I now know that rather than use this small paddock to make hay (my original plan) use it for summer grazing and rest half the big paddock in spring for 1 hay cut later on if possible and then rest again to be a winter paddock after with horses having run of lower half and smaller paddock during this time.
- And knowing how wet that field is now do not put any structure there - imagine if we had extended on what was already there unknowingly during summer. Would have been awful!
- discovered that underneath a thin layer of top soil we do have a considerable area of hard standing underneath which shouldn't be hard to reveal and gives us an instant place to install mobile shelter and stable that won't sink or flood next year.
- It is also next to gate and will allow us to drive in and out of field to load/unload safely be it to take horses somewhere or with hay 12 months of the year.
- this discovery resulted in a few satisfying weeks or horses eating out of the mud and felt like things were if not together functioning for a while.
- said hard standing will also serve us as a perfect feeding area next winter once properly exposed will be next to a shelter/stables and will mean we don't wreck other parts of field (as I did throughout autumn, feeding in the wrong places)
- we already have a perfectly good big field shelter that can cheaply and easily be mended once cleared out and put back into use for shade and summer fly cover as well as muddy winter as its at the top of the hill. (We are working on this tomorrow)
Writing it out like this really does hammer home how valuable all this information is now and that forewarned is forearmed. Is that the saying?
Little bit old-fashioned
Active Member
This. Made this mistake this year. Didn't keep picking up hay off top soil often enough and then it froze then the rain came and I've made more work for myself. This is now part of the daily routine.