Winter is a cruel mistress

dorsetladette said:
Anyone got Noah's number? I think we need a boat!
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Everything flooded here. Main roads, country lanes, villages, the dip just down the road from my house, fields and fields underwater. Tail backs of traffic and crashes everywhere.

Absolute bedlam. Never been so grateful to have the battered old 4x4 and not a small runaround.

Didn't sleep a wink worrying about those darned animals who aside from a bit soggy seemed very non-plussed about the situation this morning.

I've got to hand it to the field. Yes we have puddles but we aren't actually underwater. So I'm calling that huge positive. And all the rain is actually helping some of the top soil wash away and revealing hard standing. Positive number 2 😂

But yes very much need an ark over here. And would you believe....it is STILL raining 😂 looks set to improve in a bit though.

Been asking colleagues at work (we work remotely from all over the place) and deffo seems like South West took the worst hit last night!
 
Yeah getting in to work was a challenge. We have a combination of heavy rain (amber warnings) and high tides which is causing most roads to flood. closed roads everywhere and the divertions are flooded. Next high tide is at 6pm ish but it seems to be a very long slow high tide starting around 3.30 so roads likely to be really bad at home time 4pm. All traffic diverted the way I go to the horses so it's going to be long and slow.

But yes plus points are I have a battered old 4x4 that gets through the water fine. And i put a fresh bale of hay in the feeder last night in the dry so they are good for a few days and my water tanks will be nicely filled with all this rain.

Another plus - we cancelled a meeting this morning as none of us could hear each other due to the rain.
 
dorsetladette said:
Yeah getting in to work was a challenge. We have a combination of heavy rain (amber warnings) and high tides which is causing most roads to flood. closed roads everywhere and the divertions are flooded. Next high tide is at 6pm ish but it seems to be a very long slow high tide starting around 3.30 so roads likely to be really bad at home time 4pm. All traffic diverted the way I go to the horses so it's going to be long and slow.

But yes plus points are I have a battered old 4x4 that gets through the water fine. And i put a fresh bale of hay in the feeder last night in the dry so they are good for a few days and my water tanks will be nicely filled with all this rain.

Another plus - we cancelled a meeting this morning as none of us could hear each other due to the rain.
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Crumbs! You have it worse than us I think.

If I didn't work from home I would 100% have said couldn't possibly make it in in these conditions and I'll see you all tomorrow. Lol. Admire your dedication for battling your way in!

Knowing hay was done night before and that's off the table must have been such a relief!
 
Rain, rain, rain as far as the forecast goes out!

But at this point I think I'm just resigned to it.... I mean the mud literally can't get any more muddy right? 🤣

Haylage delivery turned up at the weekend which was a relief, rolled 10 round bales across the field by hand as tractor couldn't get through the gateway 🥵

Moved the hay feeders up the hill out of the mud at the weekend too, which is nice for the horses but now means lugging 2 x 20kg nets of bloody heavy wet haylage up the hill every night, the joys. Telling myself I will be very streamlined and fit by spring! The ungrateful whatsits are also turning their nose up at said haylage but hey they are fat and get plenty of feed so I am done stressing about it.

Farrier due on Monday which is giving me a bit of a predicament as I NEED to get them in out of the mud for the morning to dry their legs off or farrier will kill me - no problem you'd think as I have 2 stables. However humungous dino-horse companion won't stay in a stable as he has worked out he can just lean on the door and push the bolts out the wood and literally barge his way out. I have no plan other than currently threatening to shoot it on a daily basis 🙃
 
KikiDee said:
Rain, rain, rain as far as the forecast goes out!

But at this point I think I'm just resigned to it.... I mean the mud literally can't get any more muddy right? 🤣

Haylage delivery turned up at the weekend which was a relief, rolled 10 round bales across the field by hand as tractor couldn't get through the gateway 🥵

Moved the hay feeders up the hill out of the mud at the weekend too, which is nice for the horses but now means lugging 2 x 20kg nets of bloody heavy wet haylage up the hill every night, the joys. Telling myself I will be very streamlined and fit by spring! The ungrateful whatsits are also turning their nose up at said haylage but hey they are fat and get plenty of feed so I am done stressing about it.

Farrier due on Monday which is giving me a bit of a predicament as I NEED to get them in out of the mud for the morning to dry their legs off or farrier will kill me - no problem you'd think as I have 2 stables. However humungous dino-horse companion won't stay in a stable as he has worked out he can just lean on the door and push the bolts out the wood and literally barge his way out. I have no plan other than currently threatening to shoot it on a daily basis 🙃
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Giggled at the end line. That would drive me absolutely nuts too. They know just how to get you right! When you are already at the brink they think 'oh I'll just destroy X, Y, Z and really give her a breakdown' 😂

We had to cancel farrier this morning as it would have been a nightmare. They will just have to wait for it to stop raining.

Other half literally said on Sunday when we were shovelling tons of wet slurry top soil out of the feed areas 'why can't we strap a scraper to the horses and get them to tow it out the way for us?

Very good question indeed and got me thinking I might need to alter my long term training plans as we do indeed have some decent horse power going to waste for practical purposes 😂 - any of yours broken to tow said hayledge up the hill??

We now have HAIL STORMS here. Ricocheing off all the garden furniture. Not going to look at the horse cam. Give me strength honestly.
 
I had contemplating cancelling farrier tbh - I just can't see feasibly how I can get them done but they have gone 7 weeks without a trim although feet are looking ok and growth is slow due to winter. Would I be horribly negligent to leave them another few weeks and pray for better/drier weather 🙈

We had the exactly same conversation at the weekend about strapping the horses to drag the haylage up the field - they just stood watching over the fence like the freeloaders they are 🤣
 
KikiDee said:
I had contemplating cancelling farrier tbh - I just can't see feasibly how I can get them done but they have gone 7 weeks without a trim although feet are looking ok and growth is slow due to winter. Would I be horribly negligent to leave them another few weeks and pray for better/drier weather 🙈

We had the exactly same conversation at the weekend about strapping the horses to drag the haylage up the field - they just stood watching over the fence like the freeloaders they are 🤣
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Absolutely freeloaders. The lot of them. And ungrateful ones to boot! Haha

If it makes you feel any better by the time farrier comes next week now ours will have done 9 weeks. They get done every 8 as standard (no shoes and just trims as all currently doing nothing but burning a hole in my pocket) so by time next week comes that will be 9 weeks. If I'm honest them going a few extra days is the least of my current worries. As others have said to me throughout the thread can only do what you can do. Can't ask the farrier to shoe in a swamp or I'll never see him again! And reinforcing infrastructure and making changes is off the cards for all of us until we are no longer swimming across the fields.

I'm not sure if I've just finally gone mad but this morning the whole sorry winter affair suddenly seems hilarious and I'm laughing rather than crying.

We all have a 'this is what we would like to happen' but this winter is putting paid to it. So just do what is actually possible.

....wow listen to me...I think those giving me the great advice on this thread has finally sunk in!....
 
I detest the torrential downpours, but it did make moving the electric fencing a hell of a lot easier as the posts just slid out and slid into their new places 😂

Rabbit my youngster is loving the weather as he's a real water baby, loves splashing around and is happily dunking his head in every and all puddles he can find - Baggs my retired lad on the other hand is absolutely seething with the rain, detests getting rained on (despite having a full neck turnout on!) and is plotting Rabbit's demise as he hates being splashed with the water from Rabbit's paddling sessions......😂
 
Little bit old-fashioned said:
I'm not sure if I've just finally gone mad but this morning the whole sorry winter affair suddenly seems hilarious and I'm laughing rather than crying.
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This is just delirium!!! It's a state we all go through at this time of year. What ever you do don't tell anyone non-horsey or you will likely be sectioned (the mental health hospital here has the most beautiful view of the sea so I'm kind of thinking about it, just til the weather improves). We usually self-medicate with pain killers hot baths and alcohol of increasing quantities (and decreasing quality).
 
Little bit old-fashioned said:
Absolutely freeloaders. The lot of them. And ungrateful ones to boot! Haha

If it makes you feel any better by the time farrier comes next week now ours will have done 9 weeks. They get done every 8 as standard (no shoes and just trims as all currently doing nothing but burning a hole in my pocket) so by time next week comes that will be 9 weeks. If I'm honest them going a few extra days is the least of my current worries. As others have said to me throughout the thread can only do what you can do. Can't ask the farrier to shoe in a swamp or I'll never see him again! And reinforcing infrastructure and making changes is off the cards for all of us until we are no longer swimming across the fields.

I'm not sure if I've just finally gone mad but this morning the whole sorry winter affair suddenly seems hilarious and I'm laughing rather than crying.

We all have a 'this is what we would like to happen' but this winter is putting paid to it. So just do what is actually possible.

....wow listen to me...I think those giving me the great advice on this thread has finally sunk in!....
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Yes these 2 are both unshod so just due a trim, last done 7 weeks ago but not looking terrible tbh. In an ideal world I'd get them a rasp but in the grand scheme of things they might have to hang on another 3-4 weeks until I can get them onto the dry field at least. I usually move them for the day onto the rested field to dry their legs off but I currently have 10 bales of haylage parked there! In a few weeks I'll be 5 bales down (if they ever eat the bloody stuff) and can fence off what is left to get them on there.

I've definitely reached the point of a kind of hysteria induced numbness to it all - are they fed? are they warm & dry under rugs? are they upright and appear to not be immediately dying or have a leg falling off? - great, see you tomorrow! 👋🙃
 
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