Fed up with the weather

[Mrmonkey]

Who else has had enough of the weather? To be fair we have had it easy compared to friends elsewhere in the country but it's still getting to the point where I dread the weather forecast.
We live on clay and the mud is unbearable, all my schooling has to be done out hacking but the fields are so slippy I can only really walk, the wind blew an entire fence line down and my grey Connie is doing a great impression of a brown one! And that's on top of all the normal winter rubbish you have to deal with.
I'm also supposed to be running a show next Sunday (doing all the entries) that includes classes people travel a long way for and we need to make a certain amount to cover the costs of the show centre and the weather is saying a likely chance of snow :-( that means the hours I've put in getting the entry system up and sorted plus everything else involved might be all for nothing.... Arghhhhh
Please please can we have a break from the rain/storms/freezing weather just fr a bit?

ME

poor horses, almost all our hacking is off road which until now has been a plus point but virtually none of our routes are even walkable (have forgotten what it feels like to use any of the other paces :() although I didn't appreciate how bad some of the routes are until we we'd got too far to make turning back worthwhile

horse is deeply unimpressed, he's not very balanced at the best of times but the pony copes so well and it gives him something to think about instead of rodeoing

where are you to have snow forecast?

the worst thing for me is that our stable floods daily and is unusable just when the horse actually wants to be in there and out of the mud

we can't really do anything about it until everything has dried out which is going to take ages isn't it?

Its awful isn't it. All the horses seem fed up too - poor dpony just looked so miserable today I took pity and gave him a full neck rug. And hacking out went wrong when we found one of the little bridges was flooded over.

I hate this time of year when you know theres still 8-12 weeks of grimmness left before any chance of no more mud

we had to cross a bridge like that yesterday! it was as if there was a Gandalf visible (and audible) only to horses shouting 'you shall not pass' (we did)

I also achieved a new maximum heartrate during all the 'dancing on back legs in thick mud at edge of overflowing ditch' antics

I've had enough too - dhorse has mud fever and as soon his legs are dry enough to brush the mud off and put the expensive cream on it's time for him to go out again. He's in during the day and has turned into a vile, bad tempered thing - he went for my back with his teeth the other day as I walked past!

The field is standing water, my stable is wet too, although with drips rather than floods and the whole lot is pissing me off. Dpony has conjunctivitis so trying to get cream into his eyes twice a day (not weather related, but an additional hassle) is a nightmare.

We have been hunting but it's really pretty awful - either road bashing or slopping about round the edges of fields in deep mud - and the cleaning afterwards is a nightmare. Yesterday we were trotting at full pelt up the road amidst thunder & lightning and I did begin to question my sanity.

Enough!

Dhorse has to wade through a lake to get to his shelter but thankfully it's still dry inside. There is a wooden bar across the doorway, not very high as it's worn down with him walking to and fro but so far the water hasn't gone over it. Everything else is vile though and he's started trashing fences because next door has grass. Dshetland is having a little bit of bute as she looks stiff from trying to skate through mud all the time at her age. I've even broken a personal rule about the ridiculousness of rugging shetlands and put a little rain sheet on her.

We've given up all thoughts of riding and I'm taking comfort from the thought that it's not just me. Even hardier souls just can't face it.

Even my chooks run is underwater and I'm starting to think I'd have been better off getting ducks!

We abandoned the idea of hunting last week as the thought of spending hours scrubbing clean a grey pony just to see him return to the brown colour within minutes was just too depressing.
We are Bedfordshire and a friend sent me a weather forecast she had found, the only hope if it does snow is as it's a good show centre and we are running everything indoors we will still get some entries as long as it's safe to travel.
Roll on summer!!

Me, too! I've had enough, too!! I feel sorry for us all, (and our horses/ponies), and I think we are all doing amazingly well!!!

Here's to you, ladies!

Show Pony getting clipped tomorrow - everything off except legs. Had planned to do it today but as it is sooo cold took pity on her.. Vet booked for sedation...

Our fields are taking it quite well (no mud yet except in immediate gateway) but glad when we're back down to 3 ponies at the end of Feb when SP goes to producers..

When is your first show Butkin?
I can't see my dartie coming back this season she has been on off lame all winter :-(

Oh that's a shame Mr M. Have the vets found out why?

No real plans for SP yet. We may take her to do the RI qualifier at BSPS Winter Champs so probably take her out somewhere low key at end of March. Need to go through RI qualifers/judges and make a game plan but will know more when she goes back into production in just under 4 weeks.

Me

Actually today, while I was waiting for the farrier, it was actually sunny.

I took their rugs off and groomed them and it was lovely

We are on clay. Resting one (trashed) paddock. Ponies currently in a not too bad field but the lane to get there is horrendous

Currently only riding once in the week at an indoor rally and at the weekend, just hacking carefully (or hunting recklessly if you are dd )

She is a long time EMS sufferer and is on metformin or it but it does mean we have to keep a strict eye on her for lami, although she hasn't been very lame this winter she isn't sound in a turn and it's not getting better. I can't complain she has done it all for me plus more but once more at hoys this year would have been nice (especially as one of the judges at the final qualified her on two previous occasions!).

I'm sure come summer when the ground is rock hard we will have something else to worry about.