Worried about my horses. Just having a bit of a moan about mud; anyone else?

[Nomoremudplease68]

I’ve chosen this year of all years to keep my two horses on our own land for the first time ever.

Up until April of this year they were at full time livery with a farmer in a herd of eight and were really content but the arrangement came to an end amicably because he was expanding his other livestock.

The summer was quite hot where we are (not uk) and the amount of really small agressive flies on our land was extraordinary. I spent the whole time worrying about my horses welfare as despite shelter, x3 daily fly spray and fly masks they seemed plagued by flies.

There wasn’t much of an autumn and we went straight in to winter almost overnight. Now it’s colder and it’s rained for a solid month, all I and the horses seem to do is trudge about in mud all day.

The horses have voluntarily accessed stables but seem to prefer staying out 24/7 with their hooves in mud and lots of puddles and standing water in their fields.

Both of them have feathers and have had injections for mites this year. I am worried about potential CPL. I am worried they don’t have enough stimulus and interaction with there being just two of them. I am worried that the damp weather is going to give them hoof issues. I just seem to worry all the time about their welfare. And frankly it’s pretty miserable looking after them on my own without the camaraderie and interaction at the farm.

It’s miserable and exhausting mucking out and trying to wheel heavy wheelbarrows in 5 inches of mud. And difficult delivering hay to muddy fields sliding about unsteady on my feet.

Sorry for this negative post it’s just I thought my horses would have better care living with me and I am far from sure that they are better off!

Is anyone else finding it hard going this year or is it just me?

This is my first winter having my horses at home.
We’re coping well to be fair - last year I was just renting a field and found it very tough going with no lights, no proper dry storage and all the mud.

Practically, finding it much better this year as I have facilities BUT I have noticed I triple guess every single one of my decisions being on my own. Despite almost 30 years experience and working professionally with horses for a good chunk of that. I love the solitude but I am constantly texting my friends asking for opinions on stuff I wouldn’t have thought twice about when on a yard.

@Nomoremudplease68 offering hugs and solidarity!
Re the muddy track, when I was at the livery yard my gateways would get really poached, I used to fill the divots with poo, put any waste hay/barn scraps/straw on top.
It did need to be topped up regularly. It packed down and recovered in the warmer weather.
Now they don't come in so gateways aren't trashed, every cloud etc 😆
I was at a happy little livery yard 2 minutes walk away, until the owner found someone to take the whole place on in March. He was an absolute c**t, sorry for the expletive but he made it so unbearable that we left within 3 weeks of him taking over.
He did a runner in August owing 2 months rent, felt like Karma. He'd had a total of 14 liveries come and go in that short time.
Anyway, I had the use of a friend's field which flooded in the heavy rain and the horses had a choice of standing in the lake or on the higher part which was a bog.
I've now got another field which is taking every spare penny in fencing and building, with all being well the shelter is going up this weekend. My TB is thoroughly miserable, he's got mud fever behind that I can't treat because of the mud, and now looks like he's brewing an access in front.
I'm very lucky in that my DP helps, he's done all the fencing, built the hay store, empties the wheelbarrows, lugs water around, I couldn't manage on my own.
Pathetically when I saw the Tb yesterday a bit lame I phoned DP at work and had a meltdown, I've been trying to slap stuff on the mud fever but with the cold weather everything had gone hard and I couldn't get it to come off my hand and onto his pasterns.
Sorry for the long essay, but it's nice/not nice if you know what I mean to know that I'm not the only one struggling as sometimes I feel that I've gone very wrong somewhere!
Ps any tips for something I can soften mud fever scabs with, that isnt rock hard in the cold, he'll be confined to the shelter once its up and I'll be able to tackle it properly but something in the meantime will at least make me feel I'm doing something!
@Pamcakey I'm similar, but 50 years experience of owning/ working with horses, everyone else's go to for advice and help and now just feel like an absolute novice.

CherryogDog I feel your pain. It's relentless atm. Yesterday, no water, frost had burst the pipe. Today we're practically flooded! Have you tried valentine or sudocrem? Red horse products are also very good and may be worth looking at. Like you I have the occasional meltdown , but I couldn't imagine life without them. I'm just fed up of being wet, filthy and smelling of stale mud and urine.

Pamcakey oh yes to the second guessing! That’s exactly it!

And yes it’s so nice to not feel entirely alone CherryogDog. I can very much identify with everything you have written there! In fact your post should be saved and pinned on top of every thread questioning whether an op should buy a horse and keep it at home or not, as it sums up the realities perfectly! 😃

Thank you again for the support everyone. I’ve had two electric fences go wrong in all of this damp but I am feeling much better since the snow! It brightened everything up somehow!

How is everyone and their horses today?
It's dry here today so everything feels so much better, the guilt of leaving them last night in the monsoon is almost a distant memory.
When I arrived the boys were playing, rearing, bucking and spinning which cheered me up. Until they thought I might like to join in so I chased them with empty haynets to the far end as I didn't fancy being knocked over and getting stuck in the mud. Snowflake Tb looks sound so probably not an access unless it's an invisible one that has burst.
The mud fever definitely looks better, and I remembered I've got a tub of oilatum and a zerobase which are thinner than what I've been using and hopefully won't go rock hard in the cold.
I'm normally fastidious with poo picking but today a lot of it got kicked and stamped in the mud 🙃.
Knackered my back moving the hay boxes onto a dryer bit of land and spread waste hay around them.
Not a word of thanks, when my back was turned one of them tipped the barrow with the rugs on into the squelchiest bit of mud.
And of course they had to roll in the mud as soon as they were naked.
The sun came out and I remembered that I am quite fond of the silly buggers really 🤩🤩

CherryogDog your post resonated with me so much this morning. It has actually stopped raining so my daughter managed a hack out and free schooled one in the school. We were giddy with excitement! It's raining again now .

It's relentless. We have 2 that are not well ATM. One needs to be out and moving around and one who has an infection and should be in. Trying to juggle them is a bit of a nightmare. The mud is awful and I spend every morning and evening syringing medicine into them. My yard coat is covered in antibiotic paste but there is little point in washing it. The futility room looks like a warzone! Sending solidarity to everyone else trudging through.

Yep I agree with all of this. Added to this the Labradors who love coming outside and then forget they are supposed to stay in the boot room and decide to go and roll on my bed 😱🤦‍♀️👀🤢. If you have enough could you see if anyone is looking for a cheaper option and share the pain and have them at yours?

We used to keep horses on our land and I was mostly responsible for them as a teenager.

You can put your mind at rest re there just being two of them, all they need is another horsy face to see and it might even be better in this weather as the last thing they need is to be slipping around all over the place/getting stuck and pulling a tendon in the hijinks of a larger herd.

I imagine this year is particularly bad but the winter is generally a bit of a slog, yes. Even in a good winter you’ve got to deal with soggy, muddy rugs that weigh a ton, mucking out in cold conditions, breaking the ice on troughs or buckets and the endless, endless grooming (one of ours was a grey ISH who loved to roll in the mud and/or poo). By the way, I know you mentioned mites, as well, but keep an eye out for mud fever. We found hosing ours’ fetlocks down to be the most efficient way.

As PPs have said, it does sound like you’d be happier in a livery yard situation as particularly if you’re juggling it with normal adult life it’s a LOT of work looking after horses at home. The only people in my life who have done at least the bulk of the work of looking after stabled horses are me (at school at the time) and my grandmother (retired). At yards you obviously get the added benefits of friends etc and it’s not your land being poached, an there are normally enough fields to rotate the grazing.