Paula’s blog - A tad soggy!

How has everyone fared with the horrid storm that came in? I hope everyone was okay. My weather app didn’t warn me how much rain we would get, but luckily I erred on the side of caution and kept the trio in. I know we fared a lot better than some and feel awful for all the pics I have seen on Facebook. I do hope the fields recover quickly.

The trio were allowed out when being mucked out and for a longer period in the front of the winter paddock (which luckily hadn’t been too badly affected), so still got to munch without destroying their grazing. The Friday of the storm was a bit of a shock. It had rained heavily overnight and was very dark when we got to the yard in the morning after a hairy drive through flooded roads.

However, it wasn’t until we went back up on Friday afternoon that we saw the extent of the flooding on our land – the entire bottom corner of the summer paddock was under water, as was all the woodland. The river had also taken over another corner of the field. The other summer paddock was flooded on the right-hand side, and it was a good few minutes until we realised both the energiser and battery were somewhere under that water! Even though he only had shoes on, my partner ran off into the field, wading through the flood to search for them. He found them on the edge of the bank under a foot of water. Don’t ask how, but both have survived and still work, which is a huge relief! The water did drain quite fast as the river went down but it was very tough on the fields, and the summer paddock the trio have one week left in now looks like a mud pit.

Despite the weather, the arena held up perfectly, so Bob and I were able to have another lesson at the weekend. I expected him to be spicy as he had been stabled, but he was fairly well-behaved, just a bit enthusiastic at times. We practised getting him to stretch right down in both walk and trot for warm up and cool down, which, once he grasped it, he did brilliantly. More canter work followed, which included me riding with one hand on my hip so I could feel the changes in my seat. I won’t lie, it was a bit of a scary thought, especially when Bob sped up, but changes in my seat slowed him effectively, which I was amazed with. We followed this with some jumping and it was great fun. He really enjoyed it and is progressing so well – no napping at all!

With the horses starting to come in more now I am including cleavers and marigold in their feeds to help reduce swelling in the legs. I’ve also found magnetic boots a great help. We bought Aria a pair a few years back that she wears and then earlier this year I found a secondhand set for Autumn on Facebook, which I was delighted by. Neither have had swelling in their legs, which is positive, especially as one is old and the other has arthritis. Now to find Bob a pair when I go shopping at Your Horse Live next month!

I’ve got a bit of an interesting experience coming up this weekend that I’ve been wanting to do but never had the chance: my partner has booked for us to go camel trekking! He came across it when looking at animal experiences and it’s based in Warwickshire, so not far at all for us. I cannot wait and am really excited – looking forward to sharing some pics next time.