I know it’s only been raining since Tuesday but here in New England it felt like the Ark was going to appear soon to whisk us all away. It has been cold with heavy rain and blustery winds. Every time I was at the barn the horses were inside, looking out at the fetlock deep mud with disgust.

Freedom started to get that wide eyed look that appears when he doesn’t get enough exercise. Although he’s not stalled, I think he spent most of the days standing inside.

I suppose that’s not a bad thing. When I walked through the pastures the mud sucked at my paddock boots. It’s not as bad as the time when my muck boot shoe came off and dissappeared! I was balancing on one foot trying to fish it out of the mud but couldn’t even see it. So I suppose it’s been worse. (I did eventually find the shoe after I gave up and stood on both feet. I’m not  sure my sock was ever white again).

It’s made me glad that Freedom doesn’t wear shoes any more. When I had horses with shoes I spent weeks like this one searching through the mud to find the errant pieces of metal and then holding them safe until my farrier could come out. Sometimes they didn’t resurface until months later when the fields fully dried out and they would pop out onto the surface. I may need to invest in some Keretex to help dry out his hooves. In the meantime, I’ve moved all the hay to high ground (not exactly dry, but not horribly muddy).

Of course the flip side is that his hooves are now soft. Standing around in that much muck really doesn’t do them any good. I’ve been fighting some mild thrust over the summer and I’m sure that this isn’t going to help. Then there’s my tack. Despite running a humidifier in the tackroom I have a nice layer of mold on my saddle. Off to SmartPak for Leather Therapy pronto!

Today, however, was beautiful. It was warm and sunny. It made me forget almost completely the cold damp of the past few days. Freedom was electric. He could barely stand still to be groomed and he was jumping at every leaf and sound. Luckily our ride was far less eventful than last Saturday’s. I managed to stay on long enough to tire him out a bit and he came back walking on a loose rein. A short massage after the ride and he looked very content.

It’s so sad that we’ve had so much rain this summer while other parts of the country are parched. Wouldn’t it have been nice if we could have shared it?