It's worse than I expected

[Jessey]

The storm this last week wasn't particularly brutal in terms of wind speeds or rain volume for us, 55mph wind and only a little rain.... Nothing on orphelia and her 80+ mph winds but the damage in the forest is much worse, every other track we went on today was at least partially, if not completely, blocked.

 

[Jessey]

We had some fun using the branches as poles and tuning up my 4x4 horse, videos to follow

 

[Kite_Rider]

I think that while the winds were not as strong the ground is waterlogged which I should imagine makes things a bit less stable.
Good that you got out and enjoyed it nonetheless

 

[Jessey]

We're not waterlogged here, the breckland sandy soil means it rarely gets that wet. This area was all sand dunes before the forest was planted in the early 1900s,they planted trees as not much else can be farmed here, apart from rabbits and they weren't in such demand by then. The wind this time just seemed to be more squirrelly.

 

[CharliesAngel]

take it you dont have a handy chainsaw ? whoever maintains the forestry will hopefully clear them - you never know, you might get jumps!

What kind of bridle is that you have on, Im intrigued

 

[Jessey]

take it you dont have a handy chainsaw ? whoever maintains the forestry will hopefully clear them - you never know, you might get jumps!

What kind of bridle is that you have on, Im intrigued

We have a fabulous forest team who will clear them, but I suspect it will take a little while. There will be some fab jumps in the mean time

It's a zilco combination bridle, the blue bit is a headcollar and the black bit the head piece and brow, it clips together at the end of the browband, great for longer rides so you can take the bit of without ever having them free, so to speak.

 

[Jessey]

I realised after doing this (twice, we couldn't pass the next down tree) that it was probably silly to be under it so soon, especially pushing through it, as it could have come right down, didn't even cross my mind at the time though excuse my nattering to her

 

[CharliesAngel]

awesome girl!

 

[domane]

Jumpy practise!!!!!

 

[mystiquemalaika]

Jess is bloody fab mind!
The last bad storm could well have weakened them as well and this one was just enough to finish them off.

 

[Jessey]

Jess is bloody fab mind!
The last bad storm could well have weakened them as well and this one was just enough to finish them off.

Very possibly, any sniff of a breeze will bring branches down for a bit now, there's lots broken which have caught in other branches.

 

[joellie]

That's some amount of trees felled! I also have to agree with everyone else..Jess is fab but please be careful going out as those broken branches which are caught up may come down without notice.

 

[Jessey]

That's some amount of trees felled! I also have to agree with everyone else..Jess is fab but please be careful going out as those broken branches which are caught up may come down without notice.

Yes, I was so focused on how much was on the floor today I was distracted but I'm normally really wary after having a near miss a couple of years ago with a falling branch. I do regularly take Jess out to cut trail, I take my secetures or a trail saw and chop over head branches, so she is used to things falling down all over her so wouldn't be too spooked, but those aren't massive branches I'm cutting.

 

[chunky monkey]

Love how you talk to the horse. It gives them so much confidence. I'd be off cantering up those tracks, it looks so much fun.

 

[Jessey]

I'd be off cantering up those tracks, it looks so much fun.

I did when I first moved here, soon had very tired horses though as you can go for hours

 

[horseandgoatmom]

She was AWESOME.

But wow it was worse then you THOUGHT.

 

[Tir]

Thats a huge number of trees down! Your hacking looks amazing though!

 

[HaloHoney]

What blooming GORGEOUS ginger ears you get to sit behind.