Wettest winter?

[sarahsstable]

Hi all
Just curious whether people think this has been an exceptionally wet winter/ if you have more mud than usual? Only moved to current field in August and the mud we have at the minute is horrendous, we are so water logged. Never had it anywhere near as bad as this at previous field. So Im trying to work out whether this field is gonna be like this every year or whether weve just had an exceptionally wet winter this year. Thanks

 

[Jessey]

We’ve had an exceptionally dry winter, I normally have mud in high traffic areas but it’s significantly less this year and our river hasn’t come near to bursting its banks which it does in bad years.

A quick google tells me we had 81% of average in December 2025 and 49% in January 2026 in my area! 2021 was a bad winter (following a wet summer) for us, 119% of average meant the worst I’ve known it, half of my field was under 1ft of water for 6 weeks when the river burst its banks!

It will depend where you are though.

 

[newforest]

If you only moved in in August you will still be sussing the lie of the land.
You don't say how big the field is, how many you have on it, if you are shod, how you are managing the grazing, off your stable etc etc. You will still working out where your water runs, where is wet and what stays dry.

Three months ago a second pony arrived in field. I have three acres for two. Strip grazed all year, no back fence if it's wet so it doesn't end up too poached. So with the weather in the last few weeks we took the back fence down. No shoes. That seems to make the biggest difference when it's wet.