My rage against winter and what I'm going to do about it
- Bella Fricker
- Feb 20
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 23
Welcome to my RAGE against winter. I absolutely know that I am not alone in feeling like this, but I truly believe this is the first year I have ever felt quite so much disillusion with horse ownership through winter. For us at least, it seems to have been a particularly wet winter, and the mud seems to have at times seeped into every pore.
As you know, my horses live out, and it's something which I'm very proud of—to be able to provide my horses with this luxury 365 days a year I know is rare. However, to do so has come at a cost, both monetary and time-wise. I have, at considerable expense, built the horses a 'loafing area,' a hard-standing space so that they can come 'in' off the field (and the mud) to a nice dry-ish area overnight to eat haylage and have a break from sucking their legs in and out of the mud just to walk across the field. I also built them a field shelter so that when they are in their loafing area, they can get under cover if it is raining too.
However, I am not rich (though like many of us, I wish to be), and of course, I have had to make some sacrifices along the way in the construction process in line with my budgetary constraints. The fact I built the field shelter from scratch rather than buying a pre-fabricated one is probably quite telling. But here lies the first of my list of challenges that I am going to tackle this summer to make winter 2025-26 more bearable.
The flooring in the field shelter
The loafing area is built in three sections (expansion projects year on year), and the final flooring is that which also houses the field shelter. It's a double-layer of Astroturf, recycled from a hockey pitch. It’s a brilliant material—permeable, thick, and hard-wearing. I usually lay this on top of paving slabs and underneath type 1 hardcore. However, in the phase 3 extension area, there is no sub-base, and this has started to cause me issues—specifically in the field shelter. Since I didn’t want to put hardcore in there (I wanted it soft, not rock solid), the mud is now seeping through the joins, turning the floor into a lumpy and unbearable mess.
So, a fun summer project awaits—I’ll need to dig it up (I already dread this), remove a fair amount of mud, lay down a significant amount of stone, and get it all flat again. I then think I’ll need to invest in rubber mats to overlay the Astro joins so that I have a sealed floor next year. I’d also like to get some railway sleepers on each of the entrances/exits to stop the horses from redecorating the loafing area with their bedding.
The roof of my shelter
Another shelter-related project: the roof. At the time of construction, I was counting every penny, and would you believe the roofing material turned out to be one of the most expensive parts? I opted for the cheap and cheerful felt, which, unsurprisingly, has already caused me stress—ripping in high winds and generally not standing up to winter’s wrath.
Now, I have three options:
Go all out and buy roofing sheets (though I fear these in high winds).
Go for a heavy-duty tarp sheet instead—it sounds tacky, but think of it like a giant, thin rubber wrap. No joins = no leaks.
Pray to the weather gods for mercy (not holding my breath).
The middle option is the frontrunner—it will cost about £400, which is far more palatable than the £800+ for sheeting. Either way, a decision is needed before another winter of patching up felt like some sort of equestrian DIY SOS.
A new home for my haylage
We have a barn for storing forage—great! What’s not so great? The mud pit forming outside it thanks to fortnightly haylage deliveries and lack of hardcore in front of the barn along with my daily 10-haynet pilgrimage to the loafing area. It’s basically an endurance ride in itself.
My grand plan is to scrounge yet more paving slabs of Facebook Marketplace and make a base on the edge of the stable block closest to the loafing area. This means;
a) our farmer will be able to deliver without going off the driveaway and so no mud!
b) I will be able to get the haylage out to the loafing area without walking a million miles
c) I will be able to sweep the slabs so I can keep it tidy unlike the hardcore/mud.
I am hoping to be able to get most of the paving slabs for free or at least for very little cost. Since the driveway is already hard core too there shouldn't need to be half as much prep work and all being well this project will just take a few hours. I will need to invest in a good quality tarp to protect my haylage from the elements (and perhaps some bungees) but I think this will be preferable to the daily hike I do now.
The muck heap situation
Currently, my muck heap is exactly where every expert says it should be—far away from grazing. Great in theory, horrendous in practice when winter turns the walk into a soul-destroying, boot-sucking ordeal. Pushing 4x wheelbarrows a day through this mess has brought me to my knees (literally—I've fallen over more times than I care to admit).
Not only is it seriously hard work physically pushing the wheelbarrow through the mud but again it's a huge time burden with how long it takes to simply get down there and back. It takes significantly longer to empty the wheelbarrow and return than it does to fill it. Not to mention the mud that is on my boots and the wheel of the wheelbarrow which then gets dragged across our driveway making that too - muddy!
The solution? A tipping trailer.
Yes, this is going to be spenny, but I cannot face another winter of wheelbarrow-induced rage. The idea of parking a trailer conveniently near the loafing area, emptying wheelbarrows with ease, and avoiding daily mud wrestling sessions is giving me strength. Sure, I’ll have to empty the trailer every 7-10 days and negotiate a friendly farmer for disposal, but anything is better than my current situation.
In all, I’ve got a fair bit of work ahead of me this summer, and yes, it’s going to take both effort and investment. But if it saves my sanity next winter, it’ll be so worth it.
If you’ve made it this far—congrats! You deserve a medal (or at least a dry pair of socks). And if endurance is something you’d like to learn more about, I’ll be offering more coaching this year—drop me a message if you fancy joining in the madness! 🐎
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