Living in a bog

Well, guess what. It's raining again. It's been raining every day since Monday and is supposed to continue raining every day for the rest of the week. Yay us. I know, I know, I shouldn't be complaining. At least we have enough rain to really green up the fields...but what good are green, lush fields when I can't turn the horses out on it because it's like walking across a bog?

The ground is so saturated that when you walk on it the sod sinks and it does feel a whole lot like walking across a bog. If you listen while you walk you can hear the water move air bubbles through the soil three feet away from where you put your foot. Not exactly ground conducive to riding, that's for sure!

I can't plant anything, I can't ride, I can't mow (and mowing is desperately needed!) and our mosquitoes are HORRIBLE. I've never seen so many of the nasty bugs around here this time of year, ever. And they are almost big enough to carry off a horse! We have to mosquito spray the horses every evening and make sure their fly masks are on or they are absolutely miserable. The mosquitoes are swarming like mad, they are evening bothering my poor goats, so the goats get mosquito-sprayed, too. Unfortunately I haven't seen any fly masks for goats or they'd have some! Thank goodness the flies/horse flies haven't made a big appearance yet, it's just the mosquitoes at the moment.

When it dries up a bit more I plan to take Gabe out for a longe session involving the oh-so-scary gate. Once again I'll ask my patient, darling husband to help me train my horse and have him knock the thing over again and again while I'm longeing Gabe just to get him desensitized to that particular noise. Nothing like turning a scary thing into a learning lesson that will benefit Gabe and myself in the future.