Wet And Wild

So I've spent the last two days knee deep in muddy water, shovel in hand, trying to get the flood water in the pasture to spread out somewhat evenly. This is obviously one of the more glamorous aspects of horse ownership. I think I have sucessfuly killed the two ponds that form at the front of the pasture and stay all summer. They serve no purpose other than creating mud, and a lovely mosquito breeding resort.

Meanwhile all the thick green grass that comes with spring showers turns brown, dries up and is dead by June. Who's brilliant idea was flood irrigating anyway? The problem is that it is fully a study in the laws of gravity. I just cannot get the water to flow uphill. So I am left with trying to dig little trenches to try to get little rivlets to carry tiny amounts of water to dry areas. The pasture being pretty much flat, this can get very frustrating after I dig a trench, thereby freeing the water and the ungrateful flow just doesn't flow. The only places that seem to be low-lying are the mosquitoe-mud-ponds.

Horse-keeping on a small acreage has its pitfalls, many of them seasonal, and in the green time of year before summer sets in, the pitfall is the battle for water. Or against water, as the case may be. No matter how smooth and level an area looks, you will be amazed how many desert islands appear once the water works start.