So last night the big group of horses stayed out over night in the big field. Which is super great news for me because that is about 9 less stalls that I have to clean. So anyways, I had to take 2 bales of hay out to them for breakfast. I have to spread the hay out pretty far because there is a pony (Belle) and a gelding (Starrbuk) who are really low in the pecking order and won't get any if I don't spread it out. There is also a very muddy creek like thing that stretches across the pasture. I usually am able to get over it without a problem...sometimes losing the toe of my boot in mud but that's it.
Well this past weekend we got quite a bit of rain and it was really muddy. I picked a spot where I thought it looked like there was some solid ground and went across with 4 flakes of hay. No problem. I then had to come back across it and went for a different spot. This time I got stuck, in a sprinters starting stance. I couldn't get my boots out of the mud for the life of me. The mud completely covered my boots and was about half way up my calves. I was stuck this way for a good 5 minutes fighting with the mud with nothing to grab onto. The horses found this very interesting, they left their breakfast and came over to see what I was doing. My boots were complete filled up with mud and water...great way to start off work Monday morning shortly after 7am.
So I finish bringing out the horses (that were inside overnight) and told my boss that I needed to go home and change since I was soaked from the knees down and my boots were squishing when I walked.
It took me about an hour to drive home, find my super old pair of boots and get back out to work. Once there it was everything as usual until I got ready to leave. The last thing that my boss had asked me to do was go get Starrbuk and bring him inside because he has a lesson this afternoon. No problem, I got done super early.
I head back out into the field, this time with my clean jeans and clean boots. I went to the edge of the field where the muddy area is narrower and looked a little drier. I figured that if I move really fast then there's no way I'll sink again, right? Wrong. This time though because I had such momentum I actually lost my right boot and continued through the mud in my socks. Fantastic. Once I'd crossed I turned around to find my boot and it took me a second because it was filling up with muddy water. I fished it out, put it on, caught Starrbuk then had to cross it again...this time with a horse following me. My right foot got stuck again. This time was a little scary though because he was following right behind me. I managed to get it out without a problem.
So basically it's been a long day and it's only 1:20. I hosed off both pairs of my boots real good before I left work and now they're sitting in front of my house drying in the sun. It'll probably be a few days before I can wear either of them again.
I did learn a couple things today though.
1 - You're wearing zip up paddock boots, ZIP them UP!
_My 2 pairs of jeans that got mud baths today_Welp, I think it's time to go shower and apply a Volcanic mud mask to my face since I don't think I've dealt with enough mud yet today.
