SAME. It’s annoying.
We seem to live in a spot that has been removed from mother nature’s map. Last week a tornado touched down about 10 miles from us as the crow flies and we didn’t get a lick of rain! I’ve been trying to leg my guys back up, but he can’t just hack and it’s really put a damper on my whole life (not to sound dramatic 
)
I’m getting a 2 string maybe 60-65 pound bale for $16.50 delivered so I guess I’ll hush up, lol. But they grow alfalfa here so not having to ship in.
I’ve also been feeling like weather has become hyper-localized and forecasts are useless. In May and June it was crazy dry here. My dentist came from Virginia in June and asked, “What happened to your grass?” Storms kept passing just north or just south of us. The day before Seneca’s spring event, I remember the sky getting really threatening while I walked the course and it downpoured a mile away but nothing there of course. Then after the HT it rained for a week! Until that week of rain the grass was as crispy as it usually is in August. July and August hasn’t actually been quite as bad, though we’re still in a moderate drought. Our well service company is slammed because people’s wells are running dry, which is terrifying when you have large animals at home.
@Dr_Doolittle, if it makes you feel better the XC footing was surprisingly good in the spring due to the good turf and the aggravation they did. They got almost an inch of rain at Seneca last Friday and some earlier in the month too. Definitely more than leading up to the spring HT. The problem is it keeps coming in brief downpours and seems to just run off. Also, the historical weather data is useless because the rain is so localized. There are days we got substantial rain in our rain gauge but wherever they measure, there was nothing (like August 25 shows 0 inches for Seneca’s zip code on Weather Underground but a small storm dumped almost an inch there).
You can have some of ours. In August, it seemed every day from 5-8PM we’d have thunderstorms and rain out of nowhere. I work in an office so this was very detrimental to my afternoon riding schedule.
Finally, I opted to go ride before work this week when the forecast showed afternoon storms. First day, I arrive to the barn before sunrise, did the thing… That afternoon… no rain. 
There’s no win. This is also my first horse who’se had trouble with his feet during this summer/wet weather. So, if you want to trade places for a month? Gladly.
Yes, exactly - to all of the above! Oy vey. And yes, to the inaccuracies of the forecasts; it’s often these little “cells” that blow through, dropping very localized rain and leaving other areas completely bone dry - we need a major weather system to just hang around and drop significant, soaking rain on the entire Area 2 locales.
That’s encouraging re: Seneca, though – thanks for the info! Fingers crossed that it won’t be too bad, the long hot days certainly don’t help.
We would gladly take some of the excess rain others are getting! Seems like it’s either feast or famine. 
We’re officially in a drought warning advisory per the VA dept of environmental quality with a water supply warning in effect tomorrow. There will be restrictions on water usage until the warning is lifted. The ten day forecast isn’t looking good.
I realized while riding today the grass is completely dead/dormant. And it’s in the area the horses can’t graze, so it’s not from them. I can see the dirt. The grass withered and died.
My mom keeps saying how much it looks like Southern California around here now. Just add in some eucalyptus trees and you couldn’t tell the difference; summer in California or summer in Virginia?
I was at the State Arboretum in Millwood for an event yesterday. Everything is so desperately dry, not a hint of green to the grass. Trees are yellowing and dropping leaves already. We’re heading down to Graves Mountain tomorrow, I hope there’s enough water in the Rose River for some wading.
Just to cheer everyone up, after a very dry June, we’ve had so much rain over the past three months the grass is bright green and requires regular topping while the farmers are finding it hard to fit their harvest around the downpours.IMG_20230830_133750600_HDR|375x500
Oh wow - beautiful! The hedonist in me wants to take a nice gallop romp across that beautiful grass… 
In Nokesville (a bit further south than Middleburg, Upperville and Millwood) we have about a 50% chance of rain Th, Fri, Sat, Sun.
Summit Point WV ( little north of Millwood) where I will be this weekend, has a similar forecast. We will see what actually happens.
We have hard ground here too. I was wondering if anyone aerates? Is that possible and/or helpful? We don’t have an arena, so considering aerating our riding area. Looking for people with experience.
I live a few miles from the track at Summit Point, I’m doing the rain dance all week in hopes of getting a drenching.
It’s soooooo dry in the Shenandoah Valley area right now. And the river is really low.
My trainer aerates her jump field. It’s definitely helped, although we are near Fair Hill and it hasn’t been as dry here as in central MD.
I live about ten minutes away from the track and we never seem to get anything I always goes around us but 
I’m almost due north of you in Maryland and there have been so many times this summer where rain was forecast a couple days out and it just never materialized. I have never mowed as little as I have this summer.
I’ll be corner working (motorcycle racing) Fri, Sat, Mon. Sunday I will be jump judging in Berryville.
I’ll be there with a student who is competing at BN - thanks for volunteering! If we see you, I’ll give you a shout out Meanwhile, fingers are crossed for these “what are sure to be transitory” thunderstorms predicted for Thursday through Saturday.
I’m actually hauling to a nearby indoor to do a dressage school later today because the ground is just too hard at my barn; my rides have been a lot of walking and no more than 30 to 40 minutes.
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