Success!

We spent a lot of time (and money!) trying to get the property ready to bring the horses home.  We only have a little over 4 acres so it had to all be usable -- and it definitely was not usable for most seasons of the year when we first bought it.  But after that storm last weekend, there is absolutely NO doubt that all our efforts have been worth every dime and every day that it has taken to upgrade the place. 

During the worst of the weekend, the pond that we added was completely full and running over into the canal at the side of the property, and the stream that runs across the rest of the pasture and into the pond was about 3 feet wide or so, and the water was running really fast through it.  But -- the rest of the land was just wet.  There was absolutely NO flooding back there.

And now, only 3 days later, the stream is completely dry and the pond itself is down to about half its previous depth.

Mark said Ladybug walked into the pond for a while today!  Guess I shouldn't be surprised by that.  There was a concrete water tank over at Al's place and she used to climb in there and just stand there -- and it was only about 3' X 6' !  I guess she thinks she finally has an appropriately-sized personal pool!  But I'll definitely have to keep her fondness for water in mind if I'm riding her back there after a rain!

I can hardly believe how well it's all worked out.  It is so much better than it's ever been before.  We are SO grateful for the job that grading guy did.  I was a bit concerned that he didn't use any sort of survey equipment or a laser level or anything to determine the level of the land, but hey . . . apparently he just KNEW how it should be done.  He did a first-rate job. 

I really believe that we will NEVER have to deal with flooding like this back there again! 

The picture below was taken today - it's the other end of the pasture where the drainage stream runs during the rains.  And today - only 3 days later - that stream has drained completely. 

And here's how THAT side used to look before it was graded!  Yikes!

 I thought the horses would have to stay in their paddocks for a week at least before the land would be dry enough that they could go back out and graze without muddying up the ground and killing the grass.  Instead they got to go back out yesterday!  Excellent!

For some reason they seem to be spending a great deal of time "trimming" the fence lines at the moment.  But hey - that definitely works for me!