Corn



Last year, the farmer that rents the majority of the acreage at our farm planted a crop of soy.

While mildly inconvenient, the soy only grows 2'-3' tall, and the farmer didn't plant the very back section of the property near the pond, which is where I prefer to do my flatwork. There was still enough space around the perimeter of the fields to do conditioning work, and life generally went on as usual last summer. 

This year, he planted corn, and it's terrible.



In late spring when the corn first went in the ground, things were okay. The tiny baby cornlettes didn't take up too much space, and I could happily school and hack out anywhere I liked on the property. 

Now it's August, and the godforsaken corn is a veritable forest of horrors. 

It towers over my head when mounted, and has transformed my grassy galloping lanes into dark tunnels in which lurk beasts of all descriptions, and most likely also demons and that alien from Signs

I'm also pretty sure I found a crop circle the other day, but I'm too scared to investigate.



The corn stands so tall and so thick that it's impossible to see what may be hiding between the stalks, and we have been ambushed by everything from baby deer to foxes, bunnies, and woodchucks. It makes an ominous rattle every time a breeze blows through, and my normally steady pony is constantly on-edge and wary of the possibility of tigers and/or aliens emerging from the corn to grab us. 

This year, our enterprising farmer friend also planted right to the very edge of everything. 

There is no flat back field by the pond for dressage.

There are no wide galloping lanes along the edge of the woods. 

There is nowhere to let the horses really GO, and I am finding myself going a bit stir-crazy!



While we did mow out a big rectangle in the middle of the back field, it's still quite sloped which can make dressage work difficult, and the weeds grow up so quickly and so thick that even attempting to ride there can be dicy some days. 

Plus, in this rectangle of bare land we've managed to eke out, you are surrounded on all sides by The Corn, and who can concentrate on leg yields and transitions when you're braced for the attack of He Who Walks Behind The Rows? 

You can't. You just can't. The corn is ruining my life.

So here we will be, ring-bound and living in fear until harvest time, waiting for the day when the corn will be cut down and we will have our land back again. 




Comments

  1. While I can definitely sympathize, I choked on my water at "a veritable forest of horrors" haha.

    Have you noticed an increase in humidity this year compared to last year when the crop was soybeans? I was reading about how cornfields contribute to humidity and was wondering anyone had any anecdotal information about this to add to the scientific stuff I've read. I'm nerdy :)

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    1. Glad I made you laugh!! It's been SO humid this year here, but everywhere, not just on the farm, so I don't know if it's the corn?! There's always a pretty big corn crop in the area in general, so I'm not sure how much it contributes to the humidity level.

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    2. I kind of figured -- I'm in the Midwest and it's been pretty miserable this year. One of the fields i pass on the way to the barn alternates corn and soybeans and the scientific part of my brain always wants to compare summers.... but then the actual physical me is like "eff this is always hot and muggy and gross" lol.

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  2. I boarded at a farm that alternated between corn and soy and I always hated the cord most because even after they harvest? The field is pretty much destroyed for riding on. I never had too many issues with spooking bc of the corn but maybe that's just bc of Houston.

    Have fun surviving the forest of terrors ;)

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  3. I have the exact same situation at my barn. Soy last year, now corn. The path I use to ride around it looks to be the same size as yours also. My horse likes to ride just along the edge and tries to grab stalk sometimes but I never let him eat bc I'm not sure what's been sprayed on it. The corn definitely attracts more insects than the soy did, we make a couple laps around it every week anyway.

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  4. You made me laugh...here's hoping for an early harvest!

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  5. Oh goodness! Corn is definitely pretty scary. On my work break I walk to the end of the road where a cornfield is but am too much of a chicken to walk through it!

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  6. Don't forget the Blonde haired blue eyed devil children of the corn!

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  7. Haha, this was my life for so many years. My parents rented out their farmland to a guy who rotated soy and corn and it meant that most of our usable riding space was gone :( at least once it's harvested you'll have your space back :)

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  8. You could try living in a desert where nothing grows. ;-)

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  9. omg are cornlettes really things?? is that a real word?!? freakin hilarious lol

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    1. I don't think it's a real word but I'm using it anyway!

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