Showing Horse Property in the North Texas (Rain) Apocalypse

It is important to maintain a sense of humor.
Photo by Catherine Hinojosa via Facebook

Okay, Texas. Enough. Just stop it. The horse-owning population of this state is #OverIt. Ours is not an indoor sport, and this is becoming a touch ridiculous. When your covered arena has more in common with an indoor pool than a sandbox, it’s time to wave the white flag. Thank you, Ma Nature, for removing us from the drought, but in your usual sick, twisted fashion, we’ve gotten the last five years worth of rain over the last five weeks.

I ask you, horse-owning universe, what did we do before Dubarry and Dublin boots? Wet feet, that’s what. Even the best rubber Wellies eventually had a crack, and your boot would gradually fill with urine and poo tinged water as you slogged around the barn. Remember hanging your dripping socks over the side of the bathtub? Yeah, me too.

Water, you go outside.
Photo Courtesy of Kelly James via Facebook

Beautiful pastures, fenced and cross-fenced!
Photo courtesy of Kendall Christine via Facebook

As a rural property agent, I would not have survived this past fall and current spring without my Dublins. Yes, they smell not-so-faintly of turtle pond now, but that is to be expected when I’ve spent almost every waking hour in them since November. I have walked miles of water-logged property lines in these things, and naively counted on them to protect me in three-foot-tall grass should I step directly down on a snake. Hilariously, almost all my clients have them too, so we file out of the trucks at a property like a little matchy equestrian SWAT team.

Unique property feature: Water Complex
Photo Courtesy of Karen Perry via Facebook

From a country real estate perspective, this season has been a beating. No one can mow, no one. Big mowers, and especially tractors, just sink in the over-saturated dirt, making things look even worse. I’m genuinely surprised I haven’t yet contracted West Nile, considering I average 1,534 mosquito bites a day, and some of those suckers are the size of a Maltese. My sellers are panicking because “Oh my god, KAT, the place looks AWFUL.” Nothing like five inches of rain in three hours with a side of 70-mph wind to make a property show at it’s best!

Sparking Pool?
Photo Courtesy of Darla McCain via Facebook

My clients are all trying hard to be good sports, but it is rough. I make sure they know to bring muck boots, and I have umbrellas and bug spray in the truck. Speaking of the truck, my four-wheel-drive-horse-trailer-hauling diesel is back to showing vehicle duties since it won’t get stuck. Unlike my poor out-of-state clients who were not super familiar with the quicksand-like properties of sandy loam soil when it has done nothing but rain for weeks. So sorry for the 18-inch deep ruts in the side yard, Mr. Listing Agent. Oops. (Really, I am sorry…  I gave explicit instructions to Stay On The Concrete…)

Multiple ponds on property… may never go dry!
Photo Courtesy of Kelly James via Facebook

Pastures are muddy. Horses are muddy. Everything smells like muck and mold and manure. The humidity is worse than the freakin’ Amazon. The flies and the mud are reaching biblical levels. The next person that says “But, we need the rain!” gets hit in the face. I’m tired of horses in stalls, ankle deep mud, clients who want to “wait until the rain stops,” and two showers a day.

Ah, the glamorous life of a Dallas Realtor. It’s a champagne wishes and caviar dreams life, I tell ya.

P.S. None of the properties pictured are for sale. The photos were provided by my long-suffering friends on Facebook!

 Kathryn Roan is a Keller Williams Urban Realtor focusing on farms, ranches, and equestrian properties. Kathryn lives on a 55-acre working ranch in Wills Point, TX with her eight horses. Contact Kathryn at Kathryn@TexasEquestrianProperties.com