BOXING Day for horse livery owners Tim and Sheila Pilling was less about enjoying themselves, and more about mucking out.

Despite being on high ground, at East Marton, Wilkinson's Farm Livery suffered the worst flooding for decades. And it wasn't just the land around the yard, soon after breakfast on Boxing Day, last year, the phone started ringing - the vast majority of owners were marooned in their homes across Craven and unable to get to the yard to carry out the twice daily chores.

Those living in Carleton were stranded by flooded roads, as were people in Embsay and Earby, while one from Lothersdale decamped to relatives in the South after her home was pumped out by the fire brigade three times.

Even the Boxing Day Hunt meet at Gargrave, normally very well attended with both riders and followers, was a very quiet affair with just a couple of horses and hounds.

Back at the yard, it was down to Sheila and Tim and just a few others close enough to get through the floodwaters, to muck out and feed the 40 horses and ponies.

They had planned a quiet day with family, but that had to be put to one side to deal with all the horses.

"It was just a matter of head down and getting on with it, said Sheila. "We've never known anything like it. The rain seemed to start in November, and just didn't stop, and it wasn't that it was so heavy, just that it went on and on."

The yard sits next to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which did not burst its banks, because of its drainage system. A field next to the canal, however, flooded and emptied itself into the canal.

Carefully built steps at the entrance to the stables saved them from being flooded, although one, with Sheila's horse in it, did flood, leaving him stranded on an island in the corner.

Tim rented a digger and dug a channel, taking the water away from the stables, effectively creating a moat, and rebuilt the stable that did flood, moving it away from any further harm.

But even with all the wet weather, the horses were not left inside, they were put out into fields - which despite what some walkers going past may think, they vastly prefer, even if they are covered in mud.

The livery, unlike a lot of other yards, does have winter turnout - horses are put out in the winter months. An abundance of acreage gives it the luxury to have fields both for the winter and the summer, without having to worry about over grazing.

Around April every year, after the horses are moved onto summer grazing, the winter fields are re-instated, a lengthy process over three months involving rolling and re-seeding so they are ready to use again the following winter.

A tour around the land, which stretches from East Marton towards Bank Newton, and you can easily spot which is which. The winter fields are thick with mud, while the summer fields are already showing a healthy growth of green grass.

Sheila firmly believes in horses being out during the day, so even on the wettest of days and during the floods, they were able to go out.

"Horses need to be outside, they are herd animals and need to socialise. They also need to be in groups so they can relax and are not constantly on the alert for predators," she said.

"They may well come in out of the fields every evening looking like 'swamp donkeys' but they are far happier for it."

There is a difference of opinion on whether horses caked in mud should have their legs washed off and dried, but horses that have mud left to dry thoroughly before being brushed off seem to suffer less from associated problems, such as mud fever.

The yard also has a round pen, with a sand base, where horses can be put out, an outside arena, which survived the worst of the floods, a horse exerciser - rather like a giant, rotary clothes dryer - and it is currently trying out a new dry turnout area, complete with covered hay-feeder.

The hay feeder is Tim's own invention, and features a roof, big enough for several horses to fit under, and a massive cargo-net of hay, which has to be filled with a tractor. A concrete base secures it firmly to the floor - the last thing horses need is something scarily flapping about, or even taking off.

And as every horse owner knows, they are very particular about where they choose to relieve themselves, a toilet area with thick grass is far preferable than hard standing where they may run the risk of splashed legs.

So, to remove the splashing problem, the horses will shortly be able to get though into a field.

After weeks of persistent rain, most at the yard have got fed up and taken to riding out again, although sticking to roads, as flooded as they have been, rather than across farmer's fields.

"Many of the roads around here have been very flooded. Ingthorpe Lane got very bad and the road into Gargrave was too, but after the first couple of weeks of rain, people just got so fed up and had to go out. Most are keeping away from the bridle paths across fields though out of respect for the farmers," said Sheila.

Everyone at the yard is now hoping for some drier weeks, and definitely not snow and ice, which can bring even worse problems.