2 acres, 3 equines and sand school?

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snowstormII

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So I have just over 2 acres of clay, 1 horse and 2 ponies and I know it is not enough land but I couldn't let any one of my 3 go, so don't suggest it! In past years I have outsourced and found extra grazing for the summer, so this is always a possibility. Anyway, has anyone been in a similar position and decided to put in a sand school just so the horses have somewhere dry to get turned out with the obvious added advantage of having a decent surface to ride on (only 1 is rideable at present with another one being backed in a couple of years time)?

Did it eat into your grazing too much?

If you do use a school to turn out in, does feeding hay in there and having the horses poo in there create an awful problem in terms of clearing up?

Or is it the best thing you ever did?
 
If only occasional turn out, a school works well. I have one of mine turned out in the school atm as he has mudfever so has been a godsend. I do feed him hay in there and am very careful to rake up any left overs and droppings so that they don't get into the drainage system..

However if you are looking at a school for long term turnout, I would be concerned about horses trashing it as it is a very expensive investment. If I was in your position I would be more tempted to build a turnout area made of road planings or woodchip.

In terms of eating into the turnout, ours is 50 x 30 arena so had to sacrifice 1 out of 4 acres to build it. We have 3 small horses on the other 3 acres, but also have a small hill field of a couple of acres that we use for winter turnout, so has not been too much of an sacrifice.
 
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I have 5 horses, a sand school and just under 2 acres. I also have a 6 acre summer paddock but never use this in the winter as it is so wet ! I too am on heavy clay. Most years I have just allowed the 2 acres get trashed but this year has been exceptional so nothing is being turned out in fields, my choice. The sand school has come into its own as a dry, safe turnout area. They are all turned out in it one by one for a roll and play. If any of them are going stir crazy then they get a longer turnout on separate days.

Yes the school is a bit of a mess but I only put hay in one area so only have a small area to clean up and poo pick everyday. It does work and is better than some livery yards as no one can complain. I have thought about making a smaller turnout area just for the winter but after watching mine really open up and pelt around the school bucking and farting I'm not sure a small turnout area would suffice them. :)
 
If you had a 40 by 25 space of grass on clay I guess you could use it for turn out for about 2 days in this weather before it's knee deep in mud - as a properly built turnout area you could use it all winter. If you have the money it's hard to see how it wouldn't be useful. But a discent sand school could cost you £20k and you'd have to be really careful clearing hay and poo not to damage it.
Depends how much you want to invest.
 
We have one stable (pony sized) which isn't used other than for getting pony ready/vet visits etc, one field shelter, 2 ponies and one horse, sadly we added the horse to the 2 ponies, and they didn't get on then it rained so the horse has half an acre which has good hedges and trees to shelter, the ponies the other half an acre and the field shelter and our summer field we cut for hay then graze is under water....All now barefoot and we've gone from 90% grass to 5 blades of grass and an acre of mud! Also the floods have cut off all hacking. So yes we're thinking about a school. We have an acre of woodland too (which gets grazed in spring) and we'll put the school in there we think. Our neighbour has offered us his watermeadow for spring grazing too....but it's totally under water so can't see that happening!
 
I built a cheap school for 7k, they have access to it every day and night in winter they r shut in at night and out in day although occasionally in 24/7. I don't feed on it as it joins yard and field shelter (hay is in field shelter) if u do feed on it a grader will pick up the bits but it is a pain. I didn't scrimp on drainage or membrane but did use rubbish stone, thick electric tape round edges instead of rails and cushionride which is still going strong 5 years later although will need top up soon, they sleep on it, i school on it (occasionally) etc. I have 2 horses but do have 4 acres in total but built it when I only had 2 acres, pics in profile..... I am on clay and don't think I would have managed this winter without it.
 
I do use my school for turn out when it's very wet.
If you intend to do this the school ought to have water permeable Tarmac on top of the stone instead of a membrane .
Our horses are never unsupervised in the school if they dig they damage the membrane but of course if you have a job that's a bit difficult.
You also need a proper leveler and will need to rake up hay and level the school daily.
It's a ok way to manage horses in work it is however imo its not acceptable for horses not in work and I would never use for that .
 
We use our sand school for turnout and it's a godsend for fatty ponies who need restricted grazing.

however, you do need to think carefully how you are going to use it and where it is sited. Its a long-term investment so worth getting it right (good drainage and base construction is essential)
If it is a new surface then it will need to settle before being put to hard use otherwise you will shorten its life.
You need the 'right sort' of horses too - a couple of settled quietish unshod ponies are not going to dig up the surface as much as more boisterous types. Careful introduction is useful - ours started to use it daily back in the summer and are only ever in there together which reduces the risk of anyone getting upset and either tearing up the surface or smashing fences.
We feed hay on ours but you need to be diligent in raking up waste hay and removing droppings.
Talk to specialist arena builders - every site is different and will have its own challenges.
You are almost certainly going to need planning permission.
 
Goldenstar said:
I do use my school for turn out when it's very wet.
If you intend to do this the school ought to have water permeable Tarmac on top of the stone instead of a membrane .
Our horses are never unsupervised in the school if they dig they damage the membrane but of course if you have a job that's a bit difficult.
You also need a proper leveler and will need to rake up hay and level the school daily.
It's a ok way to manage horses in work it is however imo its not acceptable for horses not in work and I would never use for that .
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I've never heard of water permeable tarmac, is it a special mix or do you mean there are drainage channels all over the surface with tarmac in between.
If I was OP I would be thinking about a turnout area with pea gravel and so on, but I think it is a matter of budget, there is a huge difference in cost and the amount of management between a turnout area and a good arena. If there is hacking available, and local facilities, it might be cheaper to do the schooling elsewhere. I know some people who take a lesson or school hire for two horses every week, and it works for them, of course there are two riders to share the cost.
 
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MrsD123 said:
I've never heard of water permeable tarmac, is it a special mix or do you mean there are drainage channels all over the surface with tarmac in between.
If I was OP I would be thinking about a turnout area with pea gravel and so on, but I think it is a matter of budget, there is a huge difference in cost and the amount of management between a turnout area and a good arena. If there is hacking available, and local facilities, it might be cheaper to do the schooling elsewhere. I know some people who take a lesson or school hire for two horses every week, and it works for them, of course there are two riders to share the cost.
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Good idea to look at all costs of keeping your horses as a whole, and work out what you need and want over as long a timescale as is possible.

Costings are very individual to each person and their situation and land. We ditched the lorry and its associated costs to have the school as that's what suited us and now 15 years on that was the right decision FOR US, but for other people in other circumstances it would not have been.

PS permeable tarmac as a base layer has been around for a long time, there may be other materials available now as the technology has moved on - would guess which is best would depend upon the use, the site and where in the country you are.
 
I have 2 horses (1 riding, 1 retired) and 2 minis. 1 Block has 2 tiny grass areas for summer, stables with a concrete section that leads to sand school. I also have in a separate block 1 acre winter paddock with a stable and 4 acres summer field. Currently the retired horse and 1 mini are in the 1 acre winter paddock and riding horse and other mini are in stable/sand school block. I have electric fenced off the grazing area in front of the stables. They have 24 hour access to stables where I feed them and access via concrete to sand school. I shut the school gate at night to reduce poo picking. They have access to concrete area and stables at night. The whole area is post and rail so worst case scenario if they break through the electric they are still confined. I used to confine to sand school only and fed hay in corner of arena. That corner is damaged as a result and would avoid doing that on a long term basis.
 
I have 3 acres and 3 horses (1 mini) on clay soil. I have a school but I never turn out in it - too expensive an investment to risk having it ruined. I do have a turnout pen directly outside the stables that runs alongside the school - this is approx 50mx15m and cost about 5k to put in, with proper drainage, a membrane and road planings. It is a godsend though in wet weather and the mini lives in it in summer to stop him getting laminitis.
 
My friend has the Tarmac on her school so much better than a membrane I did not as it made it cheaper .
I have no idea about what exactly it is , that's a mans job in my world.
 
MrsD123 said:
I've never heard of water permeable tarmac, is it a special mix or do you mean there are drainage channels all over the surface with tarmac in between.
If I was OP I would be thinking about a turnout area with pea gravel and so on, but I think it is a matter of budget, there is a huge difference in cost and the amount of management between a turnout area and a good arena. If there is hacking available, and local facilities, it might be cheaper to do the schooling elsewhere. I know some people who take a lesson or school hire for two horses every week, and it works for them, of course there are two riders to share the cost.
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See My post above which I managed to leave the quote off.
 
I have one horse and one pony on about an acre of 'clay' land. We built a sand turnout area, approx 15m x 10m in which they spend every day in over the winter months. This area was dug out, filled with hardcore, stone and then cheap quarry sand. There was no drainage put in and it does get a bit sloppy but never deep sloppy - if you know what I mean.
I wouldn't pay to build a school and then turnout in it. My personal opinion. I think it ruins the surface especially if you are putting haynets out and the hoof marks they make tearing around/rolling etc. would make it uneven when you wanted to ride in there.
 
Hmmm....turnout area, you say. I really like that idea. I do still really hanker after my own arena though. There is one next door that they use for hockey practice, no horses welcome (grrrr!). And a lovely lady round the corner lets me use hers but if she were ever to move I would be up the swanney!!
 
A lady I know told me that she sold her horse to another person who then turned it out in a sand-school for some time. I'm assuming they fed it in there as it ended up dying! Sand had collected in its stomach! I think it caused colic or something. Is this possible or is the lady talking rubbish? If it can happen isn't it dangerous to feed from a sand base? Obviously a lot of you are managing without any problems!
 
aradiagreen said:
A lady I know told me that she sold her horse to another person who then turned it out in a sand-school for some time. I'm assuming they fed it in there as it ended up dying! Sand had collected in its stomach! I think it caused colic or something. Is this possible or is the lady talking rubbish? If it can happen isn't it dangerous to feed from a sand base? Obviously a lot of you are managing without any problems!
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you can use a mixed surface, having pea gravel or some aggregate near the feed area sand can cause problems if ingested.
 
aradiagreen said:
A lady I know told me that she sold her horse to another person who then turned it out in a sand-school for some time. I'm assuming they fed it in there as it ended up dying! Sand had collected in its stomach! I think it caused colic or something. Is this possible or is the lady talking rubbish? If it can happen isn't it dangerous to feed from a sand base? Obviously a lot of you are managing without any problems!
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yes, horses can get sand colic - there is also a risk on sandy soils it's not just schools. There are things you can do to minimise the risks and careful management is needed. Only the individual owner and their vet will know the full situation for each individual horse, and whether the risk of sand-colic outweighs the benefits of turnout for that particular horse.
 
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