Aaaaarrrgggghhhh, mud!

[catembi]

So we’re not even out of September and my clay fields have gone from concrete to swamp. I have a properly excavated 15m x 10m hard standing, I had some drainage put in by a drainage expert, I have 2 1/2 pallets of mud control mats laid, but this isn’t going to be enough room for 2 horses and 2 ponies. By now, I was supposed to have an arena and a permanent block of 4 stables, tack room, hay barn but due to planning I still only have 2 ‘temporary’ stables on an existing concrete pad.

What else can I do? I can’t afford to mud mat 4 acres! 20m x 40m would be £20k! Do those rubbery field mats work on clay? Would sand help...? Previously I have been on sand and before that, chalk so heavy clay has come as a surprise, and not a good one!

 

[ester]

Can you just let them wreck the area that you intend to do the building on, doesn't matter so much then. Though on our clay we have always found that it generally comes back despite wrecking.

 

[w1bbler]

Livery for 2 of them until you get stables built?

 

[SusieT]

Suggest you stable the two horses and only let them have access to hardcore/matted areas and leave the ponies on the grass- they will do less damage. possibly fence off an acre or two to save it. Or go onto livery temporarily.

 

[Tiddlypom]

What’s the hold up with the planning? Is it likely to go ahead eventually but with restrictions, for instance? Or might it be a no go? That might alter what you are best to do now.

 

[catembi]

Planning was refused earlier in the year as they said they didn’t have time to look at it properly and were over their timescales, and that we could always reapply. Which we’ve done. Decision in 4 weeks, but the last one went 7 weeks over. We have also had to remove the double garage due something unclearly articulated re fire engine access.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Best advice, just close your eyes. Im on clay in MK and already have a muddy gateway and fenceline after about 2 days of rain. This year is going to be awful I suspect due to lack of grass growth. Im on livery and each of us has our own field, turnout is not restricted at all so you make your own decisions. I fence back about 20ft from the gate and then leave a wide edge as well so that in spring I can shut up the mangled gateway and come in around the edge and across the saved patch. It always recovers and you can reseed if you need the grass. I used to fence back further and further into the field but that way you just end up with more trashed bits and having to walk further through them. I also bring in every night because he prefers it and it does stop him hanging around the gateway. Clay is the devils work and soul destroying

 

[Leo Walker]

if you have 15 x 10 and then the mud mat thingies, is that enough space to have them out with a big bale of hay? Or maybe just have the horses on that bit and chuck the ponies out onto the actual fields and just try not to worry too much. Winters are horrific on clay but it does come back ok.

 

[shirl62]

Rubber mats are of no use..They just sink into what I call ''liquid cement''..I dont think our field ever dried out over the summer with the amount of rain we have had. At least ours have a hard standing and stables for some respite...Not looking forward when the winter is here and wading through the swamp...

Shirl

 

[ester]

mud control mats are not supposed to do that though, are they the ones you have shirl?

 

[catembi]

Mud control mats do not sink, even on the swampiest bit of our swamp. I was wondering whether the rubbery ones might work on the shallower swamp, if I put some sand down? If I won the lottery, I would mud mat the whole lot!

 

[cauda equina]

I have rubber grass mats in front of my field shelters, and if the ground gets really wet yes they do sink
I don't know if sand would help but suspect not

 

[Bellaboo18]

I hate mud so feel your pain. It's going to be a long winter if this rain doesn't give up soon.
Can you make another hard standing area? Maybe directly in front of their stables so they can come and go as they please. Road planings work well.

 

[NLPM]

What a nightmare about planning We're trying to get ready to go through planning for an arena, and I'm already concerned because our council has a real thing about planning. We had to get planning for our mobile field shelters (which are no longer mobile, because I can't get planning for every possible site in the whole field!) and even then they were a bit iffy about allowing it.

Are your mud control mats over your hard standing or are they in a separate area? If they're in the 15x10 spot, can you move them to create another hard standing area? On the worst days (e.g. just after snow, sorry to mention it...) can you shut them in there with a few round bales? Especially if you have two areas, that should be enough on a very short term basis.

I feel your pain about the cost of mud control mats - I really do love the ones I have, but just can't afford to make a useful-sized space with them. Delivery is £100 to me and I'd have to buy them in stages, so I'd end up spending £400 on delivery alone - that's the same price as 37.5 square metres of good quality grass mats delivered, so it's a no brainer unfortunately. Grassmats aren't as good but they do the job 'well enough'. (I did have to scrape the mud off the top of them all this morning though and throw it over the fence into the hedge!) The problem is that now is not the best time to put them down to be honest... They work best when they're bedded in over summer. I have over 50 of them down and I've never had issues with them sinking?? The 22mm are def. better than 16mm.

What about rotating? I have 4 on four acres over winter. They're on acre 1 (A1) now, and have nearly eaten it all down. In October, A1 will be closed off and they'll go to A2. In November, I'll open A3 but they'll have to keep access to A2 as the shelters are in 1 and 2. In December, they'll go back into A1 which has had two months' off and I will shut A2 and 3. Then January, they get A4 (and keep A1 because of shelter). Then in February, I open up either A2 or A3 which has had two months' off; if we get snow and everything is waterlogged I open up all four. I hope that all makes sense! It's not ideal and there is mud, but it helps a bit. Are your acres sectioned off?

 

[NLPM]

Membrane then mats?

 

[catembi]

Oooh, membrane then mats!

I just typed a massive long reply but it’s reloaded and disappeared 😡😡😡😡😡

 

[catembi]

Right, let's try again...

Atm I have the stables on a concrete pad & an adjoining shed for tack & feed room on a connected pad right by the house. The stables have about 3-4 ft of concrete in front, then a mud control mat path to the 10m x 15m hard standing which also has a water trough. It is road planings & they are a PITA as the loose stones get trapped in feet. The three fields all open off this area & slope upwards (and *still* somehow manage to defy the laws of gravity by NOT draining...) and there is a mud control 'bridge' between field entrance & hard standing to try to protect the edges of the hard standing. The rest of the square in front of the stables is only slippery atm, and doesn't really go knee deep, so I was thinking of rubber matting it so the whole area in front of the stables is mud free, then electric fencing off the swamp to the left of the mud control mat path so they have to go from stables to hard standing without the opportunity to go on mud...?

Or maybe I will move to California & take them all with me! It's still only September...I think I will be in a padded cell by March...

 

[catembi]

I also had the ditch dug out in the summer & some underground drains put in leading to it, properly done with gravel/membrane to stop them clogging.

 

[Bellaboo18]

I'm surprised you don't get on with your road planings, I love mine...did you use a wacker?

 

[catembi]

I didn't do it...the drainage specialist did. I think he used a wacker... There is just too much loose stuff on top. If anyone has a bit of mud in their foot, a stone will then get trapped & someone will be hopping lame til I rush out with a hoof pick & rescue them.

 

[Polos Mum]

I tried mud control mats and found the did sink in about the second year of liquid soup mud. If you think you'll eventually get permission you can trash fully the bit you plan to build on, even if not, really a 'trash paddock' is the only way (bar the lotter ticket options).

 

[Bs_mum]

Close your eyes, don’t look at the mud, and in spring roll, Harrow and roll again.
I’m on clay, and we’ve got 17. Multiple gate ways, do what we can to preserve it for as long as we can but you get to a point where you have to look past the mud and sort it out in spring. Fencing small paddocks off just makes it worse IMO.

 

[Gloi]

I've found that horses out 24/7 make a lot less mess than ones that are stabled and turned out in the day. The part stabled ones tend to run around and churn the field up whereas the ones out all the time just hang out round the bale. We always have the bale on a patch of hard standing of some sort, an old concrete cabin base or a patch of hardcore. Try not to look at the mud, it will recover.

 

[shirl62]

mud control mats are not supposed to do that though, are they the ones you have shirl?

They are not the expensive mud controlled mats...Its the ones which are quite thick and have holes in them..useless!...lol...Last year someone said to use straw/hay on the mud.....worst idea ever....Spent hours removing stinking mess....I think the worst thing about the mud is trying to push a wheelbarrow through it and getting your boots sucked in the swamp!.....

Shirl

 

[cauda equina]

AFAIK the rubber grass mats are only recommended for prevention of mud by putting them down while there's still grass cover, and not for making a firm footing once the mud has taken over

 

[Esmae]

Planning was refused earlier in the year as they said they didn’t have time to look at it properly and were over their timescales, and that we could always reapply. Which we’ve done. Decision in 4 weeks, but the last one went 7 weeks over. We have also had to remove the double garage due something unclearly articulated re fire engine access.

I find this staggering. Why is the inefficiency of the planning department your problem? Personally I would be complaining to the local authority ombudsman about that. I hope you haven't had to pay twice!!! On the subject of mud I would give over an area as a trash patch and mend it all nest spring. We have mud mats down but they are on a surface of limestone chippings and haven't moved. The grass has seeded in there now and it wears by the end of the winter but repairs itself over the summer. I really feel for you with this. Bureaucracy drives me crazy especially when they are useless.

 

[Hollychops]

I feel your pain re clay and trashing of fields. I make a small 'pen' for our 2 oldies (about 1/2 an acre) and they have to make do with that over winter. They come in at night from approx early Nov (weather dependant) and then out during the day. I fence off my yard so if it gets really bad they can mooch in and out of their stables, but the patch of field eventually gets completely trashed but seems to come back. A neighbour had a turnout created for her horse with proper footings, drainage and membrane etc and that is completely ruined to the point it is now just a soggy mess, even in summer.

I think on clay you just have to do whats best for your horses and manage it in summer whilst it rests.