*Anyone have just an earth base in their field shelter?

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SCG

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Me and my friend are very excited about having a field shelter delivered and erected in 10 days time. However our enthusiasm has been somewhat dampened by everyone telling us we are headed for disaster if we don't have some sort of hardcore base or stable mats? We would LOVE to have stable mats but the shelter is 12' x 24' and we priced them up and they are at least £28 per mat and we need 6 mats per standard size stable so 12 mats in all - over £300, we just can't afford it, it's taken us months to save for the shelter and will practically bankrupt us as it is just to buy it. We priced up some hardcore and its £50 a ton and have been told we would need about 4 tons so can't afford that either. Also we are on a farm and not allowed anything permanent, so the shelter will be on skids.

So is there anyone who simply puts their bedding down straight onto bare earth? And if so, what type of bedding do you use? And does it get horrendously muddy? We really wanted to use straw as its cheap and cosy and and just make a really deep bed and keep topping it up but my horse can have respiratory probs so not ideal and also is the greediest horse alive and would eat it. We wondered about having a deep layer of wood chippings (we can get these free from a local tree surgeon), has anyone done this, or does it go to mush? Or maybe something like Megazorb for the base and Easibed or wood pellets on top? Or just straw base to help with drainage and loads of wood pellets eg on top?

Sorry for loooong post but shelter coming and now we're worried :(
 
Do you need bedding? Out in the fields horses lay down quite comfortably.

We have a field shelter with earth floor. The ponies do occasionally use it in the summer to get out of the sun, and will lie down on the bare floor if they need to sleep. Ours is at the bottom of the field and haven't had any problems with the shelter getting muddy, and ours is a lot smaller than yours!

You will probably find they won't even use it - mine stand outside ours, using it as a break from the wind and rain, but I have never seen them use it to get out of the rain or cold.
 
Yes and its fine. I have one double mobile shelter that has never moved its dry as a bone inside as in area that never gets waterlogged etc. I use a thin layer of hemcore etc.

Now big shelter is right near a blooming ditch and I keep my hay in that one on pallets. In winter the rain does run in and yes it did get churned up.

I think place it where you know its well drained.

If you put a mobile type shelter on a base you may find you need planning as you are not supposed to put on permanent base. Thats my understanding!

And make sure you have guttering and also I paid a bit extra for a front overhang. I think mine faces into the morning sun(so facing East). Am sure thats how its meant to be?
 
Ours has an earth floor but so far we havnt used bedding, the owners of the field dont want to have to get rid. The horses seem quite happy with earth, they use it all year.
 
Yep, I put a full deep litter bed of shavings in my shelter as I shut one of mine in it at night - was fine, stayed dry as a bone in there :-)
 
This might seem a bit random but you could use any old piece of carpet, it won't last too long but remnants are cheap, it keeps the dust/mud down and is easily replaceable by another bit when its worn out. We have used it outside as well just to keep mud at bay, and the horses weren't fussy about the colour!
 
If you have to have bedding, straw is best on earth floors as it draind the wet down to the earth where it is absorbed leaing the top of the bed dryer. Shavings are absorbant s will absorb the wet from your horse but will also asorb wet from the ground up so will work out expensive...
 
Hi, we have earth bases in all the field shelters. it stays nice and dry. If you put down shavings or straw it will probably just hold the damp.
We also have earth floors in the stables but we do use straw and have it very deep so that it does drain.
Ditto about the guttering make sure it drans away from the shelter if possible
 
We have five field shelters: two 12 x 24, one 10 x 16, one 10 x 14, and one 8 x 12. None of them have bedding, just earth floors. The horses tend to use them more in the summer to get some relief from the flies. The donkeys use theirs to avoid the rain, as do the sheep. I've never known the horses or the donks to lie down in their shelters. Putting gutters and down spouts on the shelters will keep the ground inside free of mud and damp whether they are mobile or static. Facing the shelter east can be very cold. All, but one, of ours face north, not by design but by necessity. We offset the door so there is more protection from the wind. We also cut a three foot square window into the north and west elevations for extra light and ventilation. In winter we screw panels of clear polycarbonate over the windows to reduce draughts.
 
Fab responses, thank you. I know some people don't seem to bother putting a bed down at all but 2 of the horses are oldies, with the eldest being 22 and has arthritis so call me an old softy but I would like a really nice comfy, supportive bed for him/them rather than just lying on hard ground. I also thought a bed would give him some warmth for his creaky joints when he lies down especially when its very cold and the ground is hard and icy.

I'm pretty sure they will use it when its very rainy and especially windy, they have looked so miserable recently when we've had prolonged rain, even though they are well fed and rugged up, when it goes on for hours and is heavy its the fact that they just can't get out of it and I worry about the oldies. There will actually be 3 horses using it and the third one although only 10 absolutely hates the rain so he will def be in there like a shot when it rains heavily.

If straw is good for drainage then maybe we could use a decent straw base with wood chippings or something similar on top then.
 
Oh and yep will def be getting some guttering - that's something else that everyone has suggested but at least its pretty cheap and affordable
 
SCG said:
I know some people don't seem to bother putting a bed down at all but 2 of the horses are oldies, with the eldest being 22 and has arthritis so call me an old softy but I would like a really nice comfy, supportive bed for him/them rather than just lying on hard ground. I also thought a bed would give him some warmth for his creaky joints when he lies down especially when its very cold and the ground is hard and icy.
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My old girl was 29 and I felt just the same as you do now. At the time we had a field shelter with rubber matting, so I ordered some straw, made her a lovely deep bed and waited for her to make herself all snug in it while it was peeing it down with sleet outside.

Did she ever use it? Did she eckers like! Stood out in the rain/hail/sleet/snow looking thoroughly miserable and wet, but she was evidently ok or would have used the shelter as it was used lots in the summer (without straw!) to keep out of the heat and away from the flies.
 
Same as Mrs Elle, have put down deep straw beds in their shelters (thinking, oh nice and cosy for them) and turned up to them lying outside on hard frost/wet ground and even snow. They do use them to avoid the worst of torrential rain/blizzards to dry off a bit or heat and flies but I usually find them tucked up in a sheltered spot in the field.
 
MrsElle said:
My old girl was 29 and I felt just the same as you do now. At the time we had a field shelter with rubber matting, so I ordered some straw, made her a lovely deep bed and waited for her to make herself all snug in it while it was peeing it down with sleet outside.

Did she ever use it? Did she eckers like! Stood out in the rain/hail/sleet/snow looking thoroughly miserable and wet, but she was evidently ok or would have used the shelter as it was used lots in the summer (without straw!) to keep out of the heat and away from the flies.
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Mine was the same I would put hay nets in winter just to make him go in and use the darn thing. Always in driving rain snow etc would be in opposite end of field! I agree summer is probably more useful.
 
Earth floor but with pea gravel over. I get a load (1.5 tonne) with the Landrover and trailer and just tip it in. Costs me about £30 a load, is nice and dry, and only needs raking to keep it clean. No problem if it gets into the soil as it is easily incorporated. No mess either and the ponies won't eat it.;)
 
Gutters essential. Advised not to let horses use shelter for couple of weeks at buildtime to allow ground to dry out. I have used shavings successfully - but mostly used as sunbed by old pony, rather than rain respite.
 
MrsElle said:
My old girl was 29 and I felt just the same as you do now. At the time we had a field shelter with rubber matting, so I ordered some straw, made her a lovely deep bed and waited for her to make herself all snug in it while it was peeing it down with sleet outside.

Did she ever use it? Did she eckers like! Stood out in the rain/hail/sleet/snow looking thoroughly miserable and wet, but she was evidently ok or would have used the shelter as it was used lots in the summer (without straw!) to keep out of the heat and away from the flies.
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Blimey I hope that's not the case with ours, ungrateful beggars! Will have to wait and see - if they don't use it, we'll sell it and go on holiday instead :)

The pea gravel sounds interesting, will look into that - thanks.
 
SCG you are a softy! My 18 year old mare is soon to be living out (awaiting field shelter to arrive) and will have no bedding, other than earth floor, nor will she have a rug as she still has a foal at foot.

She also has arthritus and is worst after being stabled overnight so hoping this will help her.

This is my horse of a lifetime who I would do anything for :).
 
Mine use our field shelter a lot and it essentially has an earth base. Was very dry inside even when we had snow and torrential rain. You definitely need gutters, we didn't initially and the water seeped in underneath

You dont really need anything in there - I most definitely don't use bedding as they then use it as a toilet especially in the summer as they didn't like weeing in hard ground and the bedding/ wee combination made it wet and smelly. I do have two rubber mats outside the entrances as that was where it got most muddy. I also put down old carpet/ big floor rugs upside down as well under the hay bars so there is less scrounging around in the dust for hay bits but that's only because I had some old rugs and didn't know what to do with them and it actually works quite well. I put sand down inside to give it a slightly softer feel ( and for my barefooters as they like standing in it!) both the old carpet and sand disintergrate / disperse eventually.

I also feed hay in mine.
 
Yes, gutters, but do think about where the water goes after it comes down the down pipe. I led mine into a pipe (sub soil drainage pipe, same diameter as the downpipe) which goes to the nearest ditch. Water that used to drip onto the ground and flood the shelter is now taken away and the whole site is as dry as a bone. Justa thought, but you might also need to protect the downpipe from rubbing bums!:D
 
I do not bed my field shelters for my oldie. They are not nesting animals and bedding is never completely dust free so it has its own issues. With no bedding the shelters are easier to keep clean. I cannot see that bedding makes it any warmer shelters are after all open sided. Earth is much warmer than the concrete you get in many stables. In all honesty I would save your money.
 
I'm planning to use pea gravel. My horse went to a clinic where there were rubber matted shelters and pea gravel run out areas. He spent his whole time lying snoozing and then rolling in the pea gravel - he seemed to love it, like a giant horsey bean bag :)
 
Jericho said:
You dont really need anything in there - I most definitely don't use bedding as they then use it as a toilet especially in the summer as they didn't like weeing in hard ground and the bedding/ wee combination made it wet and smelly./QUOTE]

Agree with this. I used to leave stable doors open at my yard and horses would come in, have a pee, and then back out into the field.

Both my field shelters have just an earth base and are bone dry. Horses usually only come in it for a rest from the flies in the summer.
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I don't think any bedding is necessary. Be very careful with wood chippings from tree surgeons as many types may be toxic to horses. Try and situate in a well drained area and away from any frost pockets or prevailing winds.
 
Wow thanks for all the replies!

LittleGreyMare said:
SCG you are a softy! My 18 year old mare is soon to be living out (awaiting field shelter to arrive) and will have no bedding, other than earth floor, nor will she have a rug as she still has a foal at foot.

She also has arthritus and is worst after being stabled overnight so hoping this will help her.

This is my horse of a lifetime who I would do anything for :).
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Lol I'm beginning to think I am! Well maybe we'll just try without anything, I'm certainly not looking to spend extra money and would like to keep maintenance down to a minimum, it was my concern with straw (apart from the dust) that it would get used as just a great big toilet.

Having said that ... I really like the pea gravel idea, have heard how comfy it is for them both to stand in and lie down, would be dust free, should drain well and they can't eat it!


FfionWinnie said:
Was this hardcore gold plated at £50/ tonne?? It's £12/ tonne delivered here, road plannings £9/ tonne.
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Wish I lived up there! I was quoted £45 tonne (£50 inc delivery as we are not far away and could share delivery with another local order), I tried several places and they were all about the same. When I looked further afield (usually north) I found much cheaper prices, they were happy to deliver but because of the distance the cost would have ended up the same as buying it locally.

I've also just been told about 50mm limestone which apparently will do the job and that is £20 per tonne bag delivered so if we had a couple of tonnes would be better than nothing and not too expensive. Apparently would need to 'bed it down' and maybe some pea gravel or sand on top so not stony to lie on.

Dry Rot said:
Yes, gutters, but do think about where the water goes after it comes down the down pipe. I led mine into a pipe (sub soil drainage pipe, same diameter as the downpipe) which goes to the nearest ditch. Water that used to drip onto the ground and flood the shelter is now taken away and the whole site is as dry as a bone. Justa thought, but you might also need to protect the downpipe from rubbing bums!:D
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Well my friend has guttering around her shelter, hers comes down in a connecting pipe from the gutter straight into a water butt which is standing on pallets and these are fenced off with just a small electric fence square, works really well for her, always has plenty of water (we don't have mains water, but individual bowsers that the farmer comes and fills so saves him a job) so we might have the same set up.
 
cambrica said:
I don't think any bedding is necessary. Be very careful with wood chippings from tree surgeons as many types may be toxic to horses. Try and situate in a well drained area and away from any frost pockets or prevailing winds.
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Yes I did wonder about the woodchippings being toxic or poisonous if the horses tried to eat them but when I spoke to the tree surgeon he said he would be able to look in his diary and tell me what trees he was cutting and when ie conifers, pine etc and then would be up to me to decide if I thought would be suitable for my horses or not - he's not a horse person and said the responsibility would be mine which of course is right.
 
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