Concrete hardstanding - anyone done this

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Monkerhostin

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The horses are wrecking the fields at the moment so we are planning on getting a concrete slab put down in front of the stables so they can have their hay and feed in there rather than the field...

Has anyone done similar?... what kind of price would it cost? The area would be about 24x24 feet and about 4-5 inches deep, as there is already hardcore and membrane in place... we just need the concrete to go in it.

Any recommendations... advice... companies would be good thank you... based near Sleaford in Lincolnshire... thank you and Happy new year!
 
I can't speak about price, but I have experience of this setup. It worked very well, as long as it was kept swept every day, if you don't do that the poo and hay builds up quickly and becomes slippery. It's good because it gets them off the mud and on to a hard surface, I think it worked well.
Just to add, they still had access to the field, the concrete was at the top of the field by the yard. They need a bit of space to get away from each other if they start arguing over a pile of hay.
 
Wouldn't be without our concrete hardstanding - in fact it's a 11 foot wide 45 foot long track from the open stable to the road. The horses love it. It keeps them out of the mud, we can put hay/haylage down on it, and in one crisis - can't remember what, even put bedding down on it. They spend a lot of hours there - by their own choice. It's so easy to sweep down, the droppings come up on a shovel, and you can just hose it down. It does need tidying up each day, but it really is worth it. Can't help you on price, as mine was done about 10 years ago. Do it - you won't regret it.
 
My husband and I run a livery yard just outside Glasgow and needless to say the west of Scotland is pretty wet. I'm not a huge fan of horses going out in the fields and wrecking them but I'm also not a fan of horses stood in their stables all day. So we've come up with a compromise. We have an area which we have concreted and fenced into 16 individual hardstanding pens (one for each horse). 8 pens down one side, and 8 down the opposite side. Down the middle there is a passageway where we run a haylage bale (this is covered). These pens work brilliantly. The horses love them because they are out of their stables, they can socialise (safely) with their friends, they can move around a bit and get fresh air, look at the scenery, etc. Basically it keeps them sane! Excluding labour (husband did it all himself) we reckon they cost about £10k to build but they are worth their weight in gold. More and more yards are not able to offer turnout every day in the winter and we genuinely can. The horses are out in the fields as much as possible but when it's too wet they still have somewhere to go. Great also if you have a horse who can't be turned out for whatever reason. He can still get out of his stable, see his friends in the field, get a change of scenery, etc. Expensive but brilliant.
 
Thank you - i dont quite think we can afford 10k though to spend on an area - i appreciate you run a livery yard... so your need is slightly different to ours.

Any companies worth contacting?
 
We concreted a slab for our stables, so about 26ft by about 20ft, we had ready mix delivered and we spread it etc think it cost us just over £500 for the concrete about a year ago.
Our horses have access to the stables adlib, we also have a hardcored yard in front of the stables which is about 48ft by 20ft, we use it to put feed out and hay and it works brill not as easy as concrete to clean up but drains well and does have the same risks in icey weather.
 
Not concrete, but I had some left over planings from doing our driveway and put them down in the gateway/trough area of the winter field back in the summer. The area is probably about 3 metres wide, extending from the gate into the field about 10 metres to where the trough is. It was not a very deep layer as there wasn't much left over. They baked solid in the sun/heat and have so far remained solid and packed down, despite us being on clay and prone to bad poaching, and it has poached immediately next to the planings.

Its been really useful and I have chucked hay down here to give them somewhere to stand and eat out of the mud. I got a 20tonne load delivered for £120 when they were resurfacing a local road, and then when I needed a bit more it was £50 for a 3 tonne load, much cheaper than concrete!
 
given the recent weather and the ice im not sure i would feel comfortable with concrete hardstanding. I may be tempted to put down rubber matting.
 
mollylolly said:
given the recent weather and the ice im not sure i would feel comfortable with concrete hardstanding. I may be tempted to put down rubber matting.
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I made a load of paving slabs this spring, to make a hardstanding area by the gate.... built up the area with stone to level it. Couldn't afford full thickness concrete, nor could I buy any reasonably priced slabs that were thick enough not to break.

My home made ones have worked really well. Have roughened the surface of them so the ponies don't slip on them. Makes them a bit harder to sweep but at least no accidents.

They were a killer to make. Would've been preferable to hire a cement mixer, but I couldn't afford it!
 
I don't know how much it cost to put ours in but each of our horses has an 8m by 12ft section of concrete directly outside their stables and they are turned out on it during the day and then at night they have access to their stables too. It works really well and gives them a chance to have a walk round since we have no winter turnout.
 
Re Alsxx's post, one possible word of warning. Am not quite sure what planings are, but prior to having concrete hardstanding we had what I call chippings (are these the same as planings?) They worked fine for 3 of our then horses. But the fourth was a really old Welshie, and the soles and walls of his hooves were startting to separate. The chippings worked up into the gap and gave him abscesses on two occasions, and in the end he had to go to another yard - which had concrete hardstanding! But planings may be different to chippings??
 
We have concrete just outside our shelter & stables (which are in a yard so they have full access to them directly from the paddocks). Otherwise the yard itself is hardcored which is brilliant stuff as its far less slippy than concrete so they can actually canter over it should they be playing about in the fields.
 
Rose Folly, planings are basically the old road surface, so could be the same thing as chippings?

We got a whacker plate to bash them all down and I've not had any hoof related problems so far with the 3 of mine - our whole yard and driveway is planings - I couldn't afford to spend out on concrete when the yard is not mine!
 
I am in the process of getting my concrete down!! TODAY! I did a hard standing area of crushed brick of around 70x70 square feet. and concrete in an L shape 40x40. hard standing cost £700 and the concrete £1100. my fields are trashed but i wont have that problem next year!!
 
Threads like this make me feel so much better about my need to keep improving !!

We started off with an L shape block of stables on a square concrete pad. Cost £7500 all inclusive.

Within 7 years we have spent 10 times that just improving and extending the lot.... and I'm still not happy !!!

If I was you, I'd invest in some free draining limestone. Dig down 6 inches, dig some gravel traps as soak aways - lay down some Terram membrane then back fill with clean limestone. Have it road rolled into place. It will last you atleast 10 years of regular trampling. Its non-slip, drains brilliantly and saves your paddocks.

It might be a bit more costly but its safer in the long run than concrete or scalpings. We tried scalpings, woodchip and concrete but all had their problems... and had to come back out.
 
also going to ad, mares will be barned next year, if you pay that much for the concrete and hard standing, its just as much to build a barn??? so i will have nothing on the fields next year.
 
not sure how much exactly but to give you an idea we had 52x64ft yard laid 6" deep with drainage and electric pipes inserted, sloping for drainage and 6" hardcore below and that was £13k so I think you would be looking about 4k......concrete is expensive!
 
We have a concreted area of 30m by 20m. It is important to get the drainage right, ours had to be modified and that was an expensive mistake. It was some time ago but I believe we paid about £3,000. It has worked well but you do need to keep it clean. We have ridged concrete so that helps keep the footing secure but in the icy weather it can be treacherous. It has been very useful when one of our mini shets had to be kept off the grass because of laminitis. We put up hay nets and at least she had space to move around.
 
Concrete is around £120 for the first sq metre then £100 for every metre thereafter. Road planings are worth thinking about. You can't sweep them but they're safer as they're never slippy, even when frozen and cheap as chips
 
Not concrete. when its icy or wet its lethal. horses could slip and break a leg. We had a lot of small stone [ planings/hardcore]put down on a levelled area in front of the stables and then had a load of menage grade wood chip on top. its excellent.
 
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Ours are turned out for winter in sand paddocks with road planings as a base. Our fields just can't cope with winter use but the upside is I have good summer grazing. There are shelters in the paddocks and they work pretty well. Downside is there's no grazing so its hay/haylage 24/7 and lots of poo picking!
 
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