Concrete yard better than deep mud?

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katymay

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Ive given up, fed up of seeing my ponies stood out in mud up to their elbows,
luckily ive got a large concrete courtyard so ive shut the gates and put them in there with a nice wedge of hay and water, at least it will give their legs a chance to dry off and they can watch the world go by.
will they be alright in there for a few hours as long as they have got food? as appose to a paddock with mud and no grass?!

oh sugar, forgot about the poor postman, hope he isnt frightened of ponies! poor thing must have had to climb the gate to get in :)

kate
 
I hope it's a good idea because my three have been in the yard for weeks and I haven't been sure if that's an 'ok' thing to do as no-one else on here has mentioned it! At the end of November it got so muddy that the Shetland was over her knees and I couldn't stand it any more, they were filthy, unhappy and the field was getting trashed. Our yard is 3 stables wide by about twice that and we rigged up a fence on the open side from scaffold poles. They have a couple of hay nets outside and free access to their stables (shut in at nigt)and seem fairly happy. It's so much easier to keep them clean and we use much less hay.I did check with the farrier as I was worried the hard surface would either wear their feet down too much or damage them- he thought it would be fine and they have most of their stable floors deep littered so they have respite when they're in there.They can't charge around as they would in the field (do trot around at feeding time but that's it!). I've spaced the water and nets at opposite end of the yard, so they have to do some exercise. As delivery people usually cut across the yard I've bike chained the gate and they can either walk the long way round or climb over. Unless someone on here tells me its a terrible idea I can't see them going into the field until Spring!
 
Ours are on a concrete yard! Have been for a couple months now. They have access into the field as it opens up onto the yard but they have a haynet each (4 horses) tied onto the yard each morning and they are all perfectly happy! :)

They have the choice of the field yet seem to be on the yard most of the time as I think they are just well and truly sick of the mud! I try and work my horse as much as poss so she gets a good amount of exercise and also put her in the school loose every now and again so she can have a good run about :p
 
Keep them in the yard, and put a mailbox outside the gate for the Postman to use. Simple, and considerate :)

It genuinely amazes me that more people do not provide mailboxes to save the Postie driving needless miles down rutted, icy (or flooded) driveways, opening and shutting gates, and running the gauntlet of friendly, and not so friendly, creatures especially in rural areas.

Our mailbox, like everyone elses, is on the side of the road, at a standard height, so that the Mail lady can just pop mail in without leaving the truck...she also collects outgoing mail - excellent system :)
 
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Mine have been wandering on the yard on their days 'in' at the moment - due to the weather I've had to restrict turnout to every other day to try and save the land. They have hay and water and are quite happy!
 
fabulous, thats settled then, I will give them as much yard time as possible, is a haynet each for the day enough? they are stabled at night and fed then.

The post man usually parks in our yard to deliver our post, he doesnt have to come far but will put a box outside the gate for him :)

as soon as the boys are back at school I can take them out in hand to munch on the verges for a bit of grass :)
 
i wish we had the chnace to do that ! had to rent a field to plop her in as ours was like a mud bath, her feathers are lovely and white again :-)
 
I wholey agree with every one and think its nice to see a thread where regular people are using comon sence - Im sure some one will comment with strong views, complete with a horror story of "a friends horse" slipping, a siezing up etc!!

Enough horses are fully stabled in the summer and winter - as long as they are fed correctly and have some exercise theyll be fine im sure and grateful!!!:)
 
My barefoot cob is stabled over night for sixteen hours, on a concrete cattle court, he has matting to go on as well if he wants, but nine times out of ten he chooses the concrete, his feet are also like concrete lots of movement and self trimming.
 
I would yard all mine through winter if I had the facilities! Our small yard has facilities to do this, along with a 1 acre paddock, and gravel rather than concrete, but the owner is quite strict about numbers on that one so could only take a couple of horses. We will be taking a couple up this weekend and hoping to be allowed to put the stallions in the paddock just for a few weeks whilst we move from the big yard. We have the use of another nice field but know it will just get churned up if we use it now. Ideally I would have concrete covered with wood chippings as a permanent winter turnout.
 
ok, I was feeling quite smug about my concrete turn out until the little monkeys decided to rip open three big bags full of rubbish that had not fit in the wheely bin, just had to pick up a billion cocktails sticks, gone off cream cartons, dirty nappies etc, yukk! :mad:
 
Yes I have done this for the last few winters. They do go out into the field as much as possible but last winter in particular they were in the yard for a few weeks at a time.

Their stables are always open and they are shut in the stables only when it's icey.
 
katymay said:
ok, I was feeling quite smug about my concrete turn out until the little monkeys decided to rip open three big bags full of rubbish that had not fit in the wheely bin, just had to pick up a billion cocktails sticks, gone off cream cartons, dirty nappies etc, yukk! :mad:
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Brilliant! You provided them with entertainment as well. What more could they want?

I would love to have an area of hard standing and it's on my wish list. I think if you made that the food area and only put hay out there they would choose to stand there rather than be on the field all the time.
 
Living in a bog (literally) I couldn't manage without my large yards. They are round gravel of varying sizes not pea gravel. I can separate them off or open them up and they wrap right round the buildings to which the horses have free choice access. I have one tb who I shut in 3/4 of a barn at night in winter so she can gorge without interruption. Poo picking can be a bit of a pain but the larger stones have mostly been sorted now, still better for them imo and easier than poo picking a boggy field. lol Been here five years now and it will need sorting for the first time next summer due to the even more torrential rain than usual.

ps. I do think enough space is needed if the area is fenced off. Mine worked out perfectly as they can even get out of sight of each other. They don't squabble at all tbh but some of that is down to their diet I believe as well as having enough space.
 
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My stables are 12 by 14s and outside each is a penned off area of at least stable size again for each horses. My old boy has stopped going out this year as the wet was just too much and he has a 35ft by 15ft pen out front which him and the Shetland love. All the stables are rubber matted to give their feet a rest but this has worked brilliantly for me all year round for the last 5 years. Wish I had done it earlier. None of mine seem to get silly in as move around plenty. I don't have problems with them getting filled legs and the old boy who has COPD rarely coughs (twice last winter, nothing this year so far).
 
My horse now goes out in a large cattle pen this time of year - he is much happier than he was marching up and down in the mud, demanding to come in. He has hay and water put out there and this is the first winter that, not only has he kept weight on, he's actually gained weight! :)
 
We often use our large covered yard when the fields get too bad! Sometimes they are shut in and sometimes the field gate is open although they always stay in the yard with a large bale of hay! I have never had any issues doing this but I am a worrier and when they start to play a little i always worry that something might happen!
 
At my old yard, I used to turn my pony out in a concrete pen :) She was fine in there, in the ice it was too dangerous as she slipped about a bit but otherwise totally fine!
Now I just have an orange sand coloured manege :p think the orange stains are worse than the mud!! :rolleyes:
 
Mine used to live in a concrete coral at my old yard - she was fine in it but I used to have to grit it to stop it getting iced over :)
 
My friends have done similar for the last 20 years. Their fields are very wet so from November to March they split their hardcored (road planings) 20 foot wide lane into sections and each horse has about 50 yards to walk or trot up and down and they go out all day, every day. They chose to keep them separate to help minimise any charging around so that they lessened the chances of falls or injuries. I always said I would copy this if I needed to as it worked so well.
 
Wish i could do the same. I'm fed up of filthy horses and feathers mudded up and no longer white, they are plastered in mud :(.
 
Once I have purchased the land I am buying I am hoping to do this! The fields are very very wet and would rather them be stood on hard ground with a hay than in all that mud. How big an area do you all have? And what do you have on the floor? Concrete/gravel/wood chip?
 
I've got a "holding pen" for mine and its an absolute godsend: really useful to have somewhere to put them whilst waiting for the vet/farrier and don't want them to get all mucky, plus at the mo its really come into its own.

The problem is that the area is in view of - and right next to - the lucious green grass of the paddock, so I've had to put up leccy fencing all around it to stop them getting ideas i.e. pushing at the fence etc.
 
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