D.I.Y. pond/water jump....any tips?

[Hollyhorse]

With this weather our fields are really wet, puddles everywhere! It's been suggested that we make a pond at the wettest part and the water will all run there, keeping the fields a little drier - tried and tested apparently! If I'm going to have a pond in my field tho, I definitely want to make it a water jump that I can use with my horses and youngsters to prepare them for one-day-events. To be honest, even if it doesn't work as a place for the water to go, I still would like a water jump! I'd want one end to be a slope in and the other to have a step. Any idea how I go about building one of these?! Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated

Many thanks

 

[Santa_Claus]

firstly you may find you need planning permission depending where you live so be very careful as you don't want to dig it to be told to fill it back in again!! I would imagine a surveyor may well be useful as well to make sure the pond is correctly located to collect the excess water and that when you do dig you will not be digging up any pipes/cables etc etc and also that if it overflows it won't flood any buildings or important/neighbours land.

As for the actual construction I wouldn't have a clue other than you would need a digger!!! you would need someone who would be able to advise you how to stablise the step and give a firm base and also how deep you can dig so that it doesn't get too deep as water jumps are generally very shallow these days.

I would be careful of going the total DIY approach but i'm sure with a bit of help you can do the majority of the work yourself.

 

[keysoe]

Firstly I do not believe that a pond will make the rest of the field dryer. i would suggest you get is subsoiled / paraplowed / shakeaerated, that will help it to drain. A mole plough may be easier to get & would also do the job

If you build a water jump it is expensive, you need a lot of hardcore to keep the bottom stable (as it should be permanently waterlogged) just building in a pond will give you a water jump when the field is too wet to use it & a sunken road at other times