Exercise Pen - WWYD?

[Vintage]

Hello everyone.

Thanks for reading, I'd very much appreciate the help.

We've decided to get rid of the entire veg garden at the back of the stables. It's too stony to grow anything properly on (and the horses do love trying to get across it to the carrots that managed to grow there)

I do have an arena, but it isn't fenced and it's not really possible to fence (long story)

We have had the old veg patch scraped over with a digger, and now slowly raking it over to even out. It's a decent square shape, and though it wouldn't 'do' for riding in, it's still a reasonable size (approx. 20x20m) to be able to do some ground work in and let the beasts have a roam in there with their toys.

It is going to be fenced properly, but I was wondering What would you do?


I either could sand it, membrane it and put sand on (even more expensive) or just attempt to grass it over and hope it doesn't chew up. I don't have a lot of money - In a perfect world I would make it in to a mini-arena but it's not possible.


So, I'm kind of stumped as to what my best option is. Would having a layer of sand across the top 'do' for just a bit of ground work and roaming or is it likely to just be a disaster?


Thanks in advance!

 

[JillA]

I suspect sand would just get absorbed and mixed with the soil and stones, and make for very hard footing. Wood is cheap but breaks down in the wet to compost which clogs up the drainage and gets very deep, over a few years, but bark doesn't. I would be looking at the price of bark chips in bulk. Whatever you get, if you are using it as a turn out area you will remove a small amount each time you poo pick so not something you want to spend a lot on.

 

[pippixox]

my friends ponies have a turnout pen they made on old waste land, they put hard surface down first- lots of concrete hard core, mostly to allow some drainage, then loads of wood chip on top, it does break down a bit and needs topping up, but works well. they actually got the wood chip for free as we know some tree surgeons, so they give us the chippings (worth seeing if you can find someone- have to be careful though, they know what plants they cant have in our wood chip if poisonous to horses)

 

[Goldenstar]

Some years ago I can an area covered with coarse compost from the company that composts the green waste for the council.
The waste gets put through the machines several times as it composts down getting smaller each time I went to their yard chose the size I thought best and they delivered it for free ( they need to get rid of it ) they are near to us though.
It worked very well they tipped it on and we spread it by hand it compacted down over time .
You would need to top it up now and again.

 

[stencilface]

Would having a hard surface turnout area for them be useful for winter if you struggle with mud? If so road scalpings are easy/cheap to get hold of you just need a machine it to spread/compact them unless you are pretty handy with a shovel!

 

[Vintage]

Thank you all!

The walk way from the stables around the back (and around this soon to be pen-thing) has road scalpings which need topping up come to think of it. There is a fenced enclosure on the side of this track where the horses can wander around in winter if it's too wet etc so we have that kind of covered. Ideally I'd like to have a softish surface for them to roam around on, so something like coarse compost might well be something to look at (especially if it gets turned back in to a veg patch in years to come?)

I had wondered about bark chippings - the main thing is the cost of getting it here, though we do have a trailer. Would bark or compost need hardcore underneath?

 

[sport horse]

If possible dig out some of the topsoil. Backfill with hardcore and then blind the top with old road planings (tarmac scraped of road) or scalpings and top with sand, woodchips or whatever you can find fairly cheaply. It will get covered in muck and they will dig! I would not bother with a membrane as loose horses seem able to dig these up so it is a waste of money.