Field shelter

[Chianti]

Pony is on grass livery and has just been moved into a new paddock with a field shelter. This is obviously a positive given the very wet weather we're having. The less positive is that the shelter isn't on a surface. The ground was holding up well as it's on a slight slope until the last downpour but it's now getting muddy in there. I'm trying to think of anything I can do to improve it. I don't know if it's gone past grass mats helping. I doubt I'd be allowed to put straw in as the yard owner has to keep the muck heap as small as possible. Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Can you pick up some bags of sand? Wait till its a dry day and then tread down to level over as much mud as you can (a frosty morning is best)
Put a layer down of a good inch or 2 of sand and then a couple of bales of miscanthus or the like on top.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I would put the sand down then mats over the top.

 

[Leam_Carrie]

We have put down mats in our shelter, which seems to help. We did it on dry ground, so might work differently.

 

[J&S]

When we first moved the ponies over to our ground at home the facilities were pretty modest! There was a shelter of sorts where the farmer has previously put a large bale for his cows, we cleared this out of all debris and I put stable mats down so although there was mud all around there was still a dry area for them to stand on under the tin roof. I was surprised it worked so well. So, I would suggest stable mats in your shelter. Also useful for putting hay down with out it being trodden in to mud.

 

[MrsMozart]

Interested as I'm about to put a big bale of straw down in a three sided shelter. I'd wait 'till it's cold but I can't stand them being on mud any longer.

 

[NLPM]

I just use regular stable mats (interlocking ones; I found they move more in shelters than stables, probably because we're on a slope and because the rabbits like to burrow in the shelters too ?). Some have shavings beds, and 2 have mostly stable mats and then grass mats at the front (where I ran out of stable mats).

 

[NLPM]

If it's really muddy, i.e. rain is pooling inside, then I'd put down mud control mats (I always recommend them; I promise I don't work for them or even have any connection to them other than being a customer)

 

[cauda equina]

I use rubber stable mats too; I have mobile (in theory anyway) shelters and if I did want to move them mats would be easier to take up than anything else
On other threads people have recommended paving slabs

 

[Tiddlypom]

On other threads people have recommended paving slabs

Paving slabs over sharp sand would be the ideal. I can lay 10 3’ x2’ slabs a day even with my knackered back. Put rubber mats over those and you’re sorted. It can all be lifted up and reused if you need to, but our slabs stayed down for 20 years and we’ve since reused them elsewhere.

Otherwise, grass mats over sand would buy you some time this winter.

 

[MrsMozart]

OP I wish I'd thought to ask your excellent question before my shelter had turned into a mud bath!

Those putting down sharp sand then slabs, how deep is your sand? I'm now debating that option v. the mud mats, at least short term, the mud mats are my long term aim once money stops pouring out somewhat faster than it's pouring in

 

[Tiddlypom]

We used a couple of inches of sand. It takes a bit of time to level each slab as it goes down by adding or removing some sand. You want the slabs to be firmly bedded down with no rocking - it’s that which takes the time. I have them butted up with about a 1cm gap between slabs - I’m no expert but this does work.

This is a random image that shows the concrete slabs that I laid over sand on our ‘yard’, they were formerly down in our old stables. They do the job while not being pretty, hardly any of them rock.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

You have done a beautiful job, that must have been hard work.

 

[MrsMozart]

We used a couple of inches of sand. It takes a bit of time to level each slab as it goes down by adding or removing some sand. You want the slabs to be firmly bedded down with no rocking - it’s that which takes the time. I have them butted up with about a 1cm gap between slabs - I’m no expert but this does work.

This is a random image that shows the concrete slabs that I laid over sand on our ‘yard’, they were formerly down in our old stables. They do the job while not being pretty, hardly any of them rock.

View attachment 39392

Oh gosh that looks good! You want to come and do mine...?

I'm thinking that would work in the other (the human and Stuff!) end of the shelter as well as the neds' end. They use it quite a lot so I'm thinking rubber mats (as I already have them and they're lying around doing nothing) with a straw bed on top. Two of them are getting on and are wonky so I'd like them to have somewhere comfy to settle down.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Best slabs to use are the more heavy 'council' type rather than the thin garden ones.
Like TP, I have slabs but these are under 2 stables and a hay barn, which I put down in the 90s, with a little infilling of cement/ concrete a few years later. Still going strong

 

[Tiddlypom]

Oh gosh that looks good! You want to come and do mine...?

Haha, I think that perhaps that photo flatters my concrete slab laying skills . I did an ‘OK’ job which is not so bad that I can be bothered to relay them, but it is not a pro quality job either.

Best slabs to use are the more heavy 'council' type rather than the thin garden ones.
Like TP, I have slabs but these are under 2 stables and a hay barn, which I put down in the 90s, with a little infilling of cement/ concrete a few years later. Still going strong

Agree with this, the heavy council slabs are best. Apparently the 3’ x2’ size is no longer available new as they are deemed too heavy for manhandling, but they are still available new in 2’ x2’ size. They do turn up secondhand, so worth looking out for.

 

[Chianti]

If it's really muddy, i.e. rain is pooling inside, then I'd put down mud control mats (I always recommend them; I promise I don't work for them or even have any connection to them other than being a customer)

Thanks. I've just looked on their website and they seem ideal. Unfortunately they say they're out of stock due to unprecedented demand ( can't think why!) and can't deliver til February. I think I'll have to consider them for a long term solution and do something more short term in the mean time.

 

[Chianti]

Thank you all for the good suggestions. I spoke to the yard owner this week and she told me they are going to do work on the shelter floors over the Christmas period. Just have to survive until then.