Hardstanding material

[Red-1]

Hi, we are putting a bit of hardstanding in, someone has been to dig out, drainage is being put in as we speak for the building. I have widened the bit we had to dig out for building drainage to make it wide enough for a little veranda to the stable, so Rigsby can choose in or out.

I know to start with washed stone, but what would be suitable to go on top? I have been recommended many thigsm rfrom road planings, to membrane and sand, to crushed concrete (to dust)...

I don't want to get it wrong, I am envisioning a permanently open stable for him.

Any experiences/suggestions?

 

[YorksG]

This may not be helpful, but we have mud control mats in our shelter, they are on washed stone and then the "veranda" under the overhang is on stone and the"patio" is straight to earth. All slabs work well and have be down 12 months now with no issue

 

[YorksG]

This may not be helpful, but we have mud control mats in our shelter, they are on washed stone and then the "veranda" under the overhang is on stone and the"patio" is straight to earth. All slabs work well and have be down 12 months now with no issue

 

[YorksG]

Dupe

 

[cauda equina]

I have no experience of rubber pavers at all but I guess they would be the kindest thing for bare feet
eg something like these
https://www.quattrorubberandresin.co.uk/product/dog-bone-high-density-rubber-pavers-for-equine-use/

 

[Red-1]

One is fully shod and the other has fronts, so I think hard core would be ok from that perspective. The one still barefoot behind is happy to hack out over hard core.

 

[YorksG]

We found hard core very difficult to keep clean, we are now using mud control mats for the hay bales to stand on, as they ruined the hard standing

 

[paddy555]

we've put in lots of different hard areas here. I am not sure what you are trying to do. If you were simply putting in a hard standing area outside the stable so R could walk in the stable or loaf on the hard standing I would put it in with concrete over your clean stone and then, for his comfort, put 6 x 4 stable mats (big heavy ones) on top. I have done some like that and they are comfy for the horse to stand on, very easy to sweep, wash or even pressure wash. Good to feed hay on and in fact good for everything.
I have done the same by putting stable mats on a stone base levelled off with sand. Not quite as good as the surface is not as even but as they have been down over 20 years they have worked well.

I have used plannings on some areas and they are fine. I wouldn't use sand if you want to feed hay or hang a net up because of eating of sand. I wouldn't use a loose surface such as sand would be in an arena as difficult to feed off, difficult to clean, sand blows away, very easy to waste the sand. Sand on a membrane may be slippery. With sand he may roll. That could be good or bad. He may be one of these awful horses who likes to dig his rolling area first.

My best surface is the yard which is a stone base covered with river sand. River sand is obviously sand dug out of a river but it is pretty coarse with small stones in it which pack down between the clean stone and compacts to make a nice surface. Coming from a river it drains and doesn't cream up like building sand would do. The surface is smooth and flat, there is no loose sand. The horses wander on this in winter when they are yarded and it is easy to keep clean.
The advantage for us is not only is this the perfect surface it is also free as we dig the sand out ourselves to prevent flooding.
I did put loose fairly deep sand on tracks once. We had the most perfect mustang rolls but the rest was a bit of a nightmare.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I've an area in front of stables that I put hardcore down then put grass mats down on top as J's patio. It's worked well and I prefer it to the area I put paving slabs down on as they get slippy when it freezes. I use a plastic garden rake to "sweep" it.

 

[WelshD]

If you want a hardcore type of material then limestone type 1 would be good. Whacker it down though.
granite type 1 would also do it but is harder on hooves.

pea gravel is supposed to be excellent for hooves but I’d imagine would be a nightmare to poo pick.

if you want something more easily cleaned then look on eBay for the under rubber matting used under artificial sports fields. It allows rain through and is often quite economical

 

[GinaGeo]

We’ve had and used lots of different surfaces ?

Concrete - easy to sweep - but slippy if Shod

Road planings - cheap. Hard to poo pick until it settles right down. We have a feeding area that we have topped with rubber mats. That has made a really useful feeding area that BBC can be swept.

Pea gravel - great surface. Horses love hanging about on it. Easy to poo pick with a shavings fork. It does drain well. But can get a bit mucky if they pee on it. Which they do. Needs topping up annually.

Type 1 Limestone - great in summer/ in the dry. Makes a super solid surface. Can get a bit sloppy in winter and really hard to keep clean. I use it for paths now, but don’t use it in areas they hang about and eat. When it’s wet and gets hay mixed in it’s a pain.

Sand - we removed. It turned to slop. And everything was covered in it. If I was going for sand again I’d be mega selective.

Wood chip - also removed. It turns it a muddy mess.

Rubber tiles - absolutely super. Look really smart. Sweep well. Horses love rolling on them. Most expensive option.

If I were doing similar I think I would use something that drained well and put some sort of rubber surface on it. It’s sweepable, non-slip, and is a surface the horses prefer to stand on. Stable mats would do the job. We use them grooves up instead of bobbles as they sweep better ?

 

[tda]

I have 2 areas, one is hard-core, not quite MOT more crushed concrete and drains well, I have some standard rubber mats outside the stables/shelter and they have barely moved in 10 years.
Also have an area of mud control mats, more expensive but good and long lasting

 

[Red-1]

Thank you, many ideas.

I will measure and price...

 

[TheMule]

I've just had my hard standing covered with a layer of stone dust as, after 3 years, it was getting a bit stoney where it had settled and mine are all unshod so we’re finding it a bit tricky to stand on all day to eat their haylage. I'm really pleased so far.

 

[Jellymoon]

Road planings on top of limestone works well. It has enough give in it for comfort, economical, doesn’t get slippery.

 

[Red-1]

Road planings on top of limestone works well. It has enough give in it for comfort, economical, doesn’t get slippery.

This is my preference, I think. It is not their main winter turnout or anything, just a little extra veranda outside the back of the stable.

 

[rabatsa]

I am another with mud control slabs and going into the second winter. We put in a drain and extended the area this summer as so far it has proved a great success. For shod horses a covering of sand would be needed to stop them from getting slippy.

 

[Burnttoast]

I originally had road planings on my yard (wanted limestone but we are a long way from an easy source and I was stupidly persuaded otherwise by my contractor). Nightmare to poopick (particularly as I spread my muck back on the fields and didn't want lots of tarry stones in it), and when it was hot enough they would stick together and ball up like snow in my boy's concave fronts, and gave him toe cracks I needed a quick fix and went for 6x4 rubber mats - not cheap but went down in a day, once we'd rerolled the planings. I also put sand over the planings in one area to give them a rolling/peeing area, which they use a lot. If I were doing it all again I'd use limestone no matter how strenuous the objections from the contractor.

 

[catembi]

Mine was dug out & membraned, then fitted with ecogrids that were then filled with limestone. It drains really well. All of mine are barefoot and they do okay on it, except for an ex racer who is very sensitive, & I used to boot him on and off to give him a rest from the stones. It doesn't look pristine as it's hard to poo pick effectively, but it does the job very well.