Help me design turnout!!

[spookypony]

Here's a very rough floorplan of our new home. The grey stuff is tarmac or gravel, the black lines are either fence or drystane dike. The northern boundary is formed by the black line; the southern, by the burn and the bottom fence of the right paddock.

The current plan: left paddock stays as is. Right paddock may eventually be surfaced, as a school. Garage is to be turned into 2 stables, and the tarmac infront of it and hay store (about 10m x 10m) fenced off as hard standing, possibly all the way from the hay store over to the right paddock and around the northern side of the house.

The idea would be to use this hard standing as winter/wet weather turnout, allowing free access to the stables. If the right paddock gets surfaced, this might also be usable for wet-weather turnout.

Currently, because all I managed to do when moving in was fencing the paddocks, both paddocks are getting well wrecked. The horses are currently being corraled on the lawn (that blank area in the middle) for a few hours each day, to help save the paddocks and some hay.

I'm looking for ideas on how I can make the best use of the middle space, without completely losing garden...should I consider extending the hard standing eventually, or do I have enough?

At the moment, I can't rest the left paddock, because the right paddock is too wet. Should I consider subdividing it with electric fence?

 

[coffeeandabagel]

Wow - what a good idea to get some help like this. I will be watching carefully as I plan how I am going to use my new space

 

[Dubsie]

I'd run a line of electric fencing up the middle of the paddock on the left *(from right to left) stopping about 3 or4m from the end. We do this with our main paddock which you get to from the yard. Means they trash only the nearest bit, and the corner where they walk round the electric fencing, but the bottom half is still grassy.

I'd also consider taking out some garden trees on the right of the middle section, as well as the nearest to the stables bit of the gravel. and fencing off and turning the top right of the middle section into a smaller square sacrifice area, ideally 20m x 20m if you can squeeze it in or you may have to shift the garden house. Or go a bit bigger and make a small 20m x 30m arena there - put down some footings and drainage and maybe woodchip surface so you could lunge there, or turn them out there in very wet weather and put hay out. This would then help save your right hand paddock in dire weather by giving somewere to stretch legs etc.
Keep the rest of the garden as garden. They can graze the lawn to save mowing when it's a bit drier. and this will preserve the 'garden' look.

 

[spookypony]

I'd run a line of electric fencing up the middle of the paddock on the left *(from right to left) stopping about 3 or4m from the end. We do this with our main paddock which you get to from the yard. Means they trash only the nearest bit, and the corner where they walk round the electric fencing, but the bottom half is still grassy.

So they would have access to the whole thing, but would need to walk the whole length to the far end to get to the bottom half? Like a line that folds in half?

I'd also consider taking out some garden trees on the right of the middle section, as well as the nearest to the stables bit of the gravel. and fencing off and turning the top right of the middle section into a smaller square sacrifice area, ideally 20m x 20m if you can squeeze it in or you may have to shift the garden house. Or go a bit bigger and make a small 20m x 30m arena there - put down some footings and drainage and maybe woodchip surface so you could lunge there, or turn them out there in very wet weather and put hay out. This would then help save your right hand paddock in dire weather by giving somewere to stretch legs etc.
Keep the rest of the garden as garden. They can graze the lawn to save mowing when it's a bit drier. and this will preserve the 'garden' look.

I hadn't even considered taking trees out... if I were to squeeze in the sacrifice area really at the top right, it would be about 20x15, without attacking trees. I guess I could pea-gravel that? Could I attach all that to the area infront of the stables? Then it would be an odd shape, but a bit bigger. Am I daft to consider letting them wander around the north side of the house, between the house and the dike?

 

[FfionWinnie]

I have divided my paddocks in half now. It means the remainder they are on gets more trashed but at least they aren't trashing it all and it is going to start growing from now even up here.

I'd fence everything to the right of the house to the potential school as a wet weather turnout. Remove shrubs, keep trees if not poisonous, Terram, gravel. Have the left half as the garden.

 

[coffeeandabagel]

I dont understand the idea of the line of fencing down the middle - how it works? sorry for being dim

 

[spookypony]

I have divided my paddocks in half now. It means the remainder they are on gets more trashed but at least they aren't trashing it all and it is going to start growing from now even up here.

Well, it's hard for the near third of the left paddock to get any more trashed, so maybe I should consider fencing them in there where their hay is, and let the far 2/3 recover. I'll have to ask the neighbour farmer if he might roll it...probably still too wet, though.

I'd fence everything to the right of the house to the potential school as a wet weather turnout. Remove shrubs, keep trees if not poisonous, Terram, gravel. Have the left half as the garden.

That sounds similar to Dubsie's suggestion, I think...would you fence off all the way to the south fence line (inc. where the garden house is)?

 

[Dubsie]

I dont understand the idea of the line of fencing down the middle - how it works? sorry for being dim

Before we fenced ours down the middle, they would belt about over the whole = far more trashed. Now they do belt about in the half nearest the yars, but they tend to slow down to round the corner into the other half, and as they don't get in there as much it's not as totally trashed as the rest. I would have fenced it completely off but ran out of stakes, but it seems to work

 

[Adopter]

My sister made a 'runway' through side of her garden so ponies/horses could go into stables and use them as shelter. Can you fence part of your garden to allow this.

My stables are in one of my paddocks and I have been so glad during this wet and miserable winter. Feeding and giveing hay has been so much easier with ponies able to come and go as they wish and using stables for shelter when they want, but they can also access field to gaze as they want. It has saved so much work.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Well, it's hard for the near third of the left paddock to get any more trashed, so maybe I should consider fencing them in there where their hay is, and let the far 2/3 recover. I'll have to ask the neighbour farmer if he might roll it...probably still too wet, though.



That sounds similar to Dubsie's suggestion, I think...would you fence off all the way to the south fence line (inc. where the garden house is)?

Yes, you could relocate the garden house to the other side? I think the bigger the better really for a winter turnout area, if it stands up well you could keep them off the fields all winter...