How feasible is it to build an all weather track?

catembi

catembi

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I have the horses at home & the set-up is pretty much perfect except that the fields are unusable in winter due to being heavy clay. Today it occurred to me that I might be able to build a track all the way around the perimeter so that I could have year round turnout. It's on a slope (north Beds so not mountainous) with an interesting wooded bit at the top. The perimeter fence is stock fence, so the idea would be to put an inner fence all the way round, then in winter the horses would have access to 6 rubber matted stables, each with a hay net, and the large limestone yard, as currently, but then would also have access to the track. Then in the few months when the fields will stand up to use, have access to the middle as well.

I have a feeling that it's not going to be feasible...

If I did a racehorse gallops style track, I would need planning & I expect it would be £££££££££. At my last house, the planners told me that anything that stops grazing from being grazed needs planning permission - e.g. (my last house was on sand & the soil was too free draining) they said that even if I built a boxx & filled it with woodchip to make a school without any digging, it would still need planning as the area was no longer grazeable.

Mud control mats - very expensive, a pain to fit anywhere that isn't flat & level (I already have 200), a bit slippery.

Jelka mats - not sure that they would stay put on a slope.

Any other ideas, or is it just going to be too difficult or expensive? It really is full on clay.
 
You could look at some track liveries for inspiration - I know Gawsworth Track Livery has a fully surfaced track, which is a mixture of surfaces e.g. limestone, sand, hardcore etc. I don't think it will ever be cheap to create a surfaced track, and you would need planning permission, but it would pay off in that it would save your land over the winter from becoming muddy and compacted.
 
Also to reduce cost there is no need to do a square shape round the field edge,an L shape gives as much distance as the horse goes to one end for,say,hay then turns round and goes back to the beginning for a different net of hay,so the distance covered is the same as walking round a square or circle.
 
Backtoblack said:
Also to reduce cost there is no need to do a square shape round the field edge,an L shape gives as much distance as the horse goes to one end for,say,hay then turns round and goes back to the beginning for a different net of hay,so the distance covered is the same as walking round a square or circle.
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Unless you have a one way gate!
 
Wow to Abbots View livery! The book looks interesting too! We are so very clay that any track really would have to be surfaced. I was so spoiled on sand - year round turnout & never thought twice about it! Here, as soon as the bad weather gets going in autumn, it's instant quagmire!
 
I looked at tracking round a 1.5 acre field 😮😮££££
Could you make your stone area a bit bigger then just let them out on the track when it's dry enough. I know it's a poor alternative, how many horses have you?

Gawsworth track have a properly laid, surfaced track, but obviously a big investment
 
My friends have laid a limestone surface. They decided not to go for planning and take the risk - called it an access road

I'll ask her how much it cost and how big it is
 
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TDA…how much was it out of interest, if you don’t mind saying? I have four…two ex racers, a Dartmoor and the obligatory Shetland 😄 My limestone area is already about as big as a 20x40 school but an odd shape. I also have a school and let them in it now and then to roll and play in winter. I would like them to be able to get a change of scene.

Thank you, SEL, that would be helpful.
 
catembi said:
TDA…how much was it out of interest, if you don’t mind saying? I have four…two ex racers, a Dartmoor and the obligatory Shetland 😄 My limestone area is already about as big as a 20x40 school but an odd shape. I also have a school and let them in it now and then to roll and play in winter. I would like them to be able to get a change of scene.

Thank you, SEL, that would be helpful.
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Sarah Braithwaite of Forageplus operates a hybrid track/Equicentral system, she has a large limestone loafing area with shelters and hay feeders but has a track extending from it in two directions. She may be happy to advise too.
 
Once permission is sorted etc - If you can get a cheap source of limestone/hardcore stone mash , then its very feasible. And even cheaper to DIY the job.
We did 250metres of hardcore tracking, hiring digger ourselves. We already have tractor and tip trailer, but a dumper truck can be hired too. Me and OH operating the machines took altogether 2 weeks - we hardcored other areas too by the sheds etc.
The main thing was our loads of hardcore, were 14 ton loads costing 100 euros per load. Really cheap! We lost count how many loads. Its hard to desribe the hardcore from the quarry the guy owns, it looks like shale, greyish, but it compacts down like limestone, so its got dust bits and larger parts to knit it together solid. There’s always some loose small pieces on the surface which helps them self-trim.

The cost…havent added it all up exactly, but around 1k digger hire, 2.5k hardcore, diesel for digger and tractor etc….drain piping another 500= 4k. To get 2 guys to work those 2 weeks, likely add 4k to that price.

It really does depend on your hardcore price - shop around.
 
Catembi, I only started on the back of an envelope, knowing a 20 ton load of crushed concrete (real mix of all sorts, cheap for a reason) was about £150 , which goes nowhere so maybe needing at least 50 loads 🙈 that's before paying for topsoil to be scraped back and disposed of so I gave up.
A lady local to me has a similar size limestone track, I guess that's what it is, I can see it in the distance
 
I’d say that yes you’d need planning to put surfaces down but if you argued that it would improve the state of the field by avoiding churning them up, improve horse health due to not being stood in mud etc hopefully you could get it 🤞

Wouldn’t be cheap though but worth it to escape the clay quagmire!
 
if you've got a 20 x 40 approx area already i would add a loop off that rather than track the entire perimeter.

as above id call it a road and not bother with PP unless you have asshat neighbors.
 
catembi said:
Oh yes, I have asshat neighbours! Several! Or perhaps it’s me that’s the asshat?! 🤣
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ugh.
PP and a loop then, you've got a much bigger area than i have for winter (also on bog clay) and mine are ok doing half days, so with your space and a loop i think you'd be fine.

i always say to OH when we move i don't want fancy stables i want cattle pens and an enclosed yard, with access direct to the fields so i can more easily restrict/increase movement, grass, mud or all 3.
 
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We are also on bottomless clay. Our driest field is accessed through our wettest, so both were essentially not accessible in winter. We quietly laid a track on top of the surface - a causeway if you will, 100 m along the first field hedgeline to the gate of the second. We used clean building rubble and old driveways, obtained free from a local groundworking company. It was a labour of love, mostly done by hand from dumped piles of rubble. As we completed a length we'd top it with scalpings and then a finer aggregate. It took us about 3 summers to do the whole length, and we've let things seed and root in it, so it's quite green and bedded in now. It gets a bit churned up in winter, but not deep, because it's slightly raised and so drains to some extent, and the horses have access to it all yr. This year I have extended it as a grass track all the way back to the yard, so they'll have that as well until late Autumn.
 
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