How to create dry area in field?

[Scot123]

OK, I realise this may be wishful thinking with the weather we've had but... My ponies are out all year on the hillside and wherever they wander is muddy. I've noticed their hooves are definitely starting to get softer. There is one area in the field where they often shelter and I was thinking - is there anything I can feasibly lay there to help stop the mud? It's on a steep hill so no way of concreting or getting hardcore up. Would the rubber stable mats be any good or would they just slip away? Would it be best just to go with those holey field-gate mats? Anyone tried anything themselves. Determined to beat that mud!!

 

[Booboos]

None of these mats work, they just get sucked in by the mud but become trip and slip hazards until then.

Your only real solution is to remove the topsoil and add hardcore. If the area is very steep even this may get quickly eroded away though.

Sorry for the bad news.

 

[Scot123]

Well, I suppose I'd rather have bad news BEFORE I go and spend a load on mats! Yup, hardcore isn't really an option. Will have to keep thinking - thanks

 

[maggiemoto]

How about making a bark turnout area? These are becoming very popular; a friend of ours who has a large livery yard wouldn't be without hers.

 

[NagsEquestrian]

I've got rubber matting on an area outside my field shelter that gets lot sof traffic. I've found the key to it is to drop it on the ground when it's dry, and it stays put. If you put it on when the ground is wet it just slides about all over the place.

I've also got a hardcore area which has held up ok, the area was dug out and filled with hardcore, but after a good few years it has mixed in with the dirt a bit and gets a bit muddy, no where near as bad as with no hardcore though.

Has anyone tried a waterproof membrane with hardcore or bark on it? Does that stop the hardcore/bark mixing with the dirt?

 

[StarcatcherWilliam]

Would field mats (as opposed to stable mats) not work?

http://www.fieldguard.com/field_path_mats.html

 

[Booboos]

Bark will simply biodegrade and disappear, usually creating mulch,

Membranes have to be geotextile woven ones so that they rip if the horse's hoof goes through (so no good for mud) otherwise they are a huge trip/slip hazard!

 

[NagsEquestrian]

I would have thought with a waterproof memebrane, if you had enough hardcore/stone ect on it they wouldn't get to the membrane for it to be a slip hazard?
The edges could be pegged and covered with hardcore, or the whole thing could have a wooden box around it (ony to the height of the hardcore) to contain it?

 

[Booboos]

I wouldn't take the risk because they can dig, they can roll and disturb the hardcore, etc. Unless of course you mean a couple of metres of hardcore in which case it would be fine but you wouldn't need the membrane then!

 

[Scot123]

Hmmm, it keeps coming back to hardcore which I can't do Holey mats seem to be a love-em or hate-em item; perhaps if there's not much else in the way of options, it's what I'd need to try. Though potentially bark, if it's not on a big area, as it got soft and mulchy you could just dig some out and replace...

 

[WelshD]

Rather than using bark which can get slippery maybe investigate using woodchip, if you can get woodchip chunky bits with rounded edges as opposed to long shreds then that's even better - woodchips drain better and last longer

 

[npage123]

I've not tried it, but have read on another thread of someone who used the mucked out bedding (wood pellet bedding) in gateways, which helped to firm up the muddy area over a period of time. Don't know how hygienic/smelly this would be... Maybe you could try new bedding instead, unless you need to create a very large dry area (in which case this option would probably be way too expensive)?

 

[WelshD]

We use old chicken coop bedding to dry up gateways, doorways and paths, it works very well indeed. I guess if horses were on it any amount of times it might not be great for hoof hygiene but it's not a bad idea

 

[LD&S]

I put wood chip down, after the initial load it doesn't take much to top it up when it starts to rot, I got some from a local forestry company so it was very cheap.

 

[Merlin11]

I have the field mats and they work fairly well unless areas are very poached. Ideally put some kind of stones beneath them and then add them on top. They are also nice and soft for horses to stand on rather than stones.

 

[becky=)]

probably a rubbish idea but would a few bags of gravel/pea shingle work?

hope you something

 

[Dry Rot]

probably a rubbish idea but would a few bags of gravel/pea shingle work?

hope you something

The ideal solution would be to dig a trench and lay some proper perforated drainage pipe to a nearby ditch, or at least a lower area, but I did think gravel too.

When I built my field shelter, I rather stupidly sloped the roof so rainwater dripped off the end up hill of the building and then spread down over the inside floor! That was solved by installing a gutter with a downpipe to a drainage pipe which was led to the nearest ditch. The trench for the drainage pipe was back filled with gravel for extra drainage inside the shelter. The shelter floor is pea gravel which I get by the trailer load at about £15 a tonne. There is a lot of gravel in a tonne and the horses love it. The shelter is now bone dry and easy to rake clean. But if that isn't practical, bark sounds a good idea -- if it isn't too expensive.