ideas for sacrifice/hard standing/dry area

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pachypach

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We have moved house and now have our own field behind the house (after years of borrowing fields)
I am planning a sort of sacrifice area for the ponies (I have 3)
they will hopefully use it when the field is too muddy or the grass is too green.
They live out 24/7
their field shelter will be here, as will water & I will feed them hay here too.
can anyone recommend what surface to put down?
at a rough guess it will be approx 300m² ish. the area is flat, it is under trees, and at the moment grassed.
I cant afford to get diggers etc in and lay hardcore or foundations, so any works will be done by us with a wheelbarrow!
something hopefully the horses will feel comfy on, wont turn into a bog etc.
also a surface easily available over in France where I live!
(Not asking for alot am I? )
 
Old road chippings/Scalpings?
I made a yard out of them. They are a nightmare at first as you have quite large chunks and they do get a bit tarry and stuck in hooves.
However we laid it as recommended in summer and if possible roll it (maybe you could hire one?)
A year down the line its still good, we have one soft patch where the mud started to come through but all the big bits are gone and in places where we watered it on very hot days it seems to have become properly hard and set. I can just about sweep over the worst of it now. And its cheap!
 
Hi there,

I think the most important thing about making a standing area for the horses is the placement. Make sure its positioned in the driest area, usually the highest point of the field. Also take into account the direction of prevailing wind if your putting up a shelter.

I would highly recommend maybe hiring a small mini digger for a few days in order to scrape off some of the to soil then lay some larger hard core down first then some smaller gravel chippings on top.

If you will hire a compactor it will compact the new area into a really nice surface for working on, you could then spread some wood chippings on top as a kind of a shock absorbing layer.

I know you want to do the work yourself but I think if your going to do it, plan ahead and do it properly, you may be wasting your time with the wheel barrow and shovel and end up having to get a digger etc in to complete the work. but it is really possible to hire a small digger and get some one to help you over a weekend or so even just to scrape off the topsoil you could spread the gravel with the wheelbarrow yourself!

best of luck with it! let us know how you get on!
 
patseyr said:
Hi there,

I think the most important thing about making a standing area for the horses is the placement. Make sure its positioned in the driest area, usually the highest point of the field. Also take into account the direction of prevailing wind if your putting up a shelter.

I would highly recommend maybe hiring a small mini digger for a few days in order to scrape off some of the to soil then lay some larger hard core down first then some smaller gravel chippings on top.

If you will hire a compactor it will compact the new area into a really nice surface for working on, you could then spread some wood chippings on top as a kind of a shock absorbing layer.

I know you want to do the work yourself but I think if your going to do it, plan ahead and do it properly, you may be wasting your time with the wheel barrow and shovel and end up having to get a digger etc in to complete the work. but it is really possible to hire a small digger and get some one to help you over a weekend or so even just to scrape off the topsoil you could spread the gravel with the wheelbarrow yourself!

best of luck with it! let us know how you get on!
Click to expand...

Thanks, sounds good to me. we are on a very tight budget.
The placement is fine, its shaded under trees and flat, not boggy (the whole field is flat)
does the topsoil need to be scraped off, or can we lay chippings & compact them on top of the topsoil? (I'm not think, just don't know about these things lol)
 
I have used two different methods to create some dry areas. In gateways and paths we used road plannings as suggested above, and did not scrape any top soil away as our soil is very sandy naturally and the horses going through gateways, paths etc had worn the ground away. The planeings were easy to lay and have done well and grass has now grown over top, but they are still good drainage.

In our yard we laid limestone, with a layer of smaller limestone/dust on the top. Again we wanted to raise up the level as there was a slight slope and stable base was put higher, it has been down a number of years and worked well.

We did do all this ourselves, it did take a bit of time, and we tackled an area at a time each weekend!
 
Foxymumma said:
Wood chippings from a friendly local tree surgeon! perfect for field gateways, school surfaces, areas for turnout without grass etc!
Click to expand...

This works well, I used compost part processed from green waste from the council it was provided for the cost of the carriage from the company who processes it it get put through the composer several times and get finer each time I selected the grade I wanted and we tipped it on in summer and spread it out by hand you would have to top up as it disappears into the ground but it does give a dry standing area .
 
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