Keeping a hardstanding mud free? !

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lucky7

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I have a deep hardstanding area outside my stables. The field is clay and very muddy. The hardstanding area isn't overly big and over the course of this winter it's got very muddy due to neds walkimg in and out the field and has hay and straw covering the top in parts . It's probably around 3 inches deep in parts with mud! I try clear it the best I can with a fork . It's still dry enough for the neds to stand on so they are not in mud but with them using the shelter alot they are dragging straw and mud on it.
I was thinking of having a mini digger scrape the top in the early spring as hoping to get the area extended before grass grows over it!. Just wondering if everyone else did?
 
Yes we did this, over the years mud etc had become quite deep over the top of the hardcore in the stable yard, so we paid a local contractors with mini digger to scrape the area whilst the mud was soft, we had a really good result and we used what was taken up to fill in some dips elsewhere.
 
I had a YO who used to make me sweep the mud off the hard standing in the field every day. I always felt a bit embarrassed sweeping a field but it did work. She also hovered the feed shed once week.
 
We used to regularly scrape with a cattle yard scraper by hand ( bought from the local agricultural merchants-can get a curved or straight one and is essentially a large rubber broom)- best done during or just after heavy rain!
 
My stable block is built on a hardcore pad, the bit out the front (where they stand around their hay feeder) is about 40ft x 15ft. Im always battling trying to keep mud off it. Its mud mixed with poo and hay. Total nightmare. I have got behind with keeping the area clear after it got frozen for a week (so I had layers upon layers!). I just fork it into a wheelbarrow, Im doing 4 very heavy barrows a day at the moment to try and get on top of it (and deal with daily mess). I would love to get a digger in to clear it but I worry with hardcore it'd ruin it kicking up chunks of it. Is yours hardcore or concrete? If concrete, I'd have a digger in. If hardcore, I'd carry on just trying to do it by hand!
 
I wait until a dry spring day and brush off the layer with a proper stiff broom. I do have to keep on top of it though and remove all the compacted hay/poo/wee that builds up during the week though. Also, the soil has a reasonable sand content, which is I guess is why it sweeps off reasonably easily.

I do need to redo the ends and edges though with more hardcore.
 
If you find a good solution please let me know. I made one last year, but they dragged a load of mud on it, plus manure and couldn't dig it off again without taking all the stone off too. Don't have time to stay on top of it during the week which doesn't help. Digger was even worse for trying to just get the bad stuff off. I'm now hoping to get planning for a concrete area that might be easier to clean just at weekends.
 
Our layer of hardcore is quite deep, but I am gradually covering the area with paving. I have been able to source a variety of really thick heavy old concrete pavement slabs, and once down they do not move so ideal for ponies to stand on. The existing hardcore is making a really good Base for the concrete paving.

We decided this was the easiest solution as we can extend the area a bit at a time as we can afford and soure the secondhand paving slabs. Concrete would be more permanent, but it is a difficult site to get a mixer to so we are very pleased with the results.
 
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