lunge pen/round pen drainage

[eagleowl]

I have a round pen set up, but only on grass. In winter it's going to get boggy. I've bought a rubber surface but can't put that on the grass or it will go to mush too. What would be the best option regarding drainage i.e lining then stone and sand??? Suggestions welcomed

 

[Dry Rot]

Think from the bottom up!

Where is your drainage water going to discharge to? Do you have a fall (slope)? Yes, corrugated plastic pipe is good. You need to lay it so the water can escape out of the end -- obviously! It is usual to back fill the trench with gravel. It is difficult to give useful advice on a newsgroup as we can't possibly know your soil type, how the drainage will flow, etc.

It is always better to catch water coming from higher ground and pipe it away than trying to drain the area you want to keep dry, if you follow me.

Could you not get an agricultural drainage contractor to take a look at it for you and get a "no obligation" estimate for doing the job properly?

 

[Spring Feather]

My round pen and arenas are tile drained (actually my whole farm is) so there are huge underground drains which all run parallel to one another and then filter into other large underground pipes (at a 90 degree angle to them) which take all the excess water off down to our ponds, which then drain into other feeder pipes which take all the water down to a large collection pond which serves our water supply for the whole farm. Now you probably don't want to do this as the cost would be prohibitive just for a round pen, so you need to implement some other form of drainage and you may get some options from the rest of what we did for ours.

We have a small trench all the way around our round pen. This catches some of the water heading downhill to the pen. The base of the round pen has stones, then there are 4 further layers of gradually decreasing in size stone, right up to stone dust and then the finally the sand on top. My round pen and arenas are at one of the lowest points on my farm and right next to a collection pond however they do not get boggy and after even a big downfall of rain the water disperses incredibly quickly through all the layers of footings. Don't be tempted to just plop the surface on top of the grass though as yes it will just get all mushed up and be a waste of money.

 

[Dry Rot]

SF has highlighted why it is sometimes important to have local professional advice!

My land is all sand and clay tile drains don't work because the sand gets in them and clogs them. So drainage is either by open ditch or a special drainage pipe that has a micromesh filter on the outside, the trench is then back filled with gravel.

Short term (5 - 10 years), I just use perforated plastic pipe and gravel backfill which should probably last me out! If I had clay soil and a proper herringbone drainage system like SF, I might even get away with mole drains renewed every few years which is quite cheap.

A lot of questions on here cannot be answered with a straight answer as we don't know your circumstances.