Mobile stables - advice please

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glamourpuss

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I am hoping to eventually get planning permission for a stable yard but in the mean time I was thinking of going down the mobile stable route.
Discussions with the planning department suggests that I am fine with mobile stables on skids.
Now I need 3 stables. Can I do that on a mobile set up?
What do you have on the floor? Will rubber matting on top of the grass/dirt work?
What do you have in front of the stables to stop it churning up?
Any other tips/advice?
 
I am no expert, but would think about scraping off and levelling the top surface, then laying aggregate and rolling to make it compact and free draining. the whole area needs to be free draining or it will get deeper and deeper unless on chalk.
 
I have a double mobile on skids. I use one to store hay and the other as a permanent stable for my boy every night of the year. Mine is on pure clay and it has been fine for the 7 years I have had it...don't get me wrong, the skids have sunk slightly but no problem if you are not planning to move it!
I put down thick rubber mats in my boys stable and have a normal bed on top of cardboard and paper. I did invest in some foot high rubber strip for the bottom edge...screwed it to the bottom of the walls to form a neat seal to keep the bedding in and draughts out.
The mats do ride up at times as the bedding works its way underneath but it is easy to lift and flatten again.
I put wood chips in front of mine and the area does get soggy in winter but not churned up, just wet. If you can dig out the front and put hardcore down that would be best.
Like I say, mine has served me as a permanent stable for many years and I have been very pleased with it. Make sure you get the wooden step in the doorway covered with a metal kick strip or it will be bashed to hell in no time...if you have a clumsy horse like mine!
 
MrsD123 said:
I am no expert, but would think about scraping off and levelling the top surface, then laying aggregate and rolling to make it compact and free draining. the whole area needs to be free draining or it will get deeper and deeper unless on chalk.
Click to expand...

if the OP does that then most local auths will NOT classify the stables as mobile
 
Agree with above. Once you start putting down too much of a surface, the planning department could see it as a problem and insist on PP. I put clean stone surface in and around my gateway, which the grass has grown through to create a more solid surface - if you did this you might get away with it.
 
Many thanks for all of your help. So it sounds best if I go for 2 lots of 2 stables which will then give me a room for storage etc.

I don't want to do ANYTHING that will upset the planners so its probably best if I don't put down anything on the stable floors other than the rubber matting. TBH the area I'm thinking if putting them is very flat but appears to drain really well.

Sorted then :)
 
Just a word of warning - I bought a double stable on skids (they said at the time it was the biggest structure they would class as mobile, so I don't think 3 in one would still be 'mobile') BUT 3 months after putting it up we got a letter from the Council saying we had to move the stables EVERY 6 WEEKS to prove that they were mobile! Bearing in mind we were in the middle of one of the worst winters ever and the mud was 2/3 foot in places, I wrote back and told them that if they knew anything about land management they'd know that was a ridiculous request and I'd be happy to move it come the summer. We're now applying for permanent planning for it and I'll be putting down concrete with rubber matting ontop.

Our Council (Wrexham) is particularly harsh though so maybe I just got unlucky!!
 
We have a field shelter that was set up in one of the wettest areas of our field. It has rubber matting as a floor. Somewhat to my amazement this has worked really well. The matting has never sunk into mud, even when the entrance area has been ankle deep. It has always been dry inside the shelter. I think that levelling and putting down and compacting road shavings or similar would be perfect, but the rubber matting worked for us.
 
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