New here and building a new yard :)

moorhillhorses

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Hello everyone im new on here and ive joined because when I google things I end up here! lol. Im moving to a farm to build a yard this tim next year.Ive run out of space in my yard so Ive a few questions. Do I post them here or in the tackroom?

Im relocating to a farm and leaving my small yard to expand so I can offer more livery, bigger outdoor and a indoor :) Without spending a fortune what indoor arena surface works well? I would love a top of the range surface but thats not going to happen. We have gravel and rubber mix in the outdoor its puddle free and is fantastic. Im not sure how it would work in a indoor. I no wood chip is slippy outdoors but instead of wood chip what about wood pellets plus it would be indoor. Has anyone ever seen 'all bed'?

Also in the winter we currently turn our horses out in the outdoor arena in twos. They wreck it gallop about and turn the surface deep in places. We are hoping to have more liverys so we need a big area to fence of in sections for winter turn out for a few hours a day. A field would be too slippy and im not putting them in the outdoor im building. I dont want to spend a crazy amount of money on a turnout surface but I dont want my horses sliding about either and getting hurt. Im not planning on doing drainage on this paddock to really just cover a field in a material thatl not get too mucky.

Last question! I have 12 school ponies who I will winter loose in a shed what surface is the best and I would like a paddock they can stretch there legs in and a surface to cover it in thats not soil. Again I dont plan on putting drainage on this just to have it on a slight tilt. They dont run around like the liverys. so I thought about bark but does it turn into mush?
 

Natti

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Welcome! I'm sure you'll find the answers you're looking for as I don't think I'm the best qualified to answer, although most indoor areas I've been in have had those little pieces of rubber in them :D Can't really help on anything else, but you can ask questions here or in the Tack Room, just depends where you want to as the Tack Room can seem a bit daunting at first, though you may get a quicker answer :)
 

SusieT

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Your best bet for animal welfare is to get a yard with enough turnout to offer winter turnout without creating a muddy mess. Rather than trying to thrash the land for as much money as you can make-just take as many liveries as you have land.
 

moorhillhorses

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I would want to keep the fields for cutting and summer grazing. Ive a 3 acre field with two horses in it and its quite mucky and tiring on the horses legs. I dont want this tobe a problem in my new yard but I want them to have a turnout area in the winter months but not to use my arena. Im just wondering is there a material I can top a area with so the horses who are out during the day wont get mud fever. I would like a large turn out area to allow my liverys a few all out at the same time. But obviously fence the area into sections. I was thinking of using fine gravel over the field area or is there anything else cheaper .x
 

SusieT

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Yes, because 3 acres for two horses year round is not big enough. If all livery yards woudl take the responsible view, instead of thinking they can get away with stuffing as many horses in as possible to as small a space as possible life would be much more pleasant for numerous horses. I and many others wouldn't be using a livery yard without decent turnout in the winter (not a gravel pen..abscess city?) so you are limiting your market significantly.
 

moorhillhorses

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No these two horses are turned out for a few hours a day in a 3 acre field. In the summer they are moved to a 20 acre field. Most livery yards don't have winter turn out. Apart from in the arena. I'm looking the option of turning my horses out in the winter without using my dinner grazing.
 

moorhillhorses

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Also are arena is gravel and rubber , is not big gravel it's very fine. I'm not doing this to make money as I've said in a previous post. My other company does that. No matter how big the field they'll get mucky with this horrible weather I'm looking a better option
 

vickyb

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Hi. Sorry, can't help about drainage, as I know nothing useful about it, but, bear in mind this past year has been exceptionally wet, so in a 'normal' winter perhaps your fields wouldn't get so trashed? (Of course, this could be the start of a decade of monsoons for all I know, but on the law of averages, surely we can't have another winter like this?) Also, if you start using a surface material over some of your paddock space, I would hazard the opinion that in the winter it would just get trodden in to the ground. Then, come summer, because of the covering, you will be losing an area of grazing because the grass will have been suffocated. Also, large amounts of surfacing materials would be very expensive. If you are building a yard from scratch, could you not add an individual yard to each stable? I used to work on a yard that had this, and it worked very well; the horses were happy just to have the extra leg stretch area.
 

lachlanandmarcus

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No these two horses are turned out for a few hours a day in a 3 acre field. In the summer they are moved to a 20 acre field. Most livery yards don't have winter turn out. Apart from in the arena. I'm looking the option of turning my horses out in the winter without using my dinner grazing.

Most livery yards do offer winter turnout. It might be limited hours but they do.

This winter weather has restricted it further than normal years but for most it is a basic part of the offering. And many many owners would not consider going to a yard where that wasn't part of the deal - from a welfare perspective if nothing else.
 

9tails

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Where are you moving to? There are very few places in the UK that don't offer winter turnout, granted we haven't had much winter turnout this year because of slop but we do get it when the weather is anything other than torrential rain.

It does sound like you're cramming too much into too small a space, have larger fields and less liveries. The cost of surfacing somewhere big enough to turnout would be quite expensive and you don't want anything that'll cost money.
 
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