Pallet field shelter? And hard standing / grass mats?

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MagicMelon

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So because my own field just isn't big enough for all my horses now that my loaner has given me my big boy back, I've had to rent some land across from my house. I've spent a fortune having it fenced etc. As the horse is a WB, he's not the bravest in cold weather - not ideal considering we live on top of a hill in NE Scotland ;) The field has pine trees along one long edge so does provide protection to a degree however I'm going to need to put in a shelter of some kind and somewhere for him to stand to eat his hay (plan to buy a round bale feeder). I can't afford a proper pro shelter right now so I'm thinking about building him a shelter out of pallets as I've seen people do. Can anyone advise on what sort of dimensions (and how many pallets) I'd need for one big enough for a 17.1hh WB (and possibly a small pony companion...)? I have quite a few pallets lying around and plenty of wood off cuts, as well as roofing left over from my stables so I think its doable and have read that they're really good for windy areas (like ours!). Any tips in building it?

Also can anyone recommend what I could use to try to stop him standing about in mud round his hay feeder? I have a heap of rubber stable mats but they'll get slippy if wet, so I was thinking about grass mats? I know hardcore would be best but I really can't fork out for that just now and its the farmers field so am keen to not change it too much / spend loads on it.
 
If you had to spend thousands on fencing you should have made some sort of budget for shelter and hard standing, sorry, but if the field was unsuitable for horses you would have been better to put them in a suitable field, it has to be cheaper. The farmer has benefitted by your fencing, are you going to leave it there?
Horses are expensive to keep, that really is what it comes down to, if you can't afford it, best to cut back.
Just take some hay in to the field every day twice a day and don t use a hay feeder.
Buy good rugs and check twice daily.
Tip is don't build a shelter out of pallets, the main cost of a shelter is big posts set in concrete and hardcore for drainage. Do not to keep horses in a small area on a wet clay with no drainage, pallets are cheap, they are made of cheap wood, but what use are they for a shelter...........
 
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I've never seen a pallet shelter so cant comment. Before we got planning for our field shelter, hubby put up an "L" shaped fence thing in one area of the field so the horse could shelter from the wind/rain behind it. I used to hang the haynets on either side. When the ground round it got too muddy I used to put straw down. Although not brilliant, it did the job for the winter.
 
Hello. Just to say I think it was here on the forums ages ago that I saw somebody had built an excellent looking shelter out of pallets. Think it was 2 high - so maybe 3 for your boy?! And it rings a bell that they used some windbreak material too? Looked like a good idea. I think grass mats may just collect a lot of poo in the holes which is too hard to clean (from experience). What about textured paving slabs?

Sometimes we have to make the best of what we have, may not be the prettiest or most expensive solution, but if it works then who cares??
 
OP if you build a field shelter with pallets, make sure you line it with stock board, if your horse kicks out and through the walls he could be badly hurt. I know from experience, we have 5 wooden shelters on our land and that is what happened to us when O/H was not quick enough to repair a broken panel.

As for the base, not sure of the name in the UK but we have just purchased some plastic fretwork panels for gateways. You should make sure the base is level and if possible lay some sand before putting them down.
 
if you use pallets then make sure the corners are decent posts set in to the ground or at least on a proper frame of solid wood

We built a pallet shelter for our sheep and one of the ponies demolished the whole thing in about five minutes rubbing against it

If making a shelter for a horse I would have it 2 pallets long on each short side, 4 pallets along the back and three high. This wouldnt give you a very cosy shelter but it would make a decent sheltered windbreak, by keeping the length of the sides to two pallets you can more easily roof the structure with single panels of roofing material which are typically 8ft long which will create a more sturdy structure if you arent going to go to the lengths of lots of beams etc
 
Do you have a local do it all chap who can build you a shelter? My landowner just knocked up a fabulous double shelter for my lot in his spare time (without any apparent difficulty). I would always do this in the future. My big horse who likes to lean/rub on things would flatten a pallet shelter in 5 minutes.

Regarding mud patches I keep bits of the field fenced off so in really wet periods there is always a bit of clean pasture for them to rest on.

My OH took photos of the building of the field shelter during construction - I could send them to you if you thnk it would be helpful.

Regarding feeding hay - I bought some big tubs (about 1m wide) and fed the horses haylage out of those - worked very well and no waste. I put huge lumps of rock salt in the bottom to stop them blowing away and you can move them easily to avoid poaching.
 
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I would not use a pallet shelter for such a big horse. It would be expensive to make it safe. The wood is brittle, the nails can become bare. It would need proper heavy duty posts, and kick boards.

Beware big bales if you stack them. I know a pony who was crushed when in a shelter made of big straw bales, he ate the lower one enough that the upper one fell on him.

If it were me I would look on local Facebook pages for a second hand shelter.
 
I've used grass mats, they need to go down whilst there is grass there. The top does go horrible, where everything trails over it and I found that you ended up with about an inch of yuck, but not a foot deep in mud. We didn't have them on a big area so the next issue was getting onto the hard bit as the bit around it then became boggy. I'd also write off the mats if you do put them down as the job of getting them up after a season isn't a good one!

Also suggest moving the hay patches around if the field is large enough. I'm not a fan of the round bale feeders, but then thats because I've seen a horse stuck in one, more recently I"ve seen haynets that go completely over a bale - cheap, cheerful and no idea if they work!

I've across lots of horses that apparently are really soft that then go and stand outside wonderful shelters rather than in them - he may surprise you! Just make sure you've got lots of dry rugs to put on him if the weather is bad.
 
Agree with red-1 on the big bales idea.
A few years ago a good friend was left in a wheelchair for the rest of his life after a straw bale fell randomly and broke his back. He also lost half a leg.
Big bales terrify me!
We made a very cheap stable out of telegraph poles and corrugated sheets for the roof and bottom half then ship lap(?) like sheds are made of on the top half. We left wind vents to allow wind to escape and concreted the corner posts into place.
Finished with kick boards inside which I did have to buy chip board for.
We put it on a rolled down thick base of road planings and rubber mats on top.
It was great and actually my preferred stable!
 
the only pallet shelter I know of up here is in a very sheltered position and the rear of it is a railway embankment. OP if you live somewhere like I do, a tarp will never work (and I know you know that).

Place down the road from me built some shelters from telegraph poles (a long length to pole along the ground and then a sort of A frame on top) and corrugated iron-they've moveable using a tractor but are more like large wind breaks that would provide some respite from driving rain.
Another place has built a sectional wind break sort of like a cart-wheel with 4 sections whereby ponies can get out of the wind whatever direction it comes in-it's dug into the ground. I like that idea and for one of my fields its probably the only real option without going into serious ground and building work.
 
Bonkers2 said:
If you had to spend thousands on fencing you should have made some sort of budget for shelter and hard standing, sorry, but if the field was unsuitable for horses you would have been better to put them in a suitable field, it has to be cheaper. The farmer has benefitted by your fencing, are you going to leave it there?
Horses are expensive to keep, that really is what it comes down to, if you can't afford it, best to cut back.
Just take some hay in to the field every day twice a day and don t use a hay feeder.
Buy good rugs and check twice daily.
Tip is don't build a shelter out of pallets, the main cost of a shelter is big posts set in concrete and hardcore for drainage. Do not to keep horses in a small area on a wet clay with no drainage, pallets are cheap, they are made of cheap wood, but what use are they for a shelter...........
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Made a budget? This horse has come back from where he was meant to be on "permanent loan", so I was not expecting him to come back hence there was no "budget" for having to rent and sort out a field for him. The field isn't "unsuitable", it is big enough and has plenty of decent grass on it - nothing unsuitable about that, its just that I'd like to do a few things to make it more suitable for my horses needs. Saying it would have been better to put him in a more suitable field is a bit silly considering there aren't plenty of "perfect" fields just sitting around near my house that the farmers are willing to rent out (plus all of them immediately surrounding me have crops in so totally unsuitable)! This was the best field I could find. The farmer has not benefited because we will absolutely be taking it down should we ever need to, also we are quietly renting this field with the hope of purchasing eventually (has already been discussed with the landowner). I know fine well about good rugs etc. thanks and its easy to say put out hay daily, but this is a big horse who eats a hell of a lot of hay, its also windy where I live so loose hay won't last very long.

The only reason I have considered a pallet shelter is because several people I know of have built them lately for their horses and say they're really good, especially in windy areas as wind can pass through them to a degree. Thick trees line one side of his field and I will be bringing him in at night (into my stables in my owned field) if the weather is truly awful but the idea was purely as a little extra protection for him.

- Thanks everyone, think I'll steer clear of the pallet shelter idea and keep looking at other options :)
 
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poiuytrewq said:
Op, can you keep him at your original place and out something hardier, maybe smaller and less taxing on the land in the new rented area?
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Yeah, that'd be logical but sadly I have 3 big horses - none of them particularily hardy (although used to living out 24/7 which is what this boy is used to as well). I did have my 13.2hh I'd hoped to put in there but I had to PTS last month which has made things a bit more confusing.
 
I've got the same problem and I'm out of my mind d as you land owner promised me hardcore and as many wooden shelters as I I needed he's gone back on all the contract agreements and I'm stuck with muddy areas by the shelters and nowhere for horses to stand even though 7 acres of grazing is available. I need to know my rights and if I wanted to lay a hard standing and use drainage and plainings or aggregate and flag zones I'm told its the wrong time of the year. I'm paying so much for the land and I really need advice as my two horses are standing in mud and I say he sold me a dream which turned out to be a bad one. Shall I just go ahead and and try to get hardcore down or rent somewhere else. It's driven me to despair and I am ow desperate to get my horses a dry area and I need to work in a dry area as every job is 100%harder than it should be. What should I do about the promises he made and has back tracked on.
I have to use every penny to pay rent and my horses are suffering from how stressed I am. What are my rights. Can anyone help please.
 
Zombie thread but replying to poster who revived it.

@chelebeau you can't put down hardfore without planning permission, or permission from the landowner. You can get Mud Control mats which look like they really work well, but they are expensive. If you can find somewhere else to rent then that's probably your best bet!
 
Rather than pallets and tarp roof (which will still need corner poles put in the ground which will cost money to do), get some large (Heston) straw bales and put them into an L-shape 2 or 3 bales high so that he always has a sheltered side. Good rugs and lots of hay. He'll be fine.
 
chelebeau said:
I've got the same problem and I'm out of my mind d as you land owner promised me hardcore and as many wooden shelters as I I needed he's gone back on all the contract agreements and I'm stuck with muddy areas by the shelters and nowhere for horses to stand even though 7 acres of grazing is available. I need to know my rights and if I wanted to lay a hard standing and use drainage and plainings or aggregate and flag zones I'm told its the wrong time of the year. I'm paying so much for the land and I really need advice as my two horses are standing in mud and I say he sold me a dream which turned out to be a bad one. Shall I just go ahead and and try to get hardcore down or rent somewhere else. It's driven me to despair and I am ow desperate to get my horses a dry area and I need to work in a dry area as every job is 100%harder than it should be. What should I do about the promises he made and has back tracked on.
I have to use every penny to pay rent and my horses are suffering from how stressed I am. What are my rights. Can anyone help please.
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if you can, cut your losses and move. JB is right, you would need planning (unless in Scotland where I think improving access etc can be done without and with a shelter it depends on how far from another building it would be) but you would still need LO's permission and it is the wrong time of year). you have my sympathy, winter isn't fun when al you have is mud and dark to work in. As for your rights, if its not written in a contract the you don't really have any I'm afraid.

if you cannot then one thing that worked for me in a pinch was those plastic, interlocking grass pavers-covered in heavy duty rubber matting. I made a hard standing area out of these 5 years ago-its still there because the the effort it would take to remove them! worked surprisingly well, got a deal on the pavers and cost a couple of hundred quid all in.
 
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