People who pen horses onto hardstanding areas

It seems like several people use woodchip - doesnt it rot down quickly and get all smelly and minging when they pee and poo on it? Does it get horrible and soggy after a while or do you use arena grade woodchip?

Re the pea gravel - do you lose a lot of it to the muck heap when you poo pick? Is there any problem getting the muck heap removed if its full of gravel? Ours gets taken by a local farmer for spreading on his fields and I'm not sure how he'd feel if it had a lot of stones in it.
 
Another idea is to put some top soil on top of your hardcore, then its easier to poo pick, and your seeds from the hay/haylage will grow into grass over the time that they're out in summer. In winter this leads to a bit of mud, but its only a couple of inches deep so doesn't seem to affect our mudrash sufferers...

Im not sure that I like the idea of just concrete - partly as our hurtle round bucking in our pen, and I'd worry about them slipping, and partly due to the ice factor.
 
Sound fab - one of my horses hates being in but gets really bad mud fever at the first sign of mud!! Any more pictures of peoples hard standing areas?
 
Petalpoos said:
We are also on heavy clay. Last summer we scooped out 450 tons (yes!) of topsoil from an area about 35m x 15m at the front of the winter field, where the main gate is, to get down to the clay, which was about 30-45cm down. We then dug channels into the clay to put in 4 french drains, membrane, shingle and perforated pipe, all leading out to the nearest stream. We then topped the area back up to the surrounding soil level with chalk and hammered it all down. Then put 12 cubic metres of bark/wood chippings down. The whole area is fenced off but mostly the gate to the main field is open so they can come and go at will.

We got the chalk for free and the bark came from a local tree surgeon at £13 a cubic metre. Even then, it cost around £3,000, with us providing the labour.

We put a double field shelter in the middle (already had that).

Was it worth it? Totally! The best money we have spent on the yard. One of my mares often gets foot problems, so it's great for when she has a poultice boot on. They both love rolling on the chippings as they won't roll in the field when it is really wet and we don't have to struggle in and out of the field through over the knee deep mud. If it gets really bad then they always have an area they can run around in. It got to the point last year where I was having a real battle getting them in or out of the field but no problems now :)
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I also have this arrangement in my three winter trash paddocks, not a cheap option, but as you say worth every penny - no more lost shoes or wellies in the winter. The wood chip is getting a bit mulchy now after four years but I think what I'll do in the spring is to harrow it, plant some grass seeds and roll it. My thinking is that the grass roots will bind the mulch?

Ah well, worth a try as I've got the seed anyway.
 
What would worry me is if they got down to roll/lie down on the concrete, a friends horse had a concrete patch in the field by the hay which he lies on, and consequently grazes himself and cuts his legs slipping getting up :S
 
I've tried two versions. The setup I posted a photo of earlier, where the ponies had access to straw inside the shed and could go out into a small paddock, so the concrete block surface at the front wasn't an issue. I've also had pens outside of stables, which were basically a normal yard divided by electric tape. They came into that setup overnight with their stable doors open, so no problem with rolling then either. I think your friend's horse is slipping on the concrete because he's laying on his hay, which isn't thick enough to be a proper bed. If you decide to put some sort of bed down when using these pens then it needs to be pretty much the same as it would be in a stable.
 
we have some wood chip pens- hardcore was put down first, on top of muddy ground, then lots of wood chip. it has needed topping up, but doesn't smell or rot very quickly, despite all the rain we had in October followed by mild weather. very cheap as on farm where a tree surgeons is based so they give us free wood chip!
 
We have an area which used to be the standing area for cows going into milking!!!! Its about 10m X 10m square (um, mebbe a bit smaller, not good at calculating distances!), and concreted, tho' the concrete is very old now and there's grass growing in places; also there's quite a bit of hedge-forage as it has a hedge on two sides, open to the other two.

It was an absolute godsend last year when it was so wet. We're on Devon clay here, and very quickly it turned into a sort of reddish toffee mess!!! So to have somewhere for the horses to stand in was invaluable. This time last year, it was in constant use; simply because there wasn't any turnout that was available, short of mucky gunge going up to their knees-level.

The "concrete" has got bits where the grass has grown up over the years, so there is a little bit of grass, plus where the grass HAS grown, there is space for them to roll if they want to.

I put haynets up in different places to keep them guessing, and an electric fence boundary INSIDE the fence just in case anyone felt like being creative and pushing at the fence!!!

Livery has used this space for hers as well; an absolute godsend for when you're expecting the vet/farrier/physio etc etc., and you don't want them in, but can't put them out coz don't want them to get mucky!!!! Its right beside the yard/loosebox area, so VERY handy indeed :) Just dunno how we'd live without it TBH.

There's only really room for two horses tho' - as its quite a small space it wouldn't be possible to put any more than this out there.

It was here when we moved, but if it wasn't we'd probably have created it by now! It is incredibly useful.
 
Old thread but in case anyone else finds this useful...

We put in a concrete pad to take a 24 x 12 field shelter, then tarmaced another few feet in front and around to the side to give enough space for a 'yard' - space to tie up and access to a storage shed next to the shelter. Then from the gate to this tarmac/concrete area, plus around to the natural water source and leading into the next paddock, we laid lots of road chippings.

Having a decent base means the field shelter can be used as a stable when needed although the doors are usually hooked open, the horses live out with free access to the shelter (with mats, bedding and an overhang), concrete/tarmac area, chipping area and then as much or as little grazing as necessary. The hardstanding area is big enough that I can close off the fields and keep them on just that, with hay, plenty of room to stretch legs and mooch about.

It did cost a bit to do but was worth every last penny, the horses are always able to be warm and dry and to choose for themselves where to go. I can control my laminitic's grazing to the last blade. :)
 
as a purely temporary set up for two ponies, I have heavy rubber matts down on top of interlocking plastic grids-straight onto the lawn. Its only really until stables go in next month but its holding up pretty well-its about 5m x 5m (they get on well,when dry enough they go on rest of garden, also have a paddock, which is mush) . I'm not even sure what the matting was originally (it was left here, found it when we moved in) but its not slippy, is damn heavy and in 5m x 1.5m strips (roughly).

I have a large tarmacked area (ok, drive/parking) which might be useful as a large pen that they could stretch their legs in (would put down pea gravel/sand, edge it with sleepers). Is there anything thats temporary, safe for horses that wouldn't need digging up of the tarmac and losing that area permanently? Have wracked my brains-but short of building some sort of cattle/pole yard I have come up short. OH not keen on losing some of the car parking but think he could be persuaded.
 
Tinypony said:
Depends on number of equines and size of area, because you need to allow enough space so that they won't argue. I put bedding down in the shelter for peeing and pooing and laying down, but most of the poo got done on the hardstanding. That's handy because you can just sweep from one side to the other then shovel it up.
I had two who were good friend sharing and surprisingly, even though the shelter was only about 16x10 ft, they did go in and share. I put up haynets all over the place, inside and out, to stop them arguing. I wouldn't ration forage in a restricted area. I didn't shut them on the area, just encouraged them to be there by making that the only place they could go to eat hay. That way they ended up staying on it for most of the time, but if there was a scuffle there was an escape route. If I was penning them in then I'd treat it like a stable in terms of how long I kept them in it.
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Agree re the space and plenty of feed. I yard mine for long periods but it is a large area ( 1/4 acre approx) surrounding my buildings which they have 24/7 access to with two openings so no chance of any getting trapped.
I think a yard surrounding the shelter is good as those that can't get in can shelter which ever direction the wind blows from.

Depending on numbers and area I think Tinypony's idea of feeding there to encourage them to stay on the hard standing is a good one.
 
Well since we're discussing this again here are mine:
Hardstanding1_zpse396010c.jpg


We have very bad clay soil, the tiniest bit of rain and the whole thing is a bog. We removed the top soil, filled in with hardcore and finished off with a blinding layer. The two areas are large enough to hold two horses each and mine go into the shelters in pairs with no problems. They pee, poo and roll directly on the surface with no problems. They all tend to pee and poo in the field shelter, not sure why!
 
At home I have a small concrete yard in front of my shelter. The shelter has a concrete floor with rubber mats on top. I have rubber mats in my gateways too which work well.
 
I am just on building a yard at the moment the hard core is down and think I will be going with road planings - any reccomendations for rolling it in an making it solid ?
 
We didn't roll ours, just ran over it a few times with the tractor bucket that spread it. We have concrete on the yard area, then chippings around. The chippings drain well, don't freeze and they don't slip on them when trotting around..

Photos.. (a bit depressing to look at as the yard looks a bit muddier this year as we had the muckheap removed on a really wet day and they drove all over the chippings with muddy wheels on the tractor, so its left a coating of earth over the chips, wish it still looked like this! Its on its third year now though, and doing a great job, its the best part of the yard!

autumnwinter2011037-1.jpg


autumnwinter2011039.jpg
 
Hi Wagtail, can you tell me how to construct a sand turnout, eg, do you remove the top soil and then just put sand on top; what sort of sand etc etc. Many thanks.
 
Coblet doesn't stable, however he will go in there, sleep and eat in it so long as the door is open, we only have an acre so at night hes in his stable and on the yard, the field is fenced off and he roams around, has the driveway and around the back of his stable which is all hardcore. During the wet months he is pretty much on this 24/7 unless we have a dry day, he gets maybe 1 day of turn out a week. We have just turned the back of the stable into another stable for the Shetland and once we get a proper fence sorted we will half the area for each pony, Shetland is currently stablked or turned out with gypsy.

I dont know if that makes sense or not, sorry!!
 
Doogle said:
Hi Wagtail, can you tell me how to construct a sand turnout, eg, do you remove the top soil and then just put sand on top; what sort of sand etc etc. Many thanks.
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If you put the sand directly on the soil it will get sucked in before long. You need to do this similarly to an arena but there are some areas you can cut corners on. The cheapest way of doing it if you are on a slight slope that will drain is to remove the top soil, put down hardcore and then do a blinding layer (blinding layers don't drain very well in arenas but if you have a slopping area anyway the water will run down it), the blinding layer will keep the hardcore and sand separate. Then add the sand. As it is a turn out area you don't need the depth of sand you do for an arena or the quality of sand so you can go for something cheaper.

Something to consider with a sand turnout is how you will pick poo from it. It's really easy to pick poo off hard standing even if it has been rolled in or trodden down, in a sand area it will be much harder and over time you may find the poo mixes in with the sand.
 
Hi Booboos, thank you very much for your reply. Perhaps I'll give the sand turnout a miss. I'm gonna try the horses on my crushed concrete area which has been tamped down; just hoping all the stones don't stick to the poo too much. We are on sandy soil and it's quite free draining, but my 'correll areas' are a muddy mess now and my budget is very small. How successful do you think it would be if we didn't remove the top soil and just put some sort of stone on top?
 
Unfortunately you would just lose the stone. How quickly it got sucked in would depend on how clay the soil is. In very clay soil you could lose the stone in a few wet months, in firmer soil it may take a couple of years.
 
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