Preparing for Winter - field set up

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winchester

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Right i am on heavy clay and the mud in the Winter is horrific!

I have 5 horses on 10 acres and usually everyone has had mud fever over the winter!

We are now investing in field shelters and hopefully some hard standing!

Has anyone got any pictures of their field set ups?

Which way do you face the field shelters towards the open field or the other way with a gap facing the fence?

What type of hard standing do you use in front of the shelters is there any pros/cons? have seen concrete, road plannings and paving slabs....
 
My stables face out into the field. For the hardstanding area I dug about a foot or so down into the ground in a big square area in front of the stables and put down a membrane. I then filled that with scalpings and that has lasted years. I have a few concrete slabs in front of the stables but much prefer the scalpings as they are less slippy in icy and wet conditions.

For the mud fever I had one that was a constant sufferer until I started using Keratex mudfever powder. I'd start using it a couple of times a week from this time of year and it builds up a really good barrier on the skin by the time the mud appears.
 
If you are in a fairly open area so get full wack of rain/wind, put shelters up facing away from main direction. A friend of mine put field shelters up facing the way she wanted them....the wind disagreed & ripped them to shreds! We have membrane & scalpings, not as convenient as concrete but doesnt get slippy in winter :)
 
I was advised to face the opening of my Field Shelter to the North and this has worked really well.

Apart from extremes of weather, my full bed does not get wet :) .... even on the most horrid day, I can stand in the shelter and feel warm and cosy.

As far as the ground work is concerned, I have a Fittleworth Stone surface, about 8inches deep, which the shelter sits on and extends 12 feet in front of the Shelter .... Fittleworth Stone is like Sandstone btw.

The FS does have a large overhang, so this helps too.

Good luck .... mine was the best purchase of my life, after my House :D
 
Shelter needs to be positioned with the back facing direction of prevailing bad weather, which in the UK is usually from south-west. This will stop the rain from being driven inside the shelter by the wind. As earlier poster said, facing the entrance north/north-east is about right.
 
my field shelter has a thick straw bed.immediately oueside there is a large area which we first put smallish stones [scalpings] down and then a thick menage grade wood chip on top. the field shelter has its back to the wind and rain, west ish and faces south-east.
 
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