Small paddocks, 24 hour turnout and mud. Anyone else toughing it out?

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billylula

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2 ponies, 2 acres. Trashed field. Quite a lot of trampled looking grass and moss, big areas of porridgey mud. Dry field shelter but entrance like mud stew. Standing water in parts.

Giving them a bale of hay almost every day plus short feed for the old one. Carrots too. Trying to get them out for a scrub up and exercise as often as possible.

There's nowhere to move them to (spare field now vetoed by farmers as too muddy).

Anyone else with small paddocks and no stabling?
 
Yes I am.

Currently working on creating a hardcore turnout area for at least one of them as I need to get them off the fields now to have any chance of some grass here before lambing time. It's my own place which helps. I have other fields but I'm not trashing them as well.
 
Yup, 2 on even less land! Plan was to keep them on hard standing with free-access stables when wet, but they didn't get finished before winter. So pretty much resigned to having to re-start the paddocks...was intending to only let the smaller one get completely trashed, but it got so boggy that I had to give up that plan. I'm hoping to think of something so I can let the bigger paddock rest for 6 weeks when the weather gets better.
 
billylula said:
I need to hardcore at least the gateway and shelter entrance. Not our paddock though and owner not happy with hardcore!
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Got to be better than mud!

I am using geotextile and road planings on gateways, feeding areas and have already partially constructed the turnout area. Just need some money for yet more road planings.
 
I have two yards, home is clay, we have a 20 x 20 turnout pen as we dont turnout in the winter. Its too wet, and we end up doending longer booting up, unbooting and washing off than they spend out! We also have 25 acres of sandy/gravel soil however this year even this has struggled and while I don't have mud, it's cut up and wet and we have been feeding hay since November, so far we have done 45 round bales and I can't see an end in sight!
These are a mix of brood mares, youngsters and retired horses so stabling is not an option. I have 6 acres rested ready for a spring turnaround, we have taken the opportunity to harrow while the ground was frozen which has helped improve the look but we will seriously have our work cut out this year to ensure the fields remain optimised for this year and the next winter.
 
We are the same. 3 horses on 2 acres. I bring them up to the house where they have a large stable and what was hardcore but now turning sloppy :(. Field isn't as bad as past years due to them being off it prob 3 days a week in total. But agree seems no end in sight. Fed up if mud. Rain. Cold. Hardly any riding. Etc etc
 
Ours are out in a small winter paddock. No point giving them any more of the field otherwise they just trash the lot. No grass for them anyway but the do have a big shelter where they always have haylage and the land surrounding that is fairly hard standing. We have stabling but Fab prefers being out, even though he spends most of the time in the shelter so may as well just come in! Roll on spring! Our other paddocks are looking really good so looking forward to being able to move them!
 
It's 20metres but to be honest could be half that size, we wanted something we could lunge on too. It's just reject sand and rubber but means they all go out, have a kick, buck and a roll while getting fresh air and time out their box, we just jet wash when they come in! Much easier than scraping thick clay off! We just pooh pick and run the harrow round it.
 
After many years of awful wet weather, this year, no, we are not toughing it out:D

In the "summer" we had just 8 days of dry weather, and our contractors were able to get onto the land and build a long-awaited pen with a hardcore base which was then covered in pea gravel.

It has been an absolute god-send:D Horses look in the best condition they ever have done, and feet looking fabulous (all are barefoot) - no abscesses for the first time in years. Horses are happy, and enjoy wandering around and watching all the goings-on (much better than stabling IMHO)

Best horse-related money I have ever spent
 
Spanish Eyes said:
After many years of awful wet weather, this year, no, we are not toughing it out:D

In the "summer" we had just 8 days of dry weather, and our contractors were able to get onto the land and build a long-awaited pen with a hardcore base which was then covered in pea gravel.

It has been an absolute god-send:D Horses look in the best condition they ever have done, and feet looking fabulous (all are barefoot) - no abscesses for the first time in years. Horses are happy, and enjoy wandering around and watching all the goings-on (much better than stabling IMHO)

Best horse-related money I have ever spent
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Can we see some pics? How big, how many horses on it etc??
 
Stupid question but ...
Spanish Eyes: when poo-picking on the pea gravel do you end up picking up a lot of gravel too?
 
Got mine on a 'track' around perimeter of field. This is muddy but rest of field is pristine. They get a couple of hours in the middle most mornings. Track rest of time. No mud fever, thrush or otherwise. Cheap and effective, just needed good quality elec fencing.
 
We have a hardcore area around the stableyard, covered with road planings, its about 30m long, and 12m wide, plus they can get onto the yard as well. It has been in situ for two winters now, and has been a total lifesaver. Both horses get mudrash, one extremely, and we were always ending up with vets bill or horses standing in bored. Now they go out 12 hours a day on this area with haynets and they are completely happy, they can wander around, see the view, see whats going past, groom, doze in the sun, all the things they do in the field. Plus they shelter under the overhang of the stables. We haven't had a sniff of mudrash for nearly three years now. They still go in the real field once or twice a week for a roll (the only thing they seem to miss) and some real grass.

It is a real stress reliever for us and for them, knowing whatever the weather, nothing will flood/freeze/get muddy and they can go out as normal. Best thing we ever did.

Have posted these photos before many times, so apologies to those I've already bored with them!

autumnwinter2011037-1.jpg


autumnwinter2011038-1.jpg
 
Living out, no field shelter but plenty of hedge. He is 12 and last year was his first with a stable, which he doesn't really appreciate. He is fine, doesn't seem to mind being up to his knees in sloppy mud, trashed the field so is getting haylage, which the landowner is not happy about cos a lot is getting pushed into the mud. But I did ask if the field was wet in the winter before I moved in, and he said no. There is a great, if small, sand and rubber chip arena and on dry days he enjoys a good roll and kick about in there.

Me, on the other hand, I hate him being in so much mud in the awful weather we have had, overflowing ditches and a river running through the field. If we have him next year I hope we will have found some land to buy so I can put a shelter for my peace of mind, though no doubt he will never use it! And also have a hard standing and split the land so some keeps nice.

Just want it to stop raining, as we all do.:(
 
I really surprised how mine is holding up - one horse and one pony on 2 1/2 acres - but they are currently restricted to the bottom third. Even that is pretty good - still bits of grass for them to pick at which they are doing. The rest of the field has been rested since November and is looking good - really starting to green up now too. It is good, well draining soil and I guess there is a reasonable sand content too otherwise it wouldn't be as good.

That said, I am feeding best part of a bale a day and tend to do this in the stables which are always open and they do spend plenty of time in there. The area around the stables is trashed though and will be getting hardcore and planings down in the spring once its dried. I have an area in front of my stables about 15 x 20m and hoping to do the lot so I can have a decent all weather turnout area, bonus from work dependant! :D
 
Worried1 said:
It's 20metres but to be honest could be half that size, we wanted something we could lunge on too. It's just reject sand and rubber but means they all go out, have a kick, buck and a roll while getting fresh air and time out their box, we just jet wash when they come in! Much easier than scraping thick clay off! We just pooh pick and run the harrow round it.
Click to expand...

They are such a good idea. We're just finishing building a competition yard with 16 stables, and although it will be rented with 16 acres of turnout we have built two 15m x 15m all-weather turnout pens, these can easily be split in half if the tenant wishes so they have four turnout pens measuring 15m x 7.5m.

I have also built myself one as I have my own seperate yard, again 15m x 15m, so mine can go out all day in winter, no mud then either :) We've put silica sand down on ours.

On my livery yard 95% of the liveries are just not turning out, others are going out for a few hours. I just really want it to stop raining, seriously had enough now. I feel sorry for the arable farmers who haven't been able to drill their fields. Straw and feed prices will be horrendous this year.
 
I have 3.5 acres and 2 cobs, one shettie. 2.5 acres is resting and looks fab but the area they are using is trashed. No grass at all but they come in every morning till about 2pm and then out again with Ad lib hay. It's depressing to look at but I'm managing to keep going. There is an area we made like a hardcore roadat the entrance before we could build and we have some sand and sub base left so this summer we will be extending that for next winter so the fields don't get too bad. It'll be good for my youngster to see the traffic too!
 
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