Turnout pen

Sukistokes2

Sukistokes2

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Good evening
Im having a turnout pen constructed and I am still in two minds over the surface. I was thinking sand but apart from price there is the concern of sand colic. The other thought was wood chip. I
Recommendations please or experiences with either.
Thank you
 
I knew a yard with wood chip and they had to tractor a soggy mush out at the end of winter - it was grim. They went to sand which has lasted.

Local to me a lady got hold of old arena surface and that has worked well. I don't think it's so great for the muck heap though.
 
Definitely not wood chip, I've seen two places local to me use it and end up with a horrible mess in less than 2 years. Sand with an area of mats for hay feeding would be my choice. Or a draining aggregate, with a "4mm to dust" (or similar top) layer.
 
I have woodchip
I wanted sand but the very reputable company I got to build it said No no no, you want woodchip!
So that's what I had, installed properly with drainage
It was brilliant for 5 years and now is indeed a soggy mess
I wish I had gone for pea shingle instead
 
Landcruiser said:
Definitely not wood chip, I've seen two places local to me use it and end up with a horrible mess in less than 2 years. Sand with an area of mats for hay feeding would be my choice. Or a draining aggregate, with a "4mm to dust" (or similar top) layer.
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Yes, a proper compacted hardcore with gravel is the gold standard for longevity. Costs more than sand but the costs of install track pretty well with reduced lifetime maintenance costs. You can have it laid to a proper fall for drainage too, where sand will just flow into your low points.

The equine rescue I used to work at had woodchip, sand and hardcore and it goes in that order of nightmare to manage to easy peasy. If hardcore is just out of the budget completely then a graded surface with sand as your top layer is the better choice.
 
SEL said:
I knew a yard with wood chip and they had to tractor a soggy mush out at the end of winter - it was grim. They went to sand which has lasted.

Local to me a lady got hold of old arena surface and that has worked well. I don't think it's so great for the muck heap though.
Click to expand...
This was us, It did last more than one winter and when it started to go we stupidly topped it up so had double the amount of black sludge to move. It was an absolute nightmare.

I bought second hand surface from someone redoing their school and have had it down now about 5 years. Its so much better.
 
SEL said:
I knew a yard with wood chip and they had to tractor a soggy mush out at the end of winter - it was grim. They went to sand which has lasted.

Local to me a lady got hold of old arena surface and that has worked well. I don't think it's so great for the muck heap though.
Click to expand...

We also have old school surface in our turn out pen. It occasionally needs topping up but it’s been down at least 6 years and works well.
 
We have purpose built turnouts with shale underneath compacted down and 6inches of Pea gravel on top.
Never have any issues. We use hay bells with bale nets to stop too much hay been thrown around.
Has worked extremely well for nearly 5 years, with one top up of pea gravel.
 
Mine is topped with sand. I feed hay out of large plastic dolavs (plastic boxes) which are on rubber mats so hay dropped is not directly on the sand so I can then scoop back up and put in the dolavs.
Previously I didn’t put the sand on so it was finished with a large stone type but I felt a bit sorry that they didn’t roll or lie down on it. But I must add that mine were on it for up to 10 hours a day and now live out on it 24/7 in the wettest of weather.
 
Depending how big and whether you want them to be able to hoon around, I'd go with compacted stone with an area set aside as a sand pit (over the stone - I use sleepers to stop the sand spreading out too much) that they can use for lying down, rolling, etc, and hay away from that part.
 
Sukistokes2 said:
Good evening
Im having a turnout pen constructed and I am still in two minds over the surface. I was thinking sand but apart from price there is the concern of sand colic. The other thought was wood chip. I
Recommendations please or experiences with either.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Our yard has 2 with sand and 1 woodchip. The woodchip is disgusting despite only being resurfaced 18 months ago.
 
poiuytrewq said:
This was us, It did last more than one winter and when it started to go we stupidly topped it up so had double the amount of black sludge to move. It was an absolute nightmare.
Click to expand...

Yep we did the same - ended up mid calf deep in smelly sludge after a few wet winters. Nightmare to get rid of and attracts flies in the summer.
 
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