What is the best thing for muddy gateways?

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kit279

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Looking ahead to our new property (fingers crossed to be moving soon), it's on clay/loam soil and although it drains well, the field gateways do get a bit poached. Ideally I'd like to address this during the summer before it all turns to bog and wondering what people think of the various options - hardcore, road planings, field mats?

Also, I doubt we'll have time or machinery suitable for hardcoring the gateways - who would be someone who might do this for us? We are moving to Buckinghamshire if that makes a difference.
 
Slightly Foxed said:
Not for heavy clay they're not! If you want a permanent solution go for hardcore but make sure it's screened.
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I'll second that - I got mats and they just got scrunched up in the mud. Dig out the space and refill with hardcore (I got some broken paving slabs from a skip hire firm for under my drive, worth ringing round to see what they have) then top off with something smaller, like road planings for example.
 
I have really light soil that washes away in gateways and leaves pools, so filled up with road planeings, they really do the job, and we used a wheel barrow and ourselves to move from the heap where lorry tipped them!

Over this last winter, our gateways have stayed clear and mud free. However ponies still manage to find 'bog' areas in the field to get covered in mud!
 
If you can I would concrete it. Lasts a long time and providing you get the size right (large enough) should stay mud free.
 
I agree, grass mats are useless on real mud, especially clay. They're ok on grassy areas, thats about all.

We have wet clay fields, the gateways can get terrible. My league table is as follows -

1. Concrete on top of hardcore (but ugly in gateways).
2. Hardcore whacked down (about a foot deep) with road planings on top.
3. Shallow hardcore with a rubber mat (stable type) on top.
4. Stable mat as a temp solution over a slightly muddy area.
5. Grass mats (with holes) on top of grass in a summer field, before it gets muddy.

I would always do no 2 as its not so glaringly obvious and doesn't stand out, but works well. If you have any really wet areas or broken drains around the gateway you need to drain them first.
 
We're on really heavy clay and have used limestone (very cheap in our area - as you drive over it it compacts and makes a smooth surface that water runs off) - all the local farmers use limestone for their pathways.

I;ve also used recycled hardcore (also cheap), it didn't compact so we topped it with planings and that worked really well.

Road planings on their own I'd think would just disappear into clay

Rubber mats we have in the gate from garden to field (only used by people/ dogs) and they have sunk in the clay and disappeared completely - wouldn't last 2 mins in a horsey gateway.

When you move in take a bottle of wine round to all your neighbour farmers and start chatting them up to do all the jobs you'll need doing with land of your own - best investment you'll make.
 
I put rubber mats downin my gateway6 weeks ago. we are on heavy clay. they are doing really well. I willbe buying more for the other gateways.
 
I have used road planings in my gate ways for the last three years, they are easy to keep tidy and rake to make level. Please DO NOT use the field mats I used some three and a half years ago purchased from a large tack shop group who got their stock from a agri supplier in Wales. My two year old gelding was found six days after they were installed stuck in them. The mats had turned round on his legs and caused huge injuries to his hind legs. We took the company to court, they settled out of court fifteen months later so the case would not show in the press. During our solicitors investigations we found out the mats sold as "Made in England" were actually made in India. Awful ordeal that no one should ever go through proceed with caution.
 
Dig a really deep hole at its lowest point, fill with large rounded rocks - then fill with smaller until a couple of feet from the surface then place a sheet of plywood and then on top of that pit run and then large gravel - make sure it is higher than surrounding area and then compact.

Large hole allows fast removal of water, plywood prevents larger stones coming to the surface, pit run provides a porous smooth surface and the large gravel provides a good non slip durable surface.
 
Hi Adopter, thankyou for enquiring about my gelding. He has been left with damage to a coronet band and scarring that is flat but no fur on. He's now a strapping 17.2. I think showing is going to be limited so maybe dressage but he's a keeper whatever he's fab.
 
There is a new product I have seen advertised in a local horse magazine, which seems to look more rigid and deeper than the normal rubber ground reinforcement mesh mats. It's made from recycled plastic and looks very sturdy and you can find details of it on R C Baker agricultural contractor website (based in Oxfordshire) if that's any help
 
Put down a 6 - 8 spread of road sub-base and then hire a machine to tamp down and roll in. We did that in all our gateways and it was fantastic. We put some grass seed on the top which meant we had just a fine covering of poor grass so that it didn't look so raw. Much safer than concrete, especially in freezing weather.
 
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