Wood chip in paddock/field?

ashlingm

ashlingm

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I have a field that I use for my horses but am in a bit of a dilemma. One field, the smaller one, is completely poached as I let it be used as the winter turnout and didn't mind if it got churned up a bit. (It needs to be re-seeded etc anyway!)

I was looking into sectioning a bit of this field off and putting down a decent layer of wood chip on top of the levelled and harrowed land. I was hoping to use it as an area to ride and lunge on ... thinking that the wood chip would provide a cushioning layer if the ground becomes to hard in the summer.

I know it will have to be replaced/topped up after a while but don't really mind this. The land has ok draining so this shouldn't be a problem. The horses otherwise won't be turned out on this area and it will be purely kept for riding.

Has anyone done this before and does it work out? How many tonnes would I need to cover a 20 x 40 area? (digging it up, doing proper drainage, building a sand arena etc isn't an option)

Thank you :)
 
In my experience woodchip just in top of grass is a nightmare as a riding surface.
- When it's dry it does tend to be an unstable surface & deep.
- when it's slightly wet the woodchip becomes slippery
- after prolonged wet the woodchip becomes a mushy mess & mixes with the mud underneath it.

If your ground does drain well then there are a couple of options to try.
1) an Eco arena by equestrian surface direct. I was quoted about £8,000 for this
2) if the area is flat then put down a membrane & put sand on top of this. Obviously this isn't going to give you the ride of a properly installed arena with drainage but with maintenance it would probably be absolutely fine for a bit lunging & schooling. In the back of this weeks H&H there is a company giving away free sand if you can get it collected!
 
Spending that much money simply isn't an option as it's rented land :(

If the land has good drainage will it definitely become mushy? I've seen it used for walk ways to fields (so pretty high usage area) and seems to hold up well. It does get topped up each year ....which I'm prepared to do.

Just want to get all the view and opinions on this :) Kinda hoping someone will say it'll work haha
 
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