Woodchip For A Cheap Sandpaddock ?

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staceyn

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I am looking to turn a paddock we have into a sandpaddock, without the sand
Due to the yard not being my own property i want to spend as little as possible.

We know that we will have to dig it all out put drains and hardcore down which we can do for around £250

I have had endless calls to people about surfaces and the cheapest type

I have also been told i can get free woodchipping from local tree sugeons.

Has anyone every had or used a woodchip surface or know of any cheap alternatives?

Iknow the paddock we have used to be a woodchip surface years ago but it has just gone into a boggy field now?
 
Not quite the same but we used to have a load of chippings dumped I'n the corner of our winter field by a tree surgeon and the horses loved playing I'n then. They would dig, sift through and roll I'n them with great delight. The only thing to watch is that you know there's nothing poisonous in there.
 
Our local council provides an arena, and for the first 18 years it was woodchip. It worked ok, not wonderful, but ok. Our local rc uses it, and when I was a teen we used to jump on it (it really was literally the last one standing that won!) but nowadays jumping was not allowed on it.

One good thing about it is it never froze - now it has been replaced by a sand mix surface and it is always frozen!

It was at it's worst when it had been raining and the top had dried out. Many many horses have fallen on it over the years. Mine never found the surface a problem, but they are good "leg at each corner" middleweights..

Maintenance wise, it used to be removed every other year (and used as mulch for the council's gardens) and replaced with new chippings.
 
If its just for a turn out area, not an arena I dont suppose it matters, any woodchip is going to be less slippy than hooning around in mud. I guess the issue arises if you want to use it for lunging and riding too.
 
the arena we had at college 20+ years ago was shredded bark and i don't remember that being slippery:confused: i use woodchip in my tie up area, thats without hardcore or anything underneath so yes it gets mushed into the mud after a while but then OH is a tree bloke so i just nick some more from his pile and replace it:p
 
They has woodchip at my old yard...
it was either
1) so slippy that several horses FELL over on it whilst being lunged and ridden, or,
2) so boggy and waterlogged that it was useless to do anymore than walk in!!!
Apart from that the menage used to get loads of piles delivered regularly! this meant dodging piles of woodchip as you rode, and lots of tome soent with wheelies and shovels flattening down the piles!
The problem was the YO said she couldn`t say no to the deliveries as they would stop delivering!!

My advice is look at alternatives, it was an accident waiting to happen!!
 
Ibblebibble said:
the arena we had at college 20+ years ago was shredded bark and i don't remember that being slippery:confused: i use woodchip in my tie up area, thats without hardcore or anything underneath so yes it gets mushed into the mud after a while but then OH is a tree bloke so i just nick some more from his pile and replace it:p
Click to expand...

Yep, I was just thinking that at one time all arenas were wood/bark chip, and probably without hardcore and drains. I don't remember horses slipping and falling on them, none of mine ever did anyway.

Am I right in thinking that if your area has a natural, bio-degradeable surface you don't need PP for it?
 
Its mainly for turnout for my two shetlands but i would like to use it do do a bit of lunging 2/3 times a week so it wouldnt be used that much anyway maybe a hour a day for excersise if that. w do have enough grass land but its just too boggy to do any work in it and with them been so small there legs get stuck in the mud easily.

Thanks for the replys, i think it should be fine for what i am using it for so long as it lasts maybe a year or two that will do me! just need somwere to do something with the ponies and northern weather is terrible so the fields are always muddy.
 
Staceyn, better than strips of bark, if you can get your hands on bark nuggets.... I don't know where you are, so have no idea what you have in the area but I managed to get some loads of bark nuggets and they were fantastic - didn't get slippery in the wet, nor dusty in the dry. But there is a difference between bark shreds and actual nuggets - they're like chalk and cheese. My last load they sent me shred and it was rubbish. ended up literally hand-picking it off the arena as it didn't allow evaporation of water.

You need a clued-up forestry person, sawmill bloke or suchlike in your area to tell you which trees produce the best bark for natural nuggets. All this depends, of course, on where you live!
 
We had woodchip turnout pens at work. The horses loved it. Woodchip would get topped up once every year but we did have 100 horses and so the pens got alot of use!
 
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