Would this be madness - shavings in gateways

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noobs31

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I have moved to my own field for my two horses and had a load of bedding to use. I was going to sell it but suddenly thought would it be madness to chuck it in my gateway? 15 bales and soil is clay, well draining so just v greasy on top. Even for a temporary respite??! Thoughts??!!! :)
 
Wont it just get trampled in and create a worse mess? We did something similar the first year we had our field, but using straw. Never again! You'd be better off selling the shavings and putting the money towards stone for the gateway.
 
We tried shavings - biggest mistake we made. They worked at first but then quickly broke down and the gateway was worse than ever!

The field mats with holes are brilliant, but you need to lay them on a level surface and sink them in to be level with the surrounding area or your horses will trip over the edges. It's best to do this in summer when the ground is drier and you can see how far you need to extend them. If you scatter grass seed over them the grass will help anchor the mats.
 
hi i was at a livery yard once and YO put down straw in gate and walk ways made a right mess just mixed in the wood and decomposed in to a muddy glop that pulled your wellies off if you wasnt to careful so would recommend it
i would definatley sell shavings and treat yourself to some feild mats or just fence off gate ways so horses carnt congegate and make gate ways to muddy hope this helps x
 
Bark might work better than shavings for now and then, in the summer, invest in some stones/hardcore and do it properly...we spent quite a bit of money on a gateway a few years ago (we're on clay) and it was a great investment. However, do it in the summer, it's MUCH easier.
 
noobs31 said:
I have moved to my own field for my two horses and had a load of bedding to use. I was going to sell it but suddenly thought would it be madness to chuck it in my gateway? 15 bales and soil is clay, well draining so just v greasy on top. Even for a temporary respite??! Thoughts??!!! :)
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Sell it to me if you are local to Warwickshire! I will buy it for a discount price. After 16 years of using the same supplier Dad is really struggling to get my free timber yard shavings at the moment :(
 
noobs31 said:
Yes am pursuing the selling idea :( are field mats any good? I have seen the ones with holes in, do they work?!
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The field mats are good, its the second year I have used them and there is a guy on ebay selling them for 21.99 with free delivery right now. I have just brought 6 more.

We have had some in the main gateway since last year, and as ours are our 24/7 we have now constructed several patches to feed on with the grass mats laid over old carpet, after reading the forums, carpet was a cheap alternative. I have to say they have been brill.

We have now bitten the bulllet and had some hardcore and mot type 1 delivered for the main gateway, only taken us 20 years!!

You cannot beat carpet and mats for a cheap, quick ladies way of doing it though!!
 
When our main getting horse in gateway gets muddy we skip our dropping to muck heap then muck out the rest and dump in in the gateway you need to keep raking it flat but it works well and it good when it freezes. I am not sure now every summer it disappears as if it was never there I started this in desperation when the poached gateway froze solid and was lethal it does work well for me.
 
We use old straw and hay in our gateways. Being on clay they get v boggy and there is no alternative way in and out of the yard. It does disappear but if you lay it thickly enough to begin with it does help.
 
We put shavings in our clay soil boggy gateway once. A few weeks later it turned into a man and horse eating swamp! Never again.

We have also put grass mats down. They work in areas that don't churn much - ie where people work, but just sink in heavy going and are quickly lost. We put stable matting down next to it and that is still there, doing an ok job on a gateway that gets moderately muddy.

As someone said, the absolute best to make gateways better is road chippings. We had three lorry loads at the start of winter, and the areas that got them are wonderful - it drains pretty well too. I'd do the whole 20 acres with it if I could! They are also quite unobtrusive colourwise, so not totally obvious to planning depts!
 
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