Field shelters with dirt floors, how do you manage yours?

[Sarah-B]

My shelter has been up since January, the floor inside is just dirt and I have put a thick bed of straw down. I am deep littering and and a couple of fresh bales of straw a week.

When it is "normally" wet (as opposed to the torrential rain we have had lately) the front bit has turned into "wattle & daub" (i.e straw mixed with mud) but the back has had a layer of compacting damp straw with dry stuff on top which has been fine.

Following about 24hrs of solid rain it is now sooooo wet that the whole bed squelchs underfoot and the fresh bale I put in yesterday has disappeared into the wet stuff.

We tried rubber mats but the ones we got were too light and I had to sell them, can't really offord the really heavy ones that I'd need. Have been thinking about hardcore, but don't know how to go about laying it really....

So, how are you managing your shelters? What do you have on the floor?

 

[becs]

We got so fed up with what you've described (plus the stink from wee over time made them keep out) that we paid local contractors to lay a concrete floor. They dug it out, put in a layer of hardcore then sand, then set up planks of wood for edges and poured in concrete. They set it at an angle to drain outwards. Also we kept it at a raised level to the outside ground, so it wouldn't puddle.

Changed our life over winter. Our old ponies can stand in the dry, munching hay, rest on a bed if they wish. Twice a day I can muck out and sweep it clean, dries quickly, no smells.

Even with our water table so high at the mo, it is fine.

We also have an area about 3 metres wide of hardcore outside the shelter, to avoid poaching there too - it has "chopped road surface" material on the top (can't remember the proper name for it!? planings?? Jessey knows all about this), so kinder underfoot than the rough hardcore below.

 

[leno289]

my horses have access to field shelter and stable 24/7 and like u the field shelter was mud floor - stable was slabbed - like u when i had real bad and persistant rain all i had was a shelter of slop - spoke to my ladlord about this and the fact that the slabs were dropping and he said he would sort it in the spring (last spring that is)
any ways what he used is fantastic - chalk - yep chalk - he laid it then hammered or whatever they call it down and after a few days of having white horsey it is fantastic - it also absorbes pee etc well and eliminates odours - and this year i have no water logged field shelter - ok they may have a little white on legs if they lay down etc but heck that better than water logged and muddy

 

[Trewsers]

I've got mobile field shelters (waves hand in air!!!!) but haven't brought the horses home to live yet. However, I do have thick black rubber mats supplied by the field shelter suppliers - am really hoping these will do the trick - I'll let you know. Also, have got some field mats to put around the entrance - to counteract the churned up grass.
I can't lay a concrete base or put hardcore down because of planning restrictions, so am really hoping these mats will be ok!
Sarah-b - are your shelters the ones with doors on?

 

[Jessey]

Yep Becs, its known as Road planings or type 1 depending on who your speaking to
Its chopped up road surface (from when they remove it to resurface) so is generally cheap as its recycling you just dig out the mucky bit and chuck it down, then pack it as best you can (a rented whacker plate does the job great or a garden roller ) it stabablises the ground, its also good cause it drains well and when the ground dries up a bit goes rock solid so next year it won't get so poached and the grass will also grow through it if you seed it so great for gateways or places you don't want to be able to see it
Chalk is another good option, put it down dry and crumbly, then pack it and damp it and pack it again and it goes rock solid, but still drains

 

[Sarah-B]

Where can I get road planings from?

 

[H & Bailey]

I had the same problem especially with straw,if you cant put down slabs or concrete. a cheap alternative is to....when the weather is better dig it out,get an old hessian backed carpet and lay that down first then bed it up with lots of shaving,it may work out expensive at first but if you put big bankings round the sides when you skip it out you can fetch new stuff from the sides into the middle, otside try and lay a hardstanding bit to stop the mush and slop getting into the shelter/stable,i have laid mine with slabs ,i put a load of sharp sand down first to help drainage, i have put down 4 along by 4 last year i had less and it still got muddy this amount seems to be the minimum to get away with.For planning regs i am not allowed to lay slabs inside or concrete and am only getting past the slabs outside as they are not fixed in place so do end up moving a bit if its really muddy,i am going to brush some concrete mix in though hope that helps for a cheap fix..

 

[Trewsers]

We put down our field mats yesterday, they weirdly heavy! I hope they do the trick, they actually seemed a tad slippery - OH seems to think they'll be ok tho. I've a good mind to sneak somehardcore down in the stables - when neighbour from hell is out - don't think anybody would check or know.......

 

[LMS]

Hmmm I don't have that problem with mine. Directly on top of the clay, we put a 2" layer of gravel (3/4 inch regular kind) and then we put sand on top. It's the backfill sand for around the house, so drains & packs quite nicely.

Even out in the open, where the mound was, it's nice & that's where I feed the horses when the rest of the field is a disgusting muck fest.

I didn't have time to find a straw supplier for bedding in the shelter but I regularly clean it out with a rake & shovel.

 

[artemis]

I use road planings for my field shelter & the entrance, Takes a while to bed in, but works a treat. If you have a movable shelter the grass would grow over after some time.

I just asked a farmer for the phone number of the local supplier. It's called "hogging" up here.