hard standing

IrishDQ

IrishDQ

New Member
Mar 14, 2006
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Ireland
What do those of you who only have a field and no yard do for hard standing? I was thinking due to the wet weather recently a horse would probably need some hard standing? I was thinking maybe rubber mats? don't know if that would work or not! I can't make any major adjustments like gravel or concrete as it isn't my field. Thanks! :)
 
I had the same problem as the owners wouldn't let me make permanant changes.

If I had stayed I would have gone down the thick rubber matting road. :)
 
Thanks for posting on this, because Im going to be in this situation and had concerns about the effect on the feet for a barefoot horse. The rubber matting sounds like a good idea. Someone did tell me that its constant drying out and then getting wet again thats the worst thing. Or did you mean, just the issue of standing around in six inches of mud when you bring them in?
 
The gateway is getting muddy already. :(

We tip old shavings bedding in the worst of it, minus the poo...
 
I have kept ours at home for just over a year and we only had field shelters to start with (we are moving into our new "proper" stable block shortly!) I can tell you it was the longest winter of my life.......!!! The mud was horrendous - despite using field mats (these just disappeared it got so bad). Our pair survived tho - we just had to be very careful walking them into the field without slipping! Inside the field shelters we had thick black rubber mats that came specially from Redmire, and these have been very good, tho they are starting to crack a little now. On top of that we make their beds just like you would in a normal stable. It was a right pain for the vet and farrier tho - I can't wait to have some concrete!!! It will seem like a luxury! I guess if you "catch" the mud early enough and put some field mats down you shouldn't have a problem. My prob was that I let it get rather bad before considering doing anything (we thought we were going to have our development finished long before now!).
 
andreaB said:
you can get mats for in foeld gateways etc that get muddy , they are like a rubber mesh/grid type of thing , might suit your purpose:)
Click to expand...

I had some of those in front of their shelters last winter - until they completely disappeared!:eek: I had to use our quad bike to pull them out of the mud - they sort of got sucked down - dreadfully!!! If you keep on top of the situation it should be ok tho - it got a bit out of hand for us.
 
Just wanted to add, I put old bedding down (shavings) in the gateways of our paddocks - it helps a bit, but to be honest it soon gets churned up. I would also say, be very careful if you have a quad bike - don't use it unless you have to in winter, as it makes things muddier than ever!!
 
We used big rubber mats at the gate of our old field which were used to have a tiny bit of non-swamp for hoof trimming etc. It was still pretty muddy! During the spring, the ground dried up and grass started to grow through the holes - I guess that's the ideal, because it will stabilise the ground, but we left for a new field so I haven't been able to test that!

(Must go and retrieve mats, they're still at the gate of the old field!)
 
What I have known to be done is to dig about 2 inches of foundations place 4 pallets, nail high density fiber board to it, then put rubber mats on top - you can secure rubber matting with bolts and nuts to the wood they are better (more secure) - yes pallets need to be replaced annually, but it's slightly above ground level - so water should drain away underneath. One thing is that it can easily get uneven, ground underneth one pallet may suffer more - but keep an eye on it.
 
Get some type 1 from a quarry or the best thing is road plannings, if any roads are getting resurfaced near you get them to sell you it its dirt cheap and goes as hard as concrete.
 
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