Road planings

MrA

MrA

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2012
10,823
9,830
113
Anyone have any experience of using them? I have a section of my field that is completely wasted and not grazed. Wondered about putting some down to use the area in really really bad weather for somewhere dry for Ale to stand. Small area a about 1/10 and acre.

Thoughts please
 
Yes my yard is completely covered in road plannings. Weve used them for a number of years. We also last year had to put some down going out through our main gate way into the field. I was not able to lead and walk the horses and myself through slippy mud. We were also sliding sideways trying to drive through it as its on a slope. Great improvement, so much safer for me leading the horses. We have a pile in the yard so we will just top up if it starts to get boggy again.
Just check with your yard owner first before you put then down in the field, he might not be too happy if at some future date the fields got altered and plannings go through the mower or grass cant grow unless he digs them all out again.

Some places also say this constitutes a change of the land as it is surfaces. I know your talking a small bit but some people have nothing better to do than cause trouble and report to authorities.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MrA
I’ve used them in the past for gateways and it worked great, even managed to get sparse grass growing on it to hide it a bit from anyone looking at a glance, technically putting them down does require planning in most areas but there’s often ways around it.

I’d definitely be putting them into my current place if I could get the lorry down the lane and through the gate, sadly no hope of that though and haven’t found anyone doing transit tipper loads yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MrA
Thanks both of you really helpful replies! How are they laid, I've read some people making frames and laying membranes and others just chucking down and not even scraping away top soil?
 
I just stuck mine on the required patch before it got wet, but there was already a dip from hooves in previous muddy conditions so I used it to level it up. Done properly you remove top soil, lay a membrane (To stop it disappearing down into the dirt) and fill back to ground level and compact it, or box it in with a membrane if not digging down. I think it depends on the level/type of use you expect from it, mine was light use (mostly people, horses when going riding) so it didn’t need to be quite so beefy.
 
It depends if the ground underneath is solid clay. We are limestone rock underneath. With barely 1 to 2 inchs of top soils.
Our yard is all made up ground from excavation and is dust to limestone mix. We didnt put any membrane down just put on top. We have the cars tractors all going back and forth on it. If places do sink or get muddy we just go over with a few more.

This was March 2018 outside my newly created tack room after we did some extensive building renovations.

IMG_20180311_094310801.jpg



This was May 2018 just after we spread with the tractor. It was spread on at about 2-5 inchs thick.

IMG_20180515_205121326.jpg


This is last month. Nothing has been added in 2 1/2 years. It has had loads of tractors over it.

IMG_20200822_181254.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
It's just such a waste of a piece of land, it's really well sheltered on 3 sides so might solve my winter shelter issue. I'm also worried if we get a winter as wet as last year. I know they drive a tractor down it to deliver hay in winter, might just be a 4x4 actually not a tractor. But it's got deep ruts which is why it's not grazed, also behind the poo pile is loads of rubbish so it would need fencing properly. Am I a bit mad to ask my yard owner to do it though, surely normal liveries don't do this sort of thing
104052
 
I did a lot of field bibs at gateways in front of field shelter etc with hardcore and planings and due to the ground being essentially moorland they sank within 2 years. We removed all the top soil and put down large hard core and topped up with smaller stuff to fill the gaps and it should have drained well but it just sunk under the mud walked onto it.If you want to just make a clean standing area, i have found the Mud Control mats to be very good, putting in another pallet of them at the moment. you just shove them down and lock them together and they have not sunk at all even after last winter's bad weather. I found the planings no good for donkey feet, as the small bits go right up the white line so the ones we had on the yard here we had to lift them all as we got lots of problems with the small stones going up into the hoof.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MrA
I already have some mud control slabs and yes this is another option. I have 47 already and could either get a pallet of 100 or 140.

Would give me an area either about 5m X 2m or an area 5m x 4m. Is this big enough to have a horse on? It's unlikely I would keep him on here for more than either a day or a night at a time. Just if we get really wet awful weather would be nice to have somewhere to put him to dry his legs or get out the mud.

I'm not sure that is big enough really
 
Ale said:
I already have some mud control slabs and yes this is another option. I have 47 already and could either get a pallet of 100 or 140.

Would give me an area either about 5m X 2m or an area 5m x 4m. Is this big enough to have a horse on? It's unlikely I would keep him on here for more than either a day or a night at a time. Just if we get really wet awful weather would be nice to have somewhere to put him to dry his legs or get out the mud.

I'm not sure that is big enough really
Click to expand...
Ale said:
I already have some mud control slabs and yes this is another option. I have 47 already and could either get a pallet of 100 or 140.

Would give me an area either about 5m X 2m or an area 5m x 4m. Is this big enough to have a horse on? It's unlikely I would keep him on here for more than either a day or a night at a time. Just if we get really wet awful weather would be nice to have somewhere to put him to dry his legs or get out the mud.

I'm not sure that is big enough really
Click to expand...
I guess it is the same size as many stables?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MrA
104060To put it into perspective this is the area up to where I'm standing and the width of my current mats that over £1k of mats would give me.

And this is the area that is currently being wasted.104061

Maybe I just get it fenced and leave it resting, could use it as an emergency area to put him but imagine it'll be trashed in days. It's also got big ruts hidden beneath the grass. All this worry, sometimes I just think I should bring him in over winter, it's not the easiest with so little land
 
I think if you can leave it to rest with long grass on it, then the ground holds up way better than if the grass is short. It’s worth a shot.

If YO has a tractor it might be worth considering wood chip, it doesn’t last long before it rots and makes mud matters worse but if YO wouldn’t mind scraping it off for you when it gets bad/in the spring it might be a good cheap solution. I wouldn’t use chip without knowing I had a machine to remove it, but if I did I’d definitely consider it or even straw perhaps ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Trewsers
Yes definitely churns up less if the grass is left long under foot. Thats why i try to get as much grass growth on for winter, so it preserves the ground before getting boggy.
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back