Horse Paddock Drainage - Clay

[Dave5264]

Hi Guys, looking for ideas on keeping our paddocks less muddy.

3 horses - 2 sacrifical paddocks 2 - 3 acres each

Our Farm is largely blue clay (at least 8-12feet of clay) under the 4 - 6" of top soil. In spring and fall the sacrificial paddock(s) are completely destroyed (per their name) due to horse traffic in a clay area - zero vegitation remeains and they are re-seeded annually. All that, we can deal with.

The issue now is, My wife is absolutely beside herself with the Mud the hoses have to stand in this spring, feels like a "terrible horse owner". We cannot move them to the summer pasture Grass fields yet (1 no grass growing, 2 they'll desrtoy them, 3 they have to be introduced to grass gradually in the spring to avoid founder).

So right now there is little I can do (so bad i cant even get a 4wd tractor through it), but for next year, any ideas on what I can do to keep them dry (er) ? doesnt have to keep the entire field Dry, just give them a choice so if they want to stand dry, they can.

here's what has NOT worked so far:

Natural slope - all paddocks are on hill sides, to reduce standing water - i can only imagine what it would be like if thery were flat

Filled one area in the "Run -in" shed with straw to temporarily create a dry spot - short term limited fix, done many times

Excavated one area (so they'd have a dry area to stand) and sand filled it - just filled with water and the sand got worked in to the clay .

Dug Drainage trenches in the field - got filled in with traffic over time (few months)

Dug Drainage trenches and filled & with gravel -Gravel got worked into the clay and back to square one.

I have one area on a hill that I still need to eradicate from Choke Cherries, and thay has a pure Gravel base (no clay) but that may take a longer term

Ideas welcome - wife unhappy = me unhappy

thanks

 

[dieselscout80]

Is the water that is making 2 sacrificial paddocks wet from rain or ground water?

Are the summer paddocks draining water on to the 2 sacrificial paddocks?

If its rain water running on to the sacrificial paddocks I'd get some of that clay you have and make a terrace at the top of each sacrificial paddocks to direct the water away from the sacrificial paddocks? You may have to make more than one terrace per sacrificial paddock.

If it's ground water you're out of my league.

 

[gwjd]

this is an idea hopefully to fuel the idea fire here on tbn

but what about a 12-18in ditch with a perforated piped then clean rock all with in a trench with geo fabric then a mix of sand and suitable footing./ grass growing material in a thin layer

then drain the pipes to daylight maybe include clean outs?
so basically make the ditches into drains

 

[gwjd]

this is an idea hopefully to fuel the idea fire here on tbn

but what about a 12-18in ditch with a perforated piped then clean rock all with in a trench with geo fabric then a mix of sand and suitable footing./ grass growing material in a thin layer

then drain the pipes to daylight maybe include clean outs?
so basically make the ditches into drains

 

[ustmd]

I am really hoping you get some ideas.

I am on that same clay-except it is black and it is about 2-3K miles south of you.

This year we tried a thick bed of cypress mulch as a test. For what little rain we got, it worked okay, but is also breaking down quickly from the horses.

 

[whistlepig]

It's been pretty wet here too. I put pea gravel "pads" in my sacrifice pasture. We also have a run in shed that has a rubber horse mats over a crushed gravel floor where they can dry there toes out. We don't like to see them standing in mud all the time either.

 

[DJ54]

I put a total of 8" of limestone screenings (#9's to dust) in my paddock around the barn, over a two year period. There is a gentle slope away from the barn. I wet them down good, and rolled them with the Bobcat after I had it graded out. Right now, it is still good an solid, even with al the rain we've had. :thumbsup:

Just be sure to use saltwater limestone, not fresh water limestone. Fresh water type will turn to mud, within a couple years...

 

[whistlepig]

Try a small patch of pea gravel. No prep. Just dump it on the ground.

 

[Dave5264]

Thanks for the ideas guys.

The paddocks are at the highest spot on the property and are one each side of a hill. no water drains on to them, all the water is from rain, we have had alot this spring. without horses, it sheds the water fine, but the hoof traffic creates 1000's of pockets in the softening spring clay to catch the water on the entire surface of the paddock -- even when a gravel filled ditch was channeling some water the other surface of the paddocks was still like soup. part of the issue here is, as the frost comes out of the ground it leaves the clay very soft even with no rain, so these hoof sized pockets occur no matter what.

I like the pea gravel idea and the saltwater limestone. maybe try that when it dries out so i can get in. I did put down sand and gravel last year, 10-12 tonnes of it in a 10'x20' area, worked for 1 year, now you cant even tell it was there !

I just this morning put 400lbs of cedar saw dust and shavings on an 8'x8' patch outside the run-in shed (stomped it in the soak up the water) and more straw in the shed. The shavings/saw dust made a small improvement. decent improvement for the $6 whole dollars the bags of saw dust cost me. Will be going back for more once my back recovers from lifting the bags.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hi Guys, looking for ideas on keeping our paddocks less muddy.

3 horses - 2 sacrifical paddocks 2 - 3 acres each

Our Farm is largely blue clay (at least 8-12feet of clay) under the 4 - 6" of top soil. In spring and fall the sacrificial paddock(s) are completely destroyed (per their name) due to horse traffic in a clay area - zero vegitation remeains and they are re-seeded annually. All that, we can deal with.

The issue now is, My wife is absolutely beside herself with the Mud the hoses have to stand in this spring, feels like a "terrible horse owner". We cannot move them to the summer pasture Grass fields yet (1 no grass growing, 2 they'll desrtoy them, 3 they have to be introduced to grass gradually in the spring to avoid founder).

So right now there is little I can do (so bad i cant even get a 4wd tractor through it), but for next year, any ideas on what I can do to keep them dry (er) ? doesnt have to keep the entire field Dry, just give them a choice so if they want to stand dry, they can.

here's what has NOT worked so far:

Natural slope - all paddocks are on hill sides, to reduce standing water - i can only imagine what it would be like if thery were flat

Filled one area in the "Run -in" shed with straw to temporarily create a dry spot - short term limited fix, done many times

Excavated one area (so they'd have a dry area to stand) and sand filled it - just filled with water and the sand got worked in to the clay .

Dug Drainage trenches in the field - got filled in with traffic over time (few months)

Dug Drainage trenches and filled & with gravel -Gravel got worked into the clay and back to square one.

I have one area on a hill that I still need to eradicate from Choke Cherries, and thay has a pure Gravel base (no clay) but that may take a longer term

Ideas welcome - wife unhappy = me unhappy

thanks

I used to live near Seattle and a lot of horse owners had similar problems. The King County(WA) Soil Conservation District people had a program that helped horse owners with these kind of problems. The had some design information for sacrifice areas( trenches drain rock, fabric, etc).

I'd advise you to do a google search on "horse sacrifice paddocks" , etc and see if you can find some helpful info about solving your problem. If not, try contacting the King County(WA) Soil Conservation District directly and see if they can point you in the right direction.