Mud hole in front of barn door! Suggestions?

[blackrat]

Hi all,

Our barn is in a shaded area that does not get much direct sunlight until late morning till early evening. I have the surrounding area sloped away from the barn but with all the rain we have had it still is a mush pit. The horses hoves make it even worse. It is very dangerous when we feed the horses outside the barn. They tend to act stupid at feeding time and you cannot get out of the way fast enough due to the mud. What can I put down in front to absord or rliminate this muddy mess? My understanding is that rock would get stuck in the horse hooves.

Suggestions???

Thanks
Wade

[Bladehauler]

just thinking out load , could you put down gravel then lay some stall mats on top ?

[vtsnowedin]

You could dig out a foot and a half with your FEL and pitch the bottom of the whole to drain to one corner of the hole then ditch away from that corner to daylight and install a perforated pvc drain pipe. Then back-fill with a foot of 2" rock (or picked field stone) topped with 6 inches of sandy fill.

[kevin37b]

Mulch , woodchips , straw , sand .

[riptides]

Can feeding time be elsewhere?

[Buppies]

What about slag which is a byproduct of a mini mill steel plant. Once wet it will set up like concrete.there are a few of these plants in South Carolina

[Dr Dave]

I think wood chips would be a good temporary fix, call all your local tree services, I have gotten some free and $10 a pickup load is common. After things dry up regrade, problem area. Does you barn have gutters and down spouts?

Dave

[ruffdog]

The neighbor has horses and is not able to drain water anywhere. The local gravel pit sells very fine limestone sand/powder. I think it is left over from crushing the rock. He put a load down in the feeding area and a path from the gate to that area. It has been 2 years and no muck. It gets hard like concrete. nice

[tcreeley]

Our entrance into the barn for our two horse is a shallow sloped ditch that removes run off to a deeper ditch. I have sloped and ditched everything because of the clay and spring mud season. My barn yard is 4 to 6 inches of gravel. I find the key to keeping it from getting sloppy is to plow in the winter and frequently rake up any messes and shavings that spill out of the door. That keeps everything to the bare gravel which sheds moisture well. (just like cleaning another stall!) The grit/slag sounds good. Stall mat needs to be watched for slipperiness.
With gravel and grit- you have to clean their feet often to keep it from getting embedded and driven up between the wall and whiteline. (My horses are barefoot.)
Goodluck.

[hosspuller]

No ... to wood chips. Anything organic will decompose and add to the mess. I would fix the drainage, lay geotextile and then a 6 inch layer of crusher run gravel. The gravel & fines will pack and form a hard surface. The geotextile keeps the gravel & soil separate. I did this at my gates, where the herd mills around waiting for dinner. The mud was shoe sucking but the geotextile gravel combo did the trick.