Need Advice with Mud & Horses. Rookie

[Trippy1313]

Hey everyone. I didn't grow up with or around horses. My wife did, but she doesn't know anything about mud/ground control, and her dad isn't around. I'm kind of a tractor rookie here as well.

Right now, until we get more paddocks set up we have one roaming area about 144'×96' and a smaller area/paddock about 60x60.

The bigger area is only muddy up front where they more often walk, but the smaller paddock is just terribly muddy, 6-8" deep.

I'm not sure how deep my hard pan is, but when I walk through it, many the areas feel really hard 8" deep.

I dont have any experience in this, curious if I should scrape out the mud down to the lower slope where they don't walk as much and is less muddy, do I just dump tons of gravel.

If I scrape, do i do it now while its soft before summer comes, or nothing at all? I just don't have a clue.

As far as equipment and implements, I have a Bobcat Ct2025 (Kioti Ck2610) with a Loader w/piranha blade, backhoe. My buddy and I share a few implements: 90" custom made box blade (got it for free), 60" box blade, 60" back blade, 60" Rake, disc/cultivator, 48" tiller.

My wife keeps bugging me on doing something with it, but I dont know the right thing to do. I'm a tractor rookie and need advice/help. Lol.

I had a guy bringing me a bunch of free woodchips for a bit, that helped, but he's been low on business since fuel prices jumped.

 

[jeff9366]

I'm not sure how deep my hard pan is, but when I walk through it, many the areas feel really hard 8" deep.

Are the areas around the paddocks draining OK? Is there lush Spring grass evident?

I am not a horse person but gravel is probably bad for horse hooves.

Bobcat CT2025​

Dimensions
Wheelbase:	65 inches 165 cm
Length:	120.9 inches 307 cm
Width:	64 inches 162 cm
Height (ROPS):	91.5 inches 232 cm
Operating weight:	2646 lbs 1200 kg
Ground clearance:	11.5 inches 29 cm

You can break up hardpan with a Subsoiler or an All Purpose Plow. Your tractor is pretty light. You will likely have more success with a single shank Subsoiler.

Subsoilers may require somewhat unusual adjustment of your Three Point Hitch to both penetrate sufficiently AND lift high enough not to drag the foot.
(You may need to move right and left Lifting Rods away from the Lower Link bull's eyes, into holes closer to the tractor. This is a pin adjustment.)

Subsoiling mud will accomplish nothing. Mud will immediately fill the fissures. Soil needs to be fairly dry so fractures through hardpan remain open to act as drains.

SUBSOILER VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=compact+tractor+subsoiler+drainage

 

[jeff9366]

Dirt Dog - All Purpose Plow / Field Cultivator REVIEW + PICTURES

Dirt Dog All Purpose Plow / Field Cultivator Dirt Dog Model APP 66-5 Total Width 66", Working Width 62", Five Tines, Weight 284 Pounds, Paid $835.00 (2010) Field Cultivator: A Three Point Hitch mounted, secondary tillage implement, used to perform operations such as soil aeration...

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[Trippy1313]

Kindly correct your tractor identification in your T-B-N PROFILE.

Case 580ck Bobcat Ct2025

My bad... when I originally joined, that was my tractor. I sold it a few months back.


And as far as mentioning the ground feeling hard 8" deep, I was wondering if it should scrape down to there? Not necessarily digging deeper.... Yes plenty of thick grass outside the horse areas. The ground drains okay, but we're also in Washington state and having record rains.

 

[Rockbadchild]

something need to be done if not you will have hoof problems... I wouldn't scrape it down, grade it while its still damp then dig a ditch let it dry up a bit without the horse in if possible then add gravel or sand...

 

[fishheadbob]

You say "horses" or more than one in a pretty small area. Horses make muddy messes in a hurry, the background in the pics make it obvious you don't live in a desert, so you're going to have a lot of mud. Even if you scrape it, drain it, tile it, or otherwise improve it, you're going to have a lot of mud. Do you have any acreage available ?

 

[Rockbadchild]

You say "horses" or more than one in a pretty small area. Horses make muddy messes in a hurry, the background in the pics make it obvious you don't live in a desert, so you're going to have a lot of mud. Even if you scrape it, drain it, tile it, or otherwise improve it, you're going to have a lot of mud. Do you have any acreage available ?

the small area in the picture is his winter lot ... in the fall and spring you can't send the horse in the field because first they will turn that field muddy and they will eat the grass before they start growing and killing them, so keeping them in this small area is the way to go for this time of the year, mud is inevitable I agree but you can minimize the amount of time it is muddy and how deep it is...

 

[jeff9366]

And as far as the ground feeling hard 8" deep. Should I scrape down to there? Not necessarily digging deeper.... Yes plenty of thick grass outside the horse areas. The ground drains okay, but we're also in Washington state and having record rains.

The ground drains okay. New, important information.

I would not move any organic rich mud. ( But my experience is with Florida sandy loam, which perks readily and drys very quickly. )

Subsoiling should improve water perk through your hard pan but your basic problem seems to be too many horses for your available land size.

Subsoiling mud will accomplish nothing. Mud will immediately fill the fissures. Soil needs to be fairly dry so the Subsoiler created fractures through hardpan remain open to act as drains.

Nothing packs soil harder over the longer term than animal hooves.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

If you get a few cases of foot rot, life will change. Horses can go through mud but they don't do good living in it. Cows also. When they get lame, you realize how big they are. My oldest horse is a 94 model. He is not in mud unless he wants to be. Still in good shape and healthy.

 

[Rockbadchild]

i forgot to say if this mud is mostly manure then yes scrape it down and use it to fertilize your field in the fall…