Adding footing (sand?) to a muddy paddock

[costco_muffins]

@Guilherme

This could be problematical as wood is an organic substance and will rot to make more dirt. If a wet environment, which the OP already has, it will rot faster and thus create more dirt faster making the problem worse, not better. In a very dry environment this might actually work well, just not here.

G.

Hogsfuel can be useful in the winter for the immediate “Oh crap, we need to do something that will last us a few months”. It is usually cheap and you can spread it easily and you can put it directly on the mud. It is definitely not long term, and as PNW said, you have to scrape it up each spring and do new each winter (and sometimes add more mid-winter). For those who are not going to or who can’t pick each day it is certainly an okay solution, albeit not the premier standard in mud management. There is no question though, it will break down, and quickly, into more mud, so you have to do something to it in spring.

[OneTwoMany]

@Guilherme

This could be problematical as wood is an organic substance and will rot to make more dirt. If a wet environment, which the OP already has, it will rot faster and thus create more dirt faster making the problem worse, not better. In a very dry environment this might actually work well, just not here.G.

Yes. I believe @PNWjumper who suggested the hogsfuel indicated it was only a short term solution in her post.

[PNWjumper]

@Guilherme

This could be problematical as wood is an organic substance and will rot to make more dirt. If a wet environment, which the OP already has, it will rot faster and thus create more dirt faster making the problem worse, not better. In a very dry environment this might actually work well, just not here.

G.

I’ll echo costco_muffins. I do this each winter and I live in the wettest of wet climates (PNW where it’s wet wet wet all winter and never freezes). I usually don’t get around to doing anything about mud until we’re already past the point at which most solutions work. So my normal year is that I hit late November/early December and decide, “oh crap! I have to do something.” So I order a couple of truckloads of hosgfuel (20-30 yards) and have my husband spread it out over the (usually 6"+ deep) mud (it typically looks like this when we lay it out: http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/PNWjumper/media/IMG_2154_zpscjhk0cyb.jpg.html?sort=3&o=9). Because the hogsfuel is so coarsely chopped, it lasts a lot longer than you might expect. Last year I put in down in November and it kept the mud away until April-ish in the areas that I didn’t pick and all the way through July/the dry season in the paddocks that I did pick. And we put it down on WET and deep mud.

And, as I mentioned (and costco_muffins said too), yes, it eventually breaks down and creates even more mud. But IMO, it’s the only solution that works, is relatively cheap, and relatively easy when you’ve already waited too long to do “the right thing.”

[Guilherme]

@costco_muffins

Hogsfuel can be useful in the winter for the immediate “Oh crap, we need to do something that will last us a few months”. It is usually cheap and you can spread it easily and you can put it directly on the mud. It is definitely not long term, and as PNW said, you have to scrape it up each spring and do new each winter (and sometimes add more mid-winter). For those who are not going to or who can’t pick each day it is certainly an okay solution, albeit not the premier standard in mud management. There is no question though, it will break down, and quickly, into more mud, so you have to do something to it in spring.

I guess of you NEED an emergency method then this one might work. Thank you for adding the “the rest of the story.”

G.

[costco_muffins]

@Guilherme

I guess of you NEED an emergency method then this one might work. Thank you for adding the “the rest of the story.”

G.

Our neighbors used hogsfuel for two winters. Before using it they had mid-cannon deep mud, after it was good for a month or two, then turned into pastern deep mud. So… better, but not great. In the PNW its pretty easy and cheap to get hogsfuel, so it is a common additive to areas around gates, particularly when barns aren’t interested in picking paddocks daily.

It’s not my preferred method - I use gravel - but I can appreciate the use

[susanne]

Has anyone here used old carpeting (cheap or free) instead of geotextile under gravel? I’ve seen this recommended by several people on the Oregon Horse Forum, including one who put it down over mud (not likely over the goop that we have in our corrals…). I’m thinking the bulletproof, commercial grade would likely be best.