Here in southeast Michigan we had a warm, wet late fall/early winter. The fields used for turnout became mucky collections of deep ruts which then became ankle-breaking, lameness-inducing, frozen waffles. In hindsight, I realize that I should have kept my horses in during that warm, wet weather to save their turnout, although that time stretched into 4-6 weeks. But then I’m also wondering if horses fare better in these conditions, especially the frozen ruts, shod or barefoot, or whether that makes a difference. My two were shod in ice shoes with snow pads, and I question if the pads, especially, made navigating the frozen ruts more difficult. I’m wondering how others have handled these weather-related turf conditions. Also do you have a fix for the fields now that spring is here? (I’m keeping my boy in, for now.).
Are you talking about the damage a horse can make or where a tractor was driven through and made huge, deep, wheel ruts in the ground?
Anything a horse made should kind of soften out as the ground thaws? Mine are out year round and my pasture fares well but my dry lot gets really rutted but goes back to normal all on its own.
For machinery induced, really deep wheel ruts they will need to be graded out with a skid steer or tractor bucket. At least that is what we do once the ground dries. We have that where we bring bales to our cows.
I’m talking about ruts created by horses over a remarkably large portion of the field…the barn is in a low area. The footing has been treacherous & now we’re in the wet month of April…
Wait until the ground is dryer. What kind of soil do you have, loam, sandy, clay? Each type dries differently as things green up with warmer days. So you have to wait longer with clay than the other types. Doing the old “squeeze a hand full of dirt” works to help gauge soil moisture. Though you may still have low, wetter than the rest, areas in fields. The squeezed dirt should form a ball, but dirt does not stay stuck together well, it is just about crumbly, when I want to start field work on my pastures.
Too many horses means one field WILL get torn up every year. Horses are split into two groups with one bunch on the field and the other group out on the arena field with good sand drainage.
I have accumulated a tractor, disc, wide chain harrow, which are the tools I use. Once pastures are dry enough I disc them, just to slice the turf, break up ruts. Disc leaves cut lines in the dirt. I add weight on the small disc using an old tractor tire, couple old truck tires, which keep the disc from jumping and not cutting in. After discing I spread fertilizer if I am applying it this year. Then I go back over the pasture land with my chain harrow. Depending on your soil type, you may want to use the smooth side for breaking up dirt clots above the ground surface. You can move those old tires onto the harrow teeth, tie them on to drag with. Again tire weight holds harrow down to the ground surface, does a better job smoothing lumps out.
My clumps are clay dirt, usually harder sticking up where the wind dries them faster than surface dirt. I put the teeth down on the chain harrow, tie tires on the topside, to drag and smooth the fields. Breaking clods up, moving their dirt into disc cuts, hoof prints, seems to let that soil settle well after it gets some rain again.
Teeth down does a more aggressive job on the ground, moving grass pieces loosened by the discing, as well as breaking dirt clods. Ground does look rough when finished, but again, smooths out with some rain, grass keeps right on growing. You really can’t tell I did rough it up within a week or two.
No horses on the worked fields until grass is up a couple inches. Then they are allowed to graze in VERY SHORT sessions, as their stomachs get adapted to grass diet. We start with 15 minutes and then run them back to winter areas. That takes at least a month before they can do full time turnout. THEN I can work the areas they wintered on, disc and drag, so they return to pasture and grass covered arena again. I have probably mowed the closed off pastures a couple times before horses are on them free grazing.
Our horses are stalled half days, never on pasture full time. They would be obese! We have very good pasture, but it is limited. So controlled turnout keeps the grazing good without needing to feed hay in summer, most years.
I really do the work to keep pastures smooth for horses and me walking, not tripping and easier ride during mowing. The clay dirt hardens like cement if not smoothed in spring.
We will be scooping up barnyard mud, it is a nasty mix of poop and old hay, put it in a pile to dry. Then it is nice dirt to use filling odd holes, low or bald spots around the place. We will order more gravel/dirt to put down in the barnyards. We scrape and replace dirt every 3-4 years as it turns to slop. Husband likes to play with his machines moving dirt.
Living in Michigan, we are blessed with the rain to keep things nice. The piled up old dirt has hardened to let mine get up out of the mud!! Stalling lets legs and hooves dry out daily to prevent skin issues… They need the drying time with such saturated dirt that horses sink in deep every step right now. The ice shoes, rim pads have come off. Full snowball pads collect mud under them in the freeze/thaw times, so we don’t use them. I do like the ice shoes, knowing horses have traction on any ice we have.
Is this your property? Do you have a dedicated dry lot made of screenings/stonedust you can use when the soil is wet? I can’t imagine leaving my horses in for weeks at a time when the ground is soft enough for them to tear it up…that may be something you need to consider investing in in the future!
What kind of equipment do you have access to?
My dry lot is screenings, but I have a couple of acres attached to it that serves as my winter turnout. I always break down and give them access when it’s too wet, even though I know better and have to repair it in the spring. I have a steel roller that flattens out all of the ruts and divots, and then I go over with with a chain harrow. That combo works well to smooth the ground back out, and grass will start growing again.
Unfortunately or fortunately, I do not own the barn or the fields. I board at a co-op barn where we pay separately for a stall and pasture. I started the fall/winter wet seasons with two senior/aged draft crosses in a large field, just the two of them. I had moved them from a field that was further from the barn to avoid the winter walk through potential snow/ice. The fields are owned/managed by 2 separate individuals. The field I left was empty for the winter, however, I lost my mare in January (due in part, I think, to the footing in the pasture), so at this time my gelding has no pasture mate. The soil is clay, and if I had had any idea of how long the warm, wet weather was going to last, I would have kept them in until the ground froze. I was balancing that need for the horses to move against the need to save the field. The former would have required more time invested by me to get them exercised….The good news is that the person who manages this closer field might be amenable to having the work done that you have prescribed, if we can find a farmer to do it. Thank you!
My pastures are small - ~2ac & ~1/2ac - they are each side of the drylot - roughly 100X200’.
Both are the Posterchild for a Before Pasture Care ad. The term “lush” will never apply.
I do nothing to maintain them since I hired out mowing my lawns. I used to take down the roughs & mow to 6" maybe twice a season.
Now I let the herd - horse, pony, mini - graze whatever comes up.
Neighbor will bushhog in late Fall to take down the overgrown stuff.
Horse-created ruts are present in both pastures. Drylot stays flat as it has geotextile under 9" of road base (rocks from fistsized to less than an inch).
This was put down over 10yrs ago.
Ruts don’t bother horses, all will come galloping in for dinner, through frozen & rutted ground or mud, nobody gets hurt. All are barefoot.
Been doing it this way for 18yrs.
This is my 3rd set of geldings on the fields. Formerly had teen-to-twenties TB, teen TWH, late teen WB, Hackney Pony (now 22) another late-teen TWH & latest addition: mini who arrived as a 2yo, turns 8 in May.
They go out on ice, noone acts stupidly {knockwood}?
Well, interestingly, my two (very level-headed) friends came to the point that when I went to bring them in for the night, they were waiting for me beyond the worst of the rutting, well away from the actual gate. They were obviously avoiding walking/standing in the frozen mire. I do wonder if they might have done better barefoot, although they have never been without shoes in the 20+ years in my care. These turf conditions are the worst we’ve seen.
