What is the fastest way to do a drylot. There are no horses to eat it down quick.
Anyone ever use a sod cutter?
or how about tractor?
I mowed short and turned a horse out on it. It took no time at all! Are you avoiding grass for a medical reason for your horse–you could borrow someone’s. Otherwise a skid will make short work of it (or you can do a sod cutter).
for me it would be seed the lot then add fertilize then water well… then surely everything would die
I have never understood how grass can grow in a concrete drive way but not in dirt pasture
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You need to consider what the soil under the grass is like how much rain there will be, and how much time the horse will spend in the pen.
Stripping off the grass or killing it will make that portion of ground lower than the surrounding ground. It will be a very shallow bowl. It will hold water and turn to muck when it rains.
In a dry lot the footing is designed so that rain water percolates down thru the soil or runs off because of a slight slope.
The fastest safest way to fence a small turnout is with round pen panels, or with electric. But electric is problematic as horse will contact the fence in a confined space.
If the horse needs to be taken off of pasture due to laminitis issues do not let the horse eat the short grass, that is where grass plants store sugar.
Could you cover the grass with mats?
Vinegar and salt?
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Mmm love salt and vinegar.
have you tried this? Looks like it could work as well.
Thanks everyone for your replies.
very helpful.
Vet and another person at vets office suggested tarps … So I started this last night.
i will try to take some before and after pics and note how long it takes for the grass to die.
Yes … For medical reasons.
I think this could take a long time!
Also consider what kind of soil you have. Here, we have a lot of clay. So, the overgrazed parts of the pastures get very slippery in wet conditions without the plant roots to help hold everything together a bit more. All of the purposeful dry lots have a mixture of sand/small gravel because the native soil is pretty worthless enough of the time.
Thanks. We have a lot of sand in the soil. If after it becomes dry we run into a problem, will add whatever I need. Have an awesome farrier who will be coming out in a couple of weeks … Will get her input to for best possible footing.i hope the tarps don’t take too long … When I have used cardboard or landscape fabric … It would take a few days to a week. I did look up the salt and vinegar … This is supposed to work within a day. Vet staff thought is should be safe. I would spray and rake it all out before I put the ponies on.
Another vet also suggested another horse … Or goats. I am not sure I can convince husband of either.
Also, neighbor has huge piles of dirt … What about throwing dirt over some? Normally grass would be all brown this time of year (northeast) but it is only partially brown and pretty thin and short. You think covering with dirt can help? Or would there be negatives to doing this? Again … Pretty sandy soil … When I dug out our garden in spring with sod cutter … Things did not get muddy with rain … But I did not have horses on it either.
The grass will just grow up through the soil, you won’t be killing it by putting dirt on top.
Even with only two to three weeks of green grass left of the season?
Also, have you ever actually tried the salt and vinegar?
I have used vinegar plus salt plus Dawn detergent (as a surfactant) on gravel paths and driveway, and it works reasonably well. You might try combining this with the tarp (or black plastic).
Another approach, much quicker but more expensive, would be to lay down geotextile over the grass and put gravel on top. When we were building our house we used a small corral as a turnaround for the big trucks, and our excavator did this very thing. After the build was complete, the corral was once again used for turnout and no grass has grown back.
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Depending on your weather…
Up here in the Wet Coast there are no shortcuts and done properly it will only have to be done once.
We took off all the topsoil, down to hardpan. Saved that precious commodity (topsoil).\
Then put down large roadmulch and domed it into swales either side of the lot.
Then a 5/8ths minus, then crusher dust. The crusher dust packed down to almost concrete after one season.
No mud, firm ground for walking around on.
The as a final touch we poured a load of yellow cedar sawdust in one spot and let her paw it down and it makes a nice soft mattress for her to sleep, roll, sunbathe, etc.
She is kept year round in/out in this. Pick up poops and nothing else needs doing.
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dirt will make a heck of a huge mud mess in the Northeast.
I would put down geotextile and then limestone dust/chips.
