Mud management system - anyone used these successfully?

[shadesofbay3]

hi all-

i have a 27, almost 28 year old princess retiree with 4 shoes (she cannot go barefoot) and this winter has been awful with the mud in her paddock. she has pulled shoes several times (already wears bell boots), and the ability to put her in another paddock is out, as we tried that once and she didn’t eat or drink all night and just paced the fence line

my farrier does a really nice job with her feet (based on my limited knowledge) and has been with us for many years, so i don’t think it has anything to do with him

i think it is all of the mud in her paddock, i’m talking deep mud from the wet winter we have had with snow, rain, snow, repeat.

i was considering using this mud management device in her paddock, except for the fact that the mud is sort of over a large area so i don’t know how beneficial it would be.

has anyone ever used these? (picture attached) thoughts?

the only other thing i have done is dug “trenches” in the mud leading out of the paddock so the water doesn’t sit and drains out, and that has helped a good bit

[clanter]

in Vietnam we used cement that was mixed with the soil to stabilize soil. Here is a YouTube video of an engineering explanation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNoWVPVb6Mo

[Simkie]

These solutions work great if you scrape off all the organics (that muddy layer that holds so much water) first, and regularly clean the organics off the surface once it’s installed.

Depending on your base, scraping the organics off, and regularly cleaning once you do will give you a solid mud free surface, without the expense of the grid.

If you have a deep top soil layer, rather than a shallow hard pan, going with something like this is a great idea to prevent rock you add from just sinking right into your top soil and disappearing.

If this is space where hay and poop and bedding isn’t cleaned up, or it’s not cleaned up often, it’ll just revert to mud as those things break down & rot into your top layer, regardless of any grid.

[quietann]

I’m in New England, which gets very muddy. The barn where my older mare is boarded has a Lighthoof mud grid “pad” filled with stone dust roughly 24 by 30 feet for each 12 by 16 foot shed. It does get wet but there has been no deep mud, almost no mud at all really, and we’re on our 3rd winter there. My understanding is that they dug down through the topsoil, and there may be crushed rock underneath it all.

There have been a few fixes needed, for example directing water from the field just above the pad away from it, because that was bringing mud onto the surface.

My mare was fed hay on the pad for a while and ended up with colic from the load of stone dust she picked up. Her hay is now netted and in the shed, which has stall mats for flooring.

Also it does require some maintenance; every other year they have to spread more stone dust and use a device for tamping it down. Also regular cleaning of manure and hay scraps.

This is a horrible photo of my mare, but shows the basic setup.

[Inimitable]

I use the mud control grids and they are truly magical. No site prep. Just lay them down where you need them. The company says to fill them in with sand, but I didn’t even bother - the holes fill in on their own over time. They are pricey, but worth every penny for how effective they are and how easy they are to lay down. I’ll hopefully be getting more this year as my budget allows.

Mud Control Grids | Grid As New | 100% Recycled Plastic

[shadesofbay3]

do you have any pictures of before and after per chance?

[fordtraktor]

I have this stuff in several places on my farm…around high traffic gates and in small paddock runs attached to stalls. It does a great job. I do have geotextile under and keep crushed stone on it. Here is a pic of a gate area with it after about 5 years. It’s unbelievably muddy right now as you can see from my horse, but the gate area is firm and dry as possible given the giant melt we’ve had.

[Libby2563]

I have a large stonedust dry lot with grids and it is a lifesaver. I pick manure twice a day while the horses eat, and it was professionally regraded last year after 8 years. Without the grids I would have massive ruts due to erosion from rain. With the grids I’ve only had small amounts of stonedust migrating downhill. It was expensive but is one of my favorite things on my farm, and has paid for itself by allowing me to keep my horses out 24/7 without the place turning into a mud pit.

Photos: http://thesmallhorsefarm.blogspot.com/2016/10/dry-lot-construction-with-lots-of.html?m=1

[Pico_Banana]

I have the LightHoof grids and they are fantastic. Mine are filled with 3/8 minus which gives the water a little more place to go than straight stone dust. Highly recommend.

I know people who have used the grid as mud product and laid it strain top of their surface and found they worked great. That wouldn’t work with the LightHoof.

[trubandloki]

@Simkie

and regularly clean the organics off the surface once it’s installed

This is so important, no matter what you do, you have to keep the organics from building up again.

[Pico_Banana]

@trubandloki

This is so important, no matter what you do, you have to keep the organics from building up again.

Yes, I’m feeling this after the weather we had the last couple of weeks. Manure frozen to ice. Ice finally melts and manure crumbles into one thousand tiny pieces. There’s no way I can pick that up. At least the hay that got scattered around can be raked up and then whatever is leftover blown off.

[Libby2563]

@Pico_Banana

@trubandloki

This is so important, no matter what you do, you have to keep the organics from building up again.

Yes, I’m feeling this after the weather we had the last couple of weeks. Manure frozen to ice. Ice finally melts and manure crumbles into one thousand tiny pieces. There’s no way I can pick that up. At least the hay that got scattered around can be raked up and then whatever is leftover blown off.

Yeah that’s the worst!! I use a metal pitchfork to chip off what I can when the manure is frozen. Then when the rest melts I follow up with a Fine Tines pitchfork and, honestly, my gloved hands.

[Inimitable]

I’m not great at documenting my projects, but these might give you a sense of how they work.

This is the area behind their stalls where I wanted to create a little patio for them. The mud doesn’t look awful here, but it would sometimes become boot-sucking.

The only site prep I did was scrape back the top layer of mud and built up shavings/manure, etc. You can lay the grids down right on top of the organics, but I wanted to give myself some room because of the Dutch doors.

Here’s what they look like freshly laid down. Like I said, I didn’t bother to fill them in with sand; that happened pretty quickly on its own once I turned the horses loose on them.

A different angle.

I also have pigs and used them in the area where they pace the fence line during meal time. Here’s the before.

And after.

I don’t have great photos for after they’ve been in use for a while. But I have zero complaints about their performance. In fact, they’re even better than I hoped they would be. I want to add more rows to the horse patio and also expand the area where I use them in front of their big field shelter. They have been a game changer for mud season horse keeping.

Edited to add: I just found this photo from 3/30/24, after they’d been in use for about 6 months (and right in the thick of mud season).