New barn with dirt floors at stalls & outdoor runs, we have a high clay content so they pack down well. I need to back fill a little bit should i use dirt/clay, small gravel, sand? Should the stalls be back filled differently than the outdoor runs?
Well since you need a response here, here’s some input for you.
It is a huge subject, and is highly dependant on your climate, and what substances are available to you, and how much money you want to spend.
Dirt floors in stalls are great for horses in many ways. But there are problems too. Firstly, horses dig holes in them sometimes. They need to be “relayed” annually (new material brought in to level them). They can not be sterilized adequately, if you need to do that. If you have decided that they are the way to go for you, I would use a back filling interlocking gravel- something that sets up firmly. Clay floors don’t drain urine, gravel will drain the urine away from the surface, but it will be caught in the clay level below. Might be an idea to put some lime down on the clay before topping up with the gravel top layer. Other option is to put a flooring down in the stalls, wooden planks, or rubber mats of some sort (there are many types available) are something you can consider.
Paddocks with a clay base have the same problem, water does not drain through the clay. So if they get wet, they tend to stay wet, which is not good for horses’ feet, or for exercise (slippery). Some drain tile or perforated pipe should probably be installed, sloping away from the stalls, to collect water and channel it away from the stalls. Then these drain ditches filled with drainage gravel (bigger stuff). Then a layer of finer gravel or sand on top of that, hopefully enough to raise the level of the paddock above the water table. Some people have used wood products as footing, but this breaks down over time, and will turn to mud eventually, and leachate can be toxic and problematic in the long run. A gravel/sand supplier will have valuable input to this problem, what they have available that may work for you. Good luck, it will be expensive to do it right. Make sure you put large gates into your paddocks, so that you can back a gravel truck down there, to top up the footing in the paddocks in later years, and get a tractor in there to do the spreading work. It’s an ongoing project. Choosing a property with a thick gravel base on the land makes things easier and cheaper to build a horse farm. Fighting water and mud with a clay base is not fun.
Everything NancyM said. I’m in South Mississippi, so I too have clay. I bought some kind of red sand that packs for the barn base. I put mats in the stalls and aisle. I only put 2 rows of mats in the stalls, leaving the back unmatted. (12 x 12 stalls, leaving about 4 foot in the back) The horses use the stalls with no shavings until they learn to pee in the back, then they ‘earn their shavings’. This was summer, so not spending the night in. The backs of the stalls are sloped out so pee can drain. Under the mats, that sand is like concrete, well packed.
I have more pasture than horses, so I don’t have a mud problem outside (yet, I just bought a third horse 
)
Thank you both so much for the info! Much appreciated!
