There really isn’t a source for ground limestone in the PNW. You’ll get basalt in whatever form of gravel you buy. I wanted to add that I use a basket style pitchfork and shake my manure to remove as much gravel as I can each time I pick. My horses eat under the barn overhang on mats—and the 12x36 over hang is fully matted and raised above the paddock surface by about four inches. I used RR ties to create the raised overhang edging.
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Do you have a picture? My Dad and I can’t come to an agreement on how to keep my overhang drier, can’t raise it like yours because the barn was placed next to a slope down… He mentioned RR ties tho.
I’ll see if I can grab a photo. I wedged them solidly up against the posts, then filled in the overhang with dirt/gravel/whatever. Put mats over that and let the weight of the horses compact it. I’m lucky in that the barn is a bit higher than the paddocks (yay for building that shop on a pad, former owner!).
Jenn- is there any room to add material to your overhang and still use your Dutch doors?
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bags of concrete mix would be better, just stack the bags like a roll of bricks then water the bags, over time the bags will erode away leaving concrete bricks
QUIKRETE® Rip Rap - Scrim (No. 1134-80) is a commercial grade blend of Portland cement and specially graded sand, packaged in a fiber reinforced, biodegradable bag for erosion control applications.
Rip Rap requires no mixing or equipment to install.
here is a how to video
locally there are several walls that were intended as short term walls that are still in place without any issues after nearly fifty years
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Good recommendations but, unfortunately, everyone is not in the position to just up and move. Jobs, family responsibilities, etc.
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Oh easily, here is a concrete apron before the Lighthoof.
We did it. Best move ever. Once you start to take everything under consideration, many things that you previously thought were not for you, are possible. I am thankful every day for making this decision.
Nothing stays the same. The world “moves on”. Things change. Climate change is real. The exploding human population is an issue… everyone needs a place to live. Circulating viruses for humans and horses LOVE high density populations. The economic situation and the homeless and drug addicted population and the drive by shootings, home invasions, crime is getting nothing but worse. The flooding of the valley in Abbotsford/Chilliwack recently is just the start of issues. The more humans and civilization that moves into an area, the more the draw down on the water table of potable water. It can happen here just as it has in other parts of the world. There comes a time when an area is no longer habitable for horse owning humans. Let alone the price of necessities, whether that is your horse’s board bill, or your feed bill if you keep your own horse at home. If you are rich, you can absorb some of this for some amount of time. The $800 per ton cost of hay is OK for you. You can accept the increases in your board bill. But if you are running a boarding barn, and dependent on boarders being civilized human beings, and paying their board bills as they go up, it’s not as fun. With many restrictions due to wet environment, horses must spend some time in stalls. If paddocks are flooded, this can be an issue. If your barn floods, this can be an issue. For horses. If your horse spends a lot of time in a stall, the risks of impaction colic, and unsoundness, and mental stress becomes an issue. If your horse is insured, you can just go and buy another horse, and light a candle for the dead ones. This may sound harsh, but it’s a reality of keeping horses indoors. In the mean time, just hope that you suddenly don’t get a homeless drug addict moving into your barn, or stealing from you. All these things are happening, and will happen MORE in coming years. Because the world has moved on.
IMO, all these things make moving away from this a whole lot more attractive than staying and dealing with it. Land is still cheaper than it is in the lower fraser valley, once you get away from population. Air is clean (some smoke from forest fires, but that is everywhere these days, isn’t it). With decent internet service, remote work is available and possible. Local work is also available, perhaps a different field, but available. With land, and water, you get grazing, and hay production, either personally, or available to purchase locally for half the money. Horses live outdoors, year round… no navicular issues, no impaction issues. Very little barn work to do, since barns are different here. No sawdust to buy, no manure trucking company to employ. No stall muckers to pay.
No noise, no traffic, just birds and wildlife. The stars bright at night. Horses out playing together in the snow, going for a run together in the early morning. Hooves strong and hard, with big healthy frogs.
To me, it’s worth it to make the change. And many local people I know feel the same. The lower mainland is no longer habitable, for horses, or for people. For a variety of reasons. Rain and mud being one of those reasons.
OK, I’ve gotta go get the tractor, and roll a round bale out on the snow for my horses now!
Our farm is also in the PNW. We successfully made a “dry” paddock. The bottom layer is packed 3/4 minus that allows for drainage. We put a mixture of sand and pea gravel over that. The sand/pea gravel combo is sold here as an arena mix. Lots of people use it for their outdoors.
It has worked great. It drains well and is easy on the feet. Sometimes I drag it to even out the bumps and divots.
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No, we dumped the 3/4 right over the grass. We debated over doing cloth. We are on a very gentle slope and don’t have mud. Our soil has some clay, but not much.
If I had a really muddy spot, I would scrape it first and add at least 4 - 6” of heavy gravel as a base. We did that around the barn before we moved the horses in. The previous owner had put hogged fuel down and it broke down into muck. We scraped it, put down the heavy gravel, had it rolled, and put 1/4 minus on top. It is still good ten years later.
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@sparkygrace this sounds a lot like my spot. Would you mind sharing how deep the 3/4 minus was and how deep the sand and pea gravel is? Did the sand and pea gravel come mixed together, or did you mix them on site? And do you worry about sand colic?
Oh and sorry, do the sharp gravel bits ever come through the pea gravel / sand mix? I want to go with pea gravel because it’s supposedly good for their feet, and one of my horses has poor feet. But sharp gravel in his current pasture is the reason he has to wear shoes – I’d like him to go back to being barefoot.
My husband corrected me. We put down 3" of 1/4 minus for the base. He rolled it, compacting it really well. There is about 3" of the pea gravel mix on top. The pea gravel/sand is pre-mixed by a local company. Since lots of people use it for outdoor arena footing, they have a “recipe” for it.
The combo has worked great. It drains really fast. I have only fed hay on it a few times, so I don’t worry about sand colic. (The seeds started to sprout and I didn’t like the mess.) My setup allows me to throw hay in his rubber-matted stall. He has 24/7 access to the drylot from his stall. It measures about 40’ x 40.’ I can take a photo so you can see how it works.
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