Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
- Posted by Alayne Blickle
Once again it’s the dead of winter when most horse owners across North America are experiencing some form of inconvenience because of snow, ice, or cold temps. At Sweet Pepper Ranch in southwestern Idaho we’ve been getting more than a healthy dose of colder than normal temps plus snow, which has lingered on and on, outweighing its initial welcome. These days I find myself whining a lot about not being able to ride, the difficultly of hauling on snowy roads, or the joys of riding in single digit temps (not!). Ugh!
One of the most frequent horse property management questions I get at this time of year has to do with footing problems in horse paddocks. (The Horse’s Digital Editor Michelle Anderson recently asked me this very question when deciding whether or not to move her horse to a boarding facility for the winter.)
The problems are that water often puddles in poorly drained paddocks then freezes and causing slippages. Or that footing is too rocky and pot-holed, especially when it freezes, making it uncomfortable for horses to stand on (or people to walk on!). Or that surfaces are too uneven and rutted for manure clean up
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Written by:
Alayne Blickle
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19 Responses
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
Sand sounds like it drains well, but would it be abrasive to the horses legs? thx
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
Adding organic material ie: wood chips / shavings/ sawdust / manure should only be done as a safety precaution to create safe passage over ice or lumpy frozen cratered surfaces. Ultimately, any organic material will become mud.
Because of the w
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
All great comments & feedback to share! Several of you have hit on key points about choosing the right footing for your specific situation. Keep an eye on Smart Horse Keeping & I’ll go over some additional criteria for footing selection in a fu
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
A new product for dealing with mud in paddocks are the paddock base panels from Lightfoot Equine Surfaces (www.hoofbase.com). The flexible panels can go down over the existing mud and fill with gravel to stabilize the base to prevent the footing from g
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
I keep 4 horses in an open barn corral with a big paddock on one side. At night we put them in the corral so it used to turn into a muddy mess during the wet season. We just installed a floor grid called Ecoraster, covered with crushed rock and it seem
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
My goal was to not be a prisoner on my own land anymore. The Hydro had put in a quarry stone (fist-sized)on the road back the land. During transition I first put wood chips in the 60′ round pen and it composted to a sponge and became boggy……f
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
If you look up natural hoof care… pea gravel is a stall surface that is recommended. I have not tried this yet and am interested in feedback if people have tried pea gravel in a stall. Since I live in California I don’t have to worry about ice.
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
I’ve been at my stable for two or three years and they have NEVER cleaned the paddocks. So winter (Texas’ rainy season) footing consists of 10 or 12 inches of old wet manure. I’d leave if I could, but I’m in a complicated situation that precludes that
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
Here in the Triangle area of N.C. you can get a sand called Chapel Hill grit. It looks like a very thick sand but has a yellow tint so maybe sand and ground up clay? I have it in and around the run-in sheds and it does not wash away even though the lan
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
I have a base of limestone fines, but I am thinking of adding pea gravel on top of this. One of my horses has heaves and any potential dust is an issue. Does anyone have experience with pea gravel in all weather turnouts?
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
I was a bit surprised at the ready agreement about using woodchips for horse footing. Chips can be very acidic, break down after only a couple years and are quite known to cause hoof issues. I had easy access to them (worked at a lumber mil
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
7 or 8 feet out in front of the run in stalls we used 8" of what is called "road base" [sand with crushed rock in it] with course gravel on top as footing. The road base pacts down very solid and firm, water runs off easily. The footing
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
I agree with using coarse sand. This is sometimes called "fill" sand and is very economical. We put it directly on top of the muddy area, to a depth of about 4-5". The horses punched thru it and it actually changed the
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
Stone dust works for me. Packs down, drains well.
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
Debbie, hogfuel is chipped wood. It’s available in some parts of the country like the Pacific Northwest and looks like playground chips or landscape mulch. The size and types of wood products that you use with horses are important to consider; fir, pin
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
WHAT IS HOG FUEL AND HOW DOES IT WORK??
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
Our paddocks were originally sand over clay (we built the barn on an arena), and stayed in pretty good order with hog fuel to absorb moisture. Six years later, they are a mucky mess. We are thinking about using something like Horse Grid footing (
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
We also use "screenings", the small crushed rock, in our paddocks and as a base for the run-in shed. I add a scant layer of lime in the run-in (to neutralize ammonia) and top with several bags of large sized shavings (easier to muck). Heavier
re: Winter Paddock Footing for Horse Properties
A few comments .. sand added to mud will (eventually, though probably not the first year) make deeper mud. I have made this mistake myself, and the only solution is to remove everything and start from scratch.
Ideally, the base footing in a run