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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 303
| My horses are kept in dry lots with shelters, but with all the rain we have had they are no longer "dry". How do you keep them from turning into a soupy, stinky mess? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Edited by go4broke 2015-06-05 4:20 PM
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | I put down some screenings. It's still messy, but I know if they weren't there I'd be a lot worse shape. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
 
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Maybe bring in some sand, but really I dont think its possible to keep one muddy/soupy/stinky free when you get lots of rain. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 303
| Thank you for the replies. I was wondering if sand would help. Out of the four pens that I have, only one dries fairly well. The others are taking a long time.
Edited by go4broke 2015-06-05 5:53 PM
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | Google Cow Carpet. I plan on using that and soil stablizing grids under my runs and in my dry lots. I haven't decided what to put on top it in the dry lot yet. |
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| Build them up higher than surrounding area and make sure you have ditches of some type to divert water and let runoff water run off in a different direction vs across or thru your pens.
If pens are run from a shedrow off your barn ... gutters are one of the biggest helpers ... and which side of barn they are on. My area .. south side dries quickest, east side will drive if drained well ... west side is too hot during the summer to use as run outs .. north side too cold ..
I have never figured out why people build their small shedrows out in the middle of a pen instead of right in the fence line with roof water draining outside of the pen also makes for easy feeding and have it a foot higher than the pen ... most have the roof slanted towards the front opening so water will drain right into the main traffic area ... makes no sense to me ...
Best advice is simple ... if you are going to have horses, do your best to buy sandy soil and decide where you are going to build things during a heavy rain storm. Most frequent problems are also simple ... too many horses for the amount of room you have to pen them in ...
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Member
Posts: 14
| It’s really great posts.
Smartmatic
Edited by Mojedhhcpo 2015-06-28 8:46 AM
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 Tried and True
Posts: 21185
Location: Where I am happiest | We have NO mud in our pens regardless of how much rain or snow melt. We had a fine gravel hauled in and it's a foot thick. Here it is called lime finds. |
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Expert
Posts: 1690
| Don't waste your $$ on sand or shavings or dirt. Spend your $ on an excavator that understands drainage! Making something " higher" doesn't work because the water is still running that direction .
Edited by barrelhaybroker 2015-06-06 1:52 PM
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"Heck's Coming With Me"
Posts: 10794
Location: Kansas | While I curse the stickers and weeds that love to grow in sandy soil, we don't even know what muddy boots or dirty, muddy horses are. There's a lot to be said for sand.
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 A Gopher's Worst Nightmare
Posts: 5094
Location: Southern Oregon | Sand and ground protection mats. Google them they are pretty neat
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Frodo - 2015-06-06 2:02 PM While I curse the stickers and weeds that love to grow in sandy soil, we don't even know what muddy boots or dirty, muddy horses are. There's a lot to be said for sand.
Ditto, never have nasty muddy horses either, the sandy soil is a great plus.  |
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How do you keep dry lots in good shape?