what to put outside of stall?

[Hillary_Indiana]

Hey guys,

Our horses has free access to their stalls all day...we've had a problem though with the entrance to the stall getting mucky. What do you all reccommend putting outside of the stalls? The rest of the ground is fine...it's just the 6 ft radius around the entrance. I didn't know whether we should just have dirt dumped there and try to pack it down with the tractor or if it would just get mucky again. Any suggestions??

Thanks!
Hillary

 

[born2run]

Both gravel or ag lime would be an option for you. I've used gravel in my run-in shed, in fact, need some more in there right now. Ag lime packs hard but is less tough on horses' feet than concrete.

 

[msscamp]

Hey guys,

Our horses has free access to their stalls all day...we've had a problem though with the entrance to the stall getting mucky. What do you all reccommend putting outside of the stalls? The rest of the ground is fine...it's just the 6 ft radius around the entrance. I didn't know whether we should just have dirt dumped there and try to pack it down with the tractor or if it would just get mucky again. Any suggestions??

Thanks!
Hillary

We had the same problem, and solved it by putting a 4-5' concrete 'apron' in front of the outside stall doors. You might also be able to lay a 4-6" bed of gravel or possibly sand and use a stall mat. The mat would probably have to be anchored somehow to keep it from 'walking', but it would probably work. Hope this helps.

 

[Hillary_Indiana]

We actually do have an apron outside of the barn, it's about 3 ft. of concrete, but it's right before the concrete that has gotten so mucky.

I am kind of hesitant to use gravel because a couple of our horses have deep hoofbeds and I'm afraid of gravel getting stuck up in there and poking them.

The lime seems like a good idea but how many inches deep? Should i put anything under or over the lime?

 

[Alan]

You could cover it and use a gutter system to devert the water.

 

[MillIronQH]

It's to bad you're so far from caliche country. They use it for road base in So. Texas and it's everywhere. It's like a combonation of yellow clay and concrete and once it's packs down it dern near takes a jack hammer and dynamite to move it. Not the kind of stuff you want to have to dig postholes in.Z

 

[ALACOWMAN]

It's to bad you're so far from caliche country. They use it for road base in So. Texas and it's everywhere. It's like a combonation of yellow clay and concrete and once it's packs down it dern near takes a jack hammer and dynamite to move it. Not the kind of stuff you want to have to dig postholes in.Z

sounds like good ol alabama chirt. works great as a base but will come apart with a good freeze and thaw and make a mess. crusher run gravel packs down great and stays that way

 

[MrGale]

try this stuff called crush and run....very small rock flake and rock dust mix. it is uaed on driveways here a lot because it packs down hard as anything with some rain on it and it is much stiffer than the dirt under it. we have it in a barn that had your problem and it went away....the water drains out under the crush and run and the donks stay nice and dry....nothing big enough to stick into anything....you can get it at any gravel dealer...

 

[J]

Till up the area about 4-6 inches deep, dump some lime or portland cement on top and re-till, mixing it up real good. Wet it, pack it and let it dry. Both lime and cement stabilized bases work good for road beds and this is basically how it is achieved. After you mix & pack it, it will be lower in elevation than when you started so you'll probably have to bring in some more material. Pea gravel might be a good choice here but if your worried about it getting in their hooves then maybe just some more dirt would work. Now would be the time to build it up some to drain.


good luck.

 

[rngr]

I put lime in my runs. I guess it was ag lime not sure. But it worked great. I blade the runs out and the blade runs right on top of it. Almost like concrete.