Getting rid of mud

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
In the spring we had a big oak tree come down at the yard, then also felled another one as it was rotting and decided to chip them in my corral. It was lovely to start with
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But with rain and warm weather it soon rotted into nasty muck, fetlock deep in places
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So today I had a digger in to sort it as I was fed up of slopping through it and jess hated going in there too
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It doesn't look loads better but it is, all the stuff that was holding the water is now gone and we are back down to pretty solid sand, at least that drains quickly if we do have tons of rain :) I also put rubber mats just outside the stable so even if its bad they have a dry area :) its nice to be rid of it.
We had a very productive day, also fixed fences and replaced a rotten old gate post, and generally pottered about in the positively spring like weather :D
 
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Oh you did have a productive day!! Glad it was warm. Are you going to leave it as is or will you put down more sand?

I was pricing round pen kits earlier and debating what to put down for the footing in there.
 
I'm going to see how we go, I debated Road plannings to give us a hard standing area but they cant get an 8 wheel lorry in the property due to the access. So long as it doesn't end up a pond every time it rains im happy without.
 
I was pricing round pen kits earlier and debating what to put down for the footing in there.

Don't plant grass in it!!!
I did that with mine and the temptation of grass does make it harder sometimes
I also have some permanent obstacles in there ( a couple of tire pedistools) and a big heavy
antique farm tractor tire step thru that can make things harder at times too.
 
This is what happens here, the digger goes in and scrapes the excess.
You could put in a ditch if it's on a slight incline anywhere. We have a ditch and excess water just goes in it leaving us with a nice area without much mud to walk.
 
I think i'm going to do a bed of gravel then sand on top. That's what I saw recommended somewhere.
 
A ditch is unlikely to help us, we are on the river bank, the fields cant be built on because its the flood pan. It normally drains really well but the woodchip was holding the water, now its back to sand it will dry in a dry 48 hours even after a week of torrential rain.
 
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