Upgrading our paddocks

After a couple of years of heavy use our run-in paddocks were looking somewhat worse for wear. Nearly a foot of cedar hogs fuel had packed down to just a few inches and despite several top-ups it was now all soggy. The protective barrier between it and the soil beneath had also been punctured by horses digging in their paddocks and it was generally getting hard to maintain.

The cheap option would have been to just drag the old hogs fuel out and put new hogs fuel in, but we decided instead to create a more permanent solution to the problem of keeping our run-ins in good shape and keeping our horses feet dry all winter.

We found a local supplier for Hit-grid, a hi-tech plastic mesh grid and bought 1,000 sq ft. This forms a stable barrier that horses will not sink into. It is similar to some of the various geotextile plastic mesh grids used to build grassed over fire roads around some buildings. Having used a similar product before next to a driveway to create a mud-free grass area on which people can park all year round we had some familiarity with the concept.

After framing the area with raised railroad ties a 4-6" layer of 5/8" minus washed gravel was placed inside and levelled. To stop the railroad ties from drifting over time they were anchored to the ground using three foot long sections of rebar hammered through a tight hole into the soil beneath. The gravel was levelled in all directions using a long board to scrape the high points down and to find the low points that needed more gravel. After that a layer of filter fabric was placed over it to stop organic material from getting in to the gravel over time.

Next the hit-grid was snapped into place on top. No anchors were used as the weight of the grid and material on it should be more than sufficient to stop it from moving about.

We were advised to use sand on the grid but decided against it (can be bad for horses to ingest it, can cause scratches if not kept really clean, ...) and instead put hogsfuel back down. A much thinner layer was needed as the grid now provides all of the support and the gravel underneath provides drainage.

And now we just need to wait to see how it fares through the winter ...