Hiya,

Fair enough. Could you put up a field shelter? You don't need PP for =
these
and you could use it as a make-do stable for short periods of time.

We have had one up, but when one of our mares foaled last april, the =
local inteligentsia decided it would be far better to have a bonfire =
with it - you can appreciate my retiscence for doing anything more than =
improving the natural shelter.

Ah well, it's worth it then!

for =A380 a month, its bloody brilliant!

=20
I hadn't realised from your previous post that you were doing a =
'proper'
job, as regards drainage, if you see what I mean (no disrespect meant =
here).
This does, however, seem like an awful lot of work and cost for =
something
that would be quite temporary. I think in a short space of time you =
would
end up with mushy chippings. Most arenas and schools are dug out far =
more
than 6" and have proper land drains installed. Also, with the weight =
of the
horses, the chippings will not stay in place. Arenas are regularly =
levelled
and your setup would need that also.

Its a real toughie - need to do something, even if its high maintenance =
- we feed twice a day so plenty of opportunities to sort out the =
surface, but cant do what is really needed (6" concrete base and =
stables!) because a) landlady won't help out b) parish council are =
opposed to anything building like in the area

We've got 5 pones in total, and they respect electric fencing as much as =
a bluetit respects a milk bottle top - "why am I not being allowed to go =
into that bit? hmm, better investigate"=20

I know the feeling about racking brains - thats why I've opened up the =
forum here ;-)

Road shavings would be ideal (used them before) but again, Planning =
Permission required, and even if we tried to sneak them in, one of the =
ladies that walks past our gate each day is chairman of the Parish =
Council - hence we are pretty clued up as to what we can get away with.

Si