Muddy Horse wrote:
Hello -

I've got a problem with the soil outside a stable getting eroded by the
horses.
Originally the concrete ramp in the pictures below was level with the field,
but 15 years of horses walking through mud has create a large muddy hole
(about 3 metres square). It's difficult for the horses to get in and out of
the stable. So far, we have the following ideas:

1) Fill the hole in with compacted soil. Presumably this would have to be
repeated every few years.
2) Extend the concrete ramp with more concrete. This might be hard work if
DIYed, and expensive if done professionally. Any ideas on how the ramp
should be constructed?
3) Filling the hole with gravel or similar is not acceptable, because it
would injure the horses' feet.
4) Constructing a ramp from wooden sleepers might work, but slipperiness
would be a problem.

Any comments on these ideas, or better ones?


This is exactly where MOT type 1 limestone will work.

Fill the hole with that, and smash it down as best you can. Then put
soil over the top.

If the horses dont mash it too much, grass will grow, Think ;'chalk downs'

If the horses do mash it down., it will end us as an eroded pathway -
think 'bridleway on chalk downs'.

MOT type 1 is marvellous stuff. It is free draining, , it compresses to
a permanent layer, and with soil on top, grass likes to grow on it.

every time I have a hollow place which is muddy and boggy, a layer of it
works wonders.

Even down to where the lorries use my front drive and adjacent verge as
a passing place: the wheel tracks got filled with it, and now grass
grows and the wheels don't sink in.

The stables round here us it a lot too, fir similar reasons to yours.


http://i39.tinypic.com/15cyj6d.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2nrq4xh.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/34jf6df.jpg

Thanks