# Poor drainage in paddock



## JohnnyMule (Nov 8, 2015)

Looking for some advice on a quick fix for the drainage issues I'm having in my paddock.
Recently moved to the property, and what I thought was a great place for a paddock turns into a pool during heavy rains. 
I can't move the paddock until the spring, and don't want his feet ruined, nor the paddock to turn into a skating rink here soon. I did try digging some ditches to divert the water and adding some drainage pipe underground, but was only able to fix a small section by doing so. 
I was considering getting a few loads of rocky fill, but am worried that it will instead turn the paddock into a mud whole- which is not much better. 
Any tips on what I can do to tide me over until spring?


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

I put my sheep and donkeys on the septic field. You could use portable electric fencing to create a new paddock over the septic field (if the ground is not frozen hard). Otherwise, you can put down lots of straw to help soak up the water. LOTS of straw.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Putting large livestock on the septic field is a terrible idea. They will compact the soil which reduces the field's ability to absorb the liquids from the septic system. Also, if there's any chance the animals will create mud, that is even worse for the life of the septic field.


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## JohnnyMule (Nov 8, 2015)

The only livestock I'll allow on my septic field is the goats for a few hours a week to eat the grass/weeds. Got enough problems with this house as it is, don't need to add re-doing the septic field to the list


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

I think the worst place to keep horses would be a rocky swamp. Nix on the stone addition. Sole bruises are awful.
A solution is dependent on climate.
Where I'm at, it'll soon be frozen and straw and snow will work until spring, mid April. If you are somewhere warmer, there is no cheap easy fix.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Fill it in with sand


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## JohnnyMule (Nov 8, 2015)

It's going to be pretty frozen here soon as we have some harsh winters, but right now we're still in hurricane season and everywhere is a soggy mess ( day three of a storm right now actually). 
Think my best bet is the straw idea once it freezes over. Don't really want to add tons of gravel or sand as I was planning to use this location as my garden area once the other pastures are done and definitely don't was nicks and bruises from the fill. 
I did lay down a few boards of plywood today to help for a bit and he seemed to appreciate a nice, dry area. 
I'm just worried about all that water damaging his feet.


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## RLStewart (Sep 10, 2006)

Our property is wet and there really is no easy fix. We've tiled and graveled and ditched, etc. Our biggest problem from the wet isn't usually feet but "scratches" from too much standing in mud.  I make sure that they get to come in everyday long enough to dry out and take a nap in a bedded stall. Most of the time it seems to bother me more than it bothers them. I keep a close eye on their legs to make sure they aren't developing issues and if they do I use baby/diaper ointment to slow it down.


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Can you get chips from a tree service, just leave in piles. Level when you make garden and work them into the soil....James


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## JohnnyMule (Nov 8, 2015)

Wood chips are a great idea! Thank you . 
Luckily there is not too much mud yet (a few inches around the high traffic areas). But there is plenty of standing water that is up to a foot deep and covers over half of the paddock. 
He has a run in shelter that is dry and raised off the ground, but the rotten bugger barely uses it and prefers to stay outside even in torrential downpours . 
Thanks for all the help everyone.


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## bobp (Mar 4, 2014)

You could sub soil the area. Either with a tractor or with a dozer. Have a dozer with rippers come in and give the paddock a sub surface drain away from the area. However you must have somewhere for it to go. If its standing a foot deep you may not have that option? 

Also if you have a stall you could simply keep him up till spring?

Maybe board the animal until you have a solution.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

JohnnyMule said:


> Wood chips are a great idea! Thank you .
> Luckily there is not too much mud yet (a few inches around the high traffic areas). But there is plenty of standing water that is up to a foot deep and covers over half of the paddock.
> He has a run in shelter that is dry and raised off the ground, but the rotten bugger barely uses it and prefers to stay outside even in torrential downpours .
> Thanks for all the help everyone.


To keep from having some nasty hoof issues (speaking from experience after a very wet spring and summer and now a wet fall), you need to get him more interested in the run in so his hooves have a chance to dry out every day. Maybe out a swing gate on it that you can close, give him a flake of hay or a bucket of feed in the run in so he will not be unhappy there. Put shavings down, or my preference of pelleted pine that absorbs better. I pick hooves daily to get the mud and much out and still have had issues. You DON'T want to start with hoof issues!!


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

It would help to know the terrain around the paddock. Is it a naturally low area? Is there any direction where the paddock can drain?


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Dad always kept one horse up in the winter. The old dairy barn had concrete floor so he laid 2" boards on top of 3 railroad ties set on the concrete, built a bunk from heavy lumber in front. Nailed an old horse shoe to the crib to tie the horse to. Stall was about 6' wide and just long enough for him to stand in. He always backed up to go to the bathroom, stall stayed clean. Only bedding was what hay he pulled out onto the floor. Nice window out front for him to see out and open for fresh air. He was used everyday to pull the feed sled, 2 wood runners, 3 cross pieces and an old 4' oval metal water tank bolted down, to feed the sheep cattle and other horses, hay bales and silage....James


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

Put his hay where you want him to be.


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## JohnnyMule (Nov 8, 2015)

This is all wonderful advice. 
It's my first time keeping him at home, so all this pasture management is new to me. 

I did shut him in the shelter last night, and expected him to have a meltdown, but he did quite well. I think I'll start shutting him in every night until the ground freezes over so he can at least dry off for a bit, and get a good rest- he was flat out snoring when I went to let him out .

I do pick feet every day/ check legs, and have been putting thrush buster on once a week as a preventative.

As for the paddock's terrain, the area is flat and at the highest point of the property, but has quite a few low areas where the water collects (the property is not well graded). Where I plan to move him in the spring is sloped and well drained, so at least I won't have standing water issues then. There is an old stream bed on the property which leads to a shallow pond at the back, so come spring I plan to grade the property so the stream bed will collect and divert the rainwater down to the pond. 
I could extend the current paddock to include the dry, sloped area but would have to use the trees as fence posts until spring and I'm worried that will damage the trees. 

Plenty of options here- thank you all very much


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## DisasterCupcake (Jan 3, 2015)

If you don't fill it at all and keep the horse on it as it freezes, you will end up with a chunky ice field. <-- this does not sound good but is actually not all that bad. The ice will not be slippery, but it will be hard and big gobs of it will jut in every direction, a twisted hock or pastern just waiting to happen. You can then go out and pulverize it into small enough stone sized chunks that it just acts like gravel. 

Not sure how cold your winters are- this requires a pretty hard freeze for most of the winter to work.


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## JohnnyMule (Nov 8, 2015)

DisasterCupcake said:


> If you don't fill it at all and keep the horse on it as it freezes, you will end up with a chunky ice field. <-- this does not sound good but is actually not all that bad. The ice will not be slippery, but it will be hard and big gobs of it will jut in every direction, a twisted hock or pastern just waiting to happen. You can then go out and pulverize it into small enough stone sized chunks that it just acts like gravel.
> 
> Not sure how cold your winters are- this requires a pretty hard freeze for most of the winter to work.


Thanks for the tip. I have a beautiful sledge hammer that would work wonderfully for this (and it sounds like lots of fun) .
The weather turned cold yesterday (only -10C), so the paddock is now nice and crunchy. Once the puddles freeze over completely I'll throw down some straw and such so it's not too slippery. 
Winters here are usually quite cold, with plenty of snow. Last year we ended up with a bit more snow than usual (some people had their houses buried and needed to dig tunnels to get outside- which was actually a lot of fun!), and temps are normally in the -20 to -40C range. Really hoping we don't get as much snow this year, as last year there were quite a few loose horses as they were able to just step over the fences :happy2:
Love Canadian Winters!!


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## ElkMeadowRoad (Jan 10, 2016)

Has anyone tried putting french drains inside the paddock? We have the same pooling problem and were thinking about installing buried drainage???


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

Not quite certain what French drains are but at our old place we had a low spot about 10 feet from their lean-to entry that held water pretty bad. We buried a field tile and it helped tremendously.


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## ElkMeadowRoad (Jan 10, 2016)

Teej--French drain and field tile or drain tile are all practically the same. Glad to know it worked for you, that's my plan this summer!


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I've heard the term a lot but never bothered to go look it up.


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## susanneb (Feb 17, 2005)

Anything biodegradable, like wood chips, will break down and make matters even worse -- plus you would have to be absolutely certain the wood was not harmful to horses.

While not a cheap solution, the one horse owners in the soggy northwest swear by is geotextile fabric, as they use under roads and driveways, covered by about 4-5 inches of gravel (semi-rounded is best). Then clean up manure daily (or at least regularly). One downside: my ponies love to roll in it, so they end up grey.


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## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

JohnnyMule said:


> It's going to be pretty frozen here soon as we have some harsh winters, but right now we're still in hurricane season and everywhere is a soggy mess ( day three of a storm right now actually).
> Think my best bet is the straw idea once it freezes over. Don't really want to add tons of gravel or sand as I was planning to use this location as my garden area once the other pastures are done and definitely don't was nicks and bruises from the fill.
> I did lay down a few boards of plywood today to help for a bit and he seemed to appreciate a nice, dry area.
> I'm just worried about all that water damaging his feet.


If you are planning on using the area for a garden you will have the same soggy problem. Adding a few truckloads of sand will improve both worlds of paddock and garden. Also remember that horse manure will eat up all available nitrogen in the soil so do soil tests before planting a garden there.


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## TroyT (Jun 24, 2008)

We have horses that have feathered feet, and keeping them clean and as dry as possible is a priority for us as they tend to get scratches. We live in western Washington state where is rains constantly during the winter. We put a product called Hoof Grid down in the paddocks, gates, and water tanks and have had no mud problems since. BTW: I don't work for or sell Hoof Grid. It's not cheap but it works and it's a one time fix. It even prevents horses from digging holes in their paddocks.


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## aoconnor1 (Jun 19, 2014)

TroyT, I also like the HoofGrid product and will be using it in my barn stalls once our barn is finished.


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## TroyT (Jun 24, 2008)

At least HoofGrid is made in the USA now. It was imported with we first started using it. The only problem is the US made product will not connect to the imported version. I also wish it was less expensive.


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