# Yard surfaces - does anyone have any cheap/ingenious ideas?



## {97702} (22 October 2012)

The livery yard I am on is a classic U shape of stables around a central yard area, with wooden post and rail fencing along the 'open' side of the U facing over the outdoor school.

There is a concrete pathway all around the U shape in front of the stables, but the centre of the yard is hard standing which has now turned into a mud bath  

I am told that concreting this area would be too expensive, as the hard standing would need to be dug out and it is VERY hard.  They have tried pea gravel over the central area and apparently it didnt work (got everywhere, impossible to sweep etc).

Does anyone have any bright ideas about what the yard manager could put over the hard-standing to cover the mud up?  Granted it isnt helped by those liveries who tie their horses up on the yard, when said horses then proceed to paw the ground and fidget around constantly for the next 20 minutes   Thank god mine doesnt do that, he stands still


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## glamourpuss (23 October 2012)

I've got a grass area that I'm turning into an area to park my horsebox on. What I've done is clear the topsoil right back, until I've reached a firm sub base. Placed down a Terran membrane to stop mud seeping back through. I've put down a small layer of rubble (it was stuff we had laying around post demolishing something) this has been compacted down. I'm now just waiting a delivery of road planings. Again these will be well compacted down.
Might be worth thinking about for your area


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## glamourpuss (23 October 2012)

*Terram membrane


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## Polotash (23 October 2012)

Road planings are great, and cheap!


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## Lark (23 October 2012)

A very good system is to use land-grids.
http://landgrid.almalki.de/

We ordered these from Germany to do the outdoor areas for our paddock boxes.
If you scroll down through the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.346468062039275.89400.342922392393842&type=3

You can see how they are put in place.  Very easy.
We filled them with 3mil gravel/quarry dust.


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## MillionDollar (23 October 2012)

Clear the mud, put down terram and then road plainings on top, amazing stuff and very cheap.


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## wench (24 October 2012)

Either that, or try some of this stuff:

http://www.boddingtons-ltd.com/prod.../bodpave-40-grass-pavers-gravel-retention.php

Fairly easy to put down you just need to take off all the mud, put some stone in the bottom, and fill up with soil (and grass seed if desired)


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## CBFan (24 October 2012)

Can't be very hard if it's muddy .... do the horses walk on it? - note that if this is the case, if the horses don't have the mud washed off their feet before walking across it, it will very quickly get muddy again. Maybe a hoof washing area on a concrete pad, outside the main yard area is required - we have this and it keeps the rest of the yard mud-free.

I would suggest scraping off the mud, putting some hardcore down and then either road planings or stone (bigger than gravel / shingle) down - this is what our yard has on it's car park, driveways etc and it looks lovely, and is very long lasting.


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## Twinkley Lights (24 October 2012)

I would say don't concrete everything our previous owner did this and its slippy and shows every blade of hay, goose poop etc.  Spend my life jet washing


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## {97702} (24 October 2012)

CBFan said:



			Can't be very hard if it's muddy .... do the horses walk on it? - note that if this is the case, if the horses don't have the mud washed off their feet before walking across it, it will very quickly get muddy again. Maybe a hoof washing area on a concrete pad, outside the main yard area is required - we have this and it keeps the rest of the yard mud-free.
		
Click to expand...

It is indeed hard, I can vouch for that   As I said in my OP, yes the horses do walk across it (they have to, the concrete path is only around the edge) and are tied up on it.  We always wash off feet before they come across the yard area.

The other problem is that there are three taps, one on each side of the U shape, but when they built the yard and put the taps in they didnt put a drain under each one.....


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## {97702} (24 October 2012)

Thanks for all your replies, they are much appreciated   I spoke to the yard manager tonight (who runs the yard, but does not own it and is not responsible for the "interesting" design problems!) and suggested road planings - she didnt seem that keen, but I will speak to her OH as well and try and get him on board


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## ellietaylor10 (29 October 2012)

We had this problem. We are on clay and so everything ends up covered in red mud. We got the yard part by the stables concreted, and then where the car park is/ tack room we put plainings down- they are great. When it rains they go back to a lovely black colour and looks neat and tidy. They are about £200 a load though but worth it.


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## ellietaylor10 (29 October 2012)

Picklenash said:



			Thanks for all your replies, they are much appreciated   I spoke to the yard manager tonight (who runs the yard, but does not own it and is not responsible for the "interesting" design problems!) and suggested road planings - she didnt seem that keen, but I will speak to her OH as well and try and get him on board 

Click to expand...

If you PM me your email- i'll send you a picture of what they look like when their down. They pack down hard like tarmac. Maybe , if she see's how nice they look, she'll change her mind!


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## ILuvCowparsely (29 October 2012)

Picklenash said:



			The livery yard I am on is a classic U shape of stables around a central yard area, with wooden post and rail fencing along the 'open' side of the U facing over the outdoor school.

There is a concrete pathway all around the U shape in front of the stables, but the centre of the yard is hard standing which has now turned into a mud bath  

I am told that concreting this area would be too expensive, as the hard standing would need to be dug out and it is VERY hard.  They have tried pea gravel over the central area and apparently it didnt work (got everywhere, impossible to sweep etc).

Does anyone have any bright ideas about what the yard manager could put over the hard-standing to cover the mud up?  Granted it isnt helped by those liveries who tie their horses up on the yard, when said horses then proceed to paw the ground and fidget around constantly for the next 20 minutes   Thank god mine doesnt do that, he stands still 

Click to expand...

shingle is a pain in the (*&^% as gravel gets everywhere  as yopu say, imposible to sweep and grass growing .

 At a guess  as don't know size of your area you are saying concrete too. It would be around   £ 13 000

 or this option  or similar 

http://www.duradeckmats.com/heavy-duty-ground-access-mats.php



			I would say don't concrete everything our previous owner did this and its slippy and shows every blade of hay, goose poop etc. Spend my life jet washing
		
Click to expand...

 Leaf blowers are great and quick for cleaning concrete yards.


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## amandaco2 (29 October 2012)

Ooh the duradeck is interesting. How much are they?


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## CBFan (30 October 2012)

Picklenash said:



			It is indeed hard, I can vouch for that   As I said in my OP, yes the horses do walk across it (they have to, the concrete path is only around the edge) and are tied up on it.  We always wash off feet before they come across the yard area.

The other problem is that there are three taps, one on each side of the U shape, but when they built the yard and put the taps in they didnt put a drain under each one.....

Click to expand...

Sorry, it wasnt clear in your OP that the horses walk over it....Do they have to? what's wrong with walking on the concrete path?  

I am constantly dumbfounded by the number of yards with inadequate drainage installed. perhaps any money would be better spent digging soakaway trenches across the central bit and either laying pipes or filling with pourous material?


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