On Friday, I had 10 yards of graded base and 14 yards of stone dust delivered.
Earlier this summer, I had a run-in shed built. Originally, I had decided to build the shed so I could have Jeeves and Lance go out overnight and stay in their stalls during the day. Jeeves is especially bothered by the heat and bugs. So, this was ideal for him. He was much happier being in his stall during the day, with minimal bugs, and out in the cooler temps overnight with his buddy. They both did really well this summer and I'm very happy about that.
Then, my friend needed a place to keep her fillies, so we figured they could come here and spend days outside while the boys were in and then spend the nights in the Jeeves's stall while he was out. This was working fine until Cara coliced. :-( Best guess we came up with was sand colic from the base I used in the shed. I had what's called "gravel" put in, but it's really a very sandy soil and on days we had t-storms forecast, i would put the hay inside the shed. So, Cara was probably getting alot of sand nibbling all the hay. Since the girls are going to be living out there and eating hay and grain out there, this needed to be fixed.
I did some checking and asking around, and the best I came up with was to put down 3" of graded bases, topped with 3" of stone dust. My vet has stone dust in her run-in shed, so I figure if she thinks it's safe, then it should be safe.
All I can say is I'm very glad that I have this tractor. It's a life saver around the farm. But, even with the tractor to move the materials, I still had to rake and shovel to even it out. Then, there was the compacting. Ugh!
Last night, I could barely walk up right. Everything from my feet to my hands hurt. But, hopefully, the shed is now a safe place for the girls to live. Just in case, we're still going to feed them psyllium, to keep any sand moving through their gut.
What do any of you with horses in run-in sheds have for footing? Do you bed the shed? I wasn't planning on it, but now I'm wondering what do I do about the wet spots? I'll be digging up all this stone dust and will have to replace it every week. :-( Why aren't things simpler? Sigh.
Oh, and does anyone need any stone dust? I bought waaay too much stone dust. I think I have over half of it left and now will be spending a day moving it from the driveway to the behind the riding ring where it will be out of the way. At least I have plenty left for patches. :-)
6 comments:
The weather this weekend was great wasn't it? Glad you got lots of work done.
We have a few run-in sheds too. The one the boys use in their big paddock just has a dirt floor, they only use it if it's raining or to go in and play clubhouse. The two girls now live outside and their sheds have rubber mats and I do use shavings. I also have a hay rack in the paddock to keep as much of it off the ground as possible. They snack on that when the mood hits them. In their stalls I put up hay nets with small holes to keep them busy and save on some mess. Hope that helps a bit.
Hi, Ann... just popped over to visit and I am really enjoying reading your posts - Jeeves reminds me of Keil Bay, and the story of you finding him and regaining your confidence with him is very familiar.
I hope the bump continues to decrease. It is hard not to know exactly what's up, but otoh, sometimes too much information is equally hard.
Thanks for your good thoughts for Rafer.
I also have some run in sheds. They are just dirt floors. I have never bothered to bed them. My boys are so clean in them that I never have any wet spots. The girls, however, are another story. I do have rubber mats for them to eat off of. I rake out whatever wet spots, and then every once in a while I fill in with lime. It helps with the odor and is cheap and easy.
Glad to read that you and Jeeves are on the mend.
I covet your tractor...and I love the way the ground really slopes away from the run-in. Smart move.
I have dirt floors in my stalls - it's so dry out here and the dirt is very absorbent, so there are no wet spots to worry about. When I am feeding hay, I put it in deep stock tanks or tubs on top of stall mats, to prevent the boys picking up too much dirt when they toss it out of the tubs to eat it.
Hope you've recovered from your earth-moving experience by now.
I have no shed/gravel/stone advice, but I have SERIOUS tractor envy!!
I have farmette envy!
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