Every horse person who lives in Minnesota knows
that with the arrival of spring comes the thaw and mud season. We’ve been lucky this year that snow
accumulations were relatively low this winter and we had a dry first couple of
weeks of warmer temperatures. This
allowed the ground to dry out remarkably quickly thus far. Although the forecast today calls for 3-6
inches of snow with more rain predicted for the week to come, the fact that the
ground has dried out already probably means that the usual boot-sucking mud
won’t happen this year. Not that any of
us miss mud that comes up to your knees and pulls your boots right off!
It does beg the question: what can horse property owners do
to prevent mud in their horse pastures?
Here are some tips:
1) Don’t over-crowd horse paddocks/pastures. When over-crowding happens, horses eat away
all of the grass and without the roots to stabilize the ground and soak up
excess moisture, the ground is susceptible to erosion. Horses are ½ ton animals
and all that weight plunges right through soft ground. They do prefer to stand in drier areas if
available to them.
2) Put gravel or sand at high-traffic areas
like by the gate, water trough, shelter, and hay feeder. Horses often stand at the gate when they
think it’s time to come in for grain or to go in for the night. They also may spend hours standing at the hay
feeder or in the shelter and they’ll have to get to the water. Placing sand or gravel in these areas helps
them to drain off excess water.
3) Remove manure as often as possible. Did
you know that each horse contributes 50 lbs of manure a day? Organic matter
contributes to mud – not to mention the ick factor when you have to plunge
through the slop to catch your horse! If
you can’t pick up manure every few days in your paddocks, at least arrange to
have your paddocks scraped by a Bobcat once the ground dries in the spring and
as needed over the summer/fall.
4) Prepare a sacrifice area. If possible, protect your grass areas from
your horses when conditions are soft and wet by keeping horses in other
paddocks during that time. Often these
areas are called sacrifice areas because they are expected to be a bit muddier
due to being a smaller area in order to keep horses off of the grass
pasture.
5) Assist run-off system to send water away
from your horses’ feet. Install a channel in the ground or angle the ground
to direct water away from high-traffic zones. Make sure your buildings,
gutters, and drain pipes direct water to low-traffic zones and if possible to
vegetation areas. You could even install a rain garden with horse-safe wildflowers,
shrubs, or small trees to catch water.
Mud doesn’t have to plague horse
owners every spring! Take steps today to
make your horse property mud free!
Interested in buying or selling your horse property in the Twin Cities metro area? Contact Donvain at www.donavin.com
