Sun 1st November
S&B have been at the house paddocks for 4 days now, they came up the day before the farrier came to trim their hooves and have stayed up a bit longer as Mark and I had a job to do in the big field…
The mud outside the shelter has, over the years, become worse and worse. We put down rubber mats, doubling them up last year BUT they just haven’t done the trick and the mud has been slippery on the top making it a bit worrying if S&B trot in or out of the shelter. SO, we bit the bullet and bought more Mud Control Mats. These mats are hard recyled plastic, they slot together at the sides and take huge weights in muddy conditions. We bought 4 lines of them before (put outwith the rubber matting) and they’ve been fantastic, grass now growing through them and very stable (but not cheap at all but worth it) 😉
The mud was awful. The old rubber mats were hard to get up as the old ones were deteriorating and all were mud laden ;( We bought 100 new Mud Control mats…
The hardest part was cleaning the edge of the old mats (ones on the right with grass in them) to allow the new mats to be connected correctly into them. Exhausting, on your knees work…but we did it 😉
The last pic is of the sides filled with cut up bits of old rubber mats and covered with sharp sand. We relocated some of the newer old mats to the sides of the new mud control area.
I was over the moon to know my calculations of mats was correct and that they fitted into the area between the shelter and older mats…phew, that could have been a disaster ;( 😉 lol.
SO, now the heavy work has been done dearest S&B can go home to their big field and their new, improved, shelter opening 😉
Ready for a hack back to the big field with S&B and Mark 😉
It has been a beautifully sunny day and S&B were quite fresh and eager to be back in their big field
Sunshine, horses and hubby….what more could I need or want 💖
Getting back to the big field and Ms Bella could almost not contain herself and got quite excited SO I quickly jumped off and led her down the field to keep her feet on the ground and myself safe (I dont’ bounce like I used to and leading her keeps our connection grounded) 🙂
Mark and Stormy just rode over the new mud control area…no problems.
As I was leading Bella I just familiarised her to the new mats with her following me for confidence.
Stormy made himself quite at home with his usual roll to get all muddy 😉 lol
- Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk