Experiment with flooring

Our land is rented and is in a heavily regulated area. So a 'proper' gravel, hard core etc track is out. But I do want to do some passive conditioning with the girls if I can. So we are having a go at solving two problems at once. The other problem is the field shelter's dirt floor is permanently sodden.

This is Madam trying out the new ballast floor (mix of sand and shingle). She looks happy enough, but then she will always pose for a camera.

OH dug the dirt floor out, put a slope on it and lined it with a permeable membrane and put in a drain. The we put a ton of ballast on top. All hand barrowed by yours truly (who said barefoot was easy.......).

So far it is working well. The floor is no longer wet and the girls feet are benefiting from the passive conditioning. I was worried about it getting stinky, but we clean it out daily and if one of the girls pees on it we slosh it with dilute disinfectant.

And a big plus is our landlord has agreed to us doing a discrete area outside the field shelter too.

The downside is at the moment only one horse can be conditioned at a time, because Madam doesn't do sharing and even though the shelter is just about big enough for two, she won't let the Grey in.