Since moving to the farm, I've ridden twice; it's been raining. Our property, while still making both my husband and I very happy, is... wetter than we were expecting. After reading about Stephanie's process when she bought her place, we pulled up the soil maps on our place before we bought it - it seemed manageable:
A lot if it can be attributed to the previous owners, who appear to have removed no horse poop, and also built a barn in possibly the stupidest area of the property and threw off the natural flow of water across the land. The image doesn't show it well, but on other satelite images, you can see the area of wet- it spans from the wetland closest to the bottom left of the above photo, to the arena pond, across where the barn is to the house pond. It wants to flow, and it does; the arena pond seems to be generally overflowing, so rain sends it draining down the slightest of hills vaguely towards the house pond. Boggy paddocks packed with organic matter, combined with those humps of unpacked, grassy ground that form under the fences when you have horses in sacrifice areas means that water doesn't flow well - it sits on top of the heavy, packed clay and makes the aforementioned boot-and-hoof-eating area.
So, after a whirlwind barn project a few weekends ago, we embark, this memorial weekend, on a water control adventure. We've rented a trencher, purchased drain pipe (with sock!), gravel and sand... and this weekend, we're digging trenches and laying french drain. It's going to be exhausting. Goodbye, money, it's been nice knowing you. In passing. As you left my account. We also purchased stall mats, because one project in the works isn't enough. We've slowly been moving dirt and trying to level the stalls (though Bailey's is going to be a game time level, as she's been stall walking and ruining any attempts thus far) and hopefully can start moving mats soon. I'd love to bring the donkey home, put everyone in stalls for the night, and let the girls dry out.
Farm ownership - and doing it right, the first time - is expensive, ya'all! But After a week and a half of mud and probably scarring two pairs of river boots in ways they may never recover from... it's time for a fix. Preferably before my horses get infested with thrush.
... Did I mention we're also planning to redo/move ~90% of the fence? Because we're going to do that, too.
Send coffee and patience, please!
T—Hayden fine sandy loam, 2 to 7 percent slopes
Properties and qualities
- Slope: 2 to 7 percent
- Depth to restrictive feature: More than 80 inches
- Natural drainage class: Moderately well drained
- Capacity of the most limiting layer to transmit water (Ksat):Moderately low to moderately high (0.14 to 0.57 in/hr)
- Depth to water table: About 36 inches
- Frequency of flooding: None
- Frequency of ponding: None
- Calcium carbonate, maximum in profile: 10 percent
- Available water storage in profile: Moderate (about 8.9 inches)
Ys—Ames fine sandy loam
roperties and qualities
- Slope: 0 to 2 percent
- Depth to restrictive feature: More than 80 inches
- Natural drainage class: Somewhat poorly drained
- Capacity of the most limiting layer to transmit water (Ksat):Moderately low to high (0.14 to 1.98 in/hr)
- Depth to water table: About 17 inches
- Frequency of flooding: None
- Frequency of ponding: None
- Calcium carbonate, maximum in profile: 10 percent
- Available water storage in profile: Moderate (about 8.7 inches)
A lot if it can be attributed to the previous owners, who appear to have removed no horse poop, and also built a barn in possibly the stupidest area of the property and threw off the natural flow of water across the land. The image doesn't show it well, but on other satelite images, you can see the area of wet- it spans from the wetland closest to the bottom left of the above photo, to the arena pond, across where the barn is to the house pond. It wants to flow, and it does; the arena pond seems to be generally overflowing, so rain sends it draining down the slightest of hills vaguely towards the house pond. Boggy paddocks packed with organic matter, combined with those humps of unpacked, grassy ground that form under the fences when you have horses in sacrifice areas means that water doesn't flow well - it sits on top of the heavy, packed clay and makes the aforementioned boot-and-hoof-eating area.
So, after a whirlwind barn project a few weekends ago, we embark, this memorial weekend, on a water control adventure. We've rented a trencher, purchased drain pipe (with sock!), gravel and sand... and this weekend, we're digging trenches and laying french drain. It's going to be exhausting. Goodbye, money, it's been nice knowing you. In passing. As you left my account. We also purchased stall mats, because one project in the works isn't enough. We've slowly been moving dirt and trying to level the stalls (though Bailey's is going to be a game time level, as she's been stall walking and ruining any attempts thus far) and hopefully can start moving mats soon. I'd love to bring the donkey home, put everyone in stalls for the night, and let the girls dry out.
Farm ownership - and doing it right, the first time - is expensive, ya'all! But After a week and a half of mud and probably scarring two pairs of river boots in ways they may never recover from... it's time for a fix. Preferably before my horses get infested with thrush.
... Did I mention we're also planning to redo/move ~90% of the fence? Because we're going to do that, too.
Send coffee and patience, please!
oy, farm property ownership is definitely not for the weak of heart!! good luck with the water and drainage. we had some issues with erosion and whatnot at my last barn and it's a real drag... but mitigation efforts definitely work!
ReplyDeleteI am so behind getting back to comments, but this made me laugh. Oy indeed!
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