Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Minimize mud by wearing boots?

My Equus magazine came yesterday and my man teased me, "Is it a flyer still or a real magazine again?" I looked to see if the words fit on the "binding" and they don't, the magazine is too thin, so I said, "Flyer."

I was excited to see an article about mud management. My man and I read it together because he is curious what Equus has to say. And I admit, I'm a bit of a mud expert cuz I'm from the wet side of the mountains and live in the We(s)t Germany.

Where I'm from we have 50 different words, based on type, for mud. I mean rain *lol*!

The first thing I thought as I looked the article's picture - this has to have been written by Horses for Clean Water. Because when I did my mud management research when we bought this place, I kept running into information from this agency. They are the Pacific Northwest's agency for environmentally sensitive horsekeeping. Some farms near Seattle who have incorporated their protocols into their property and have the little HCW sign in their pastures to assure the neighborhood of their efforts.

The article has 8 ways to reduce mud on your horse property. My man read them and said, "At least 6 of them are Quatsch!" (BS) I asked him why. Here is what he said....

1.) Minimize mud by choosing a good location. Well how many of us have the option to move our paddocks? Perhaps some of us. Or, perhaps she means we should buy a different horse property with a better location for a paddock. Reasonable, maybe.

2.) Minimize mud by stocking lightly. Try to allot one paddock per horse. Is this feasible for most horse owners? How many farm owners have extra paddocks to space out our horses on? How many horse owners would reduce herdsize for the benefit of less mud? I imagine this one is for boarding stables - cutting back your numbers of boarders. Is that a reasonable incentive for barn owners to cut their income - less mud?

3.) Minimize mud by providing ample room. This is another tip that, to us, implies that you should sell your home and move somewhere with more acreage. Is that possible for most of us?

4.) Minimize mud by picking up manure regularly. What? My mud would scale back if I cleaned up my manure even faster? I wanna see that! I have not noticed more or less mud depending on if I miss a day picking up manure. Sure, manurey mud is worse for the environment than clean mud, but I don't think your amount of mud changes based on how much poop is around.

5.) Minimize mud by creating safe footing. Oh yes! Finally, a good mud minimizing tip! But wait, the author doesn't go into detail here about how to install gravel or wood chips or sand in a way that makes it longer lasting ---- landscape fabric under your (gravel) footing slows its disappearance. You also want layers, coarser rock underneath. And french drains. And borders to help contain the footing as much as possible. She mentions concrete as a safe footing for feeding areas, with the warning that horses shouldn't spend too much time on it. Well, where does she think horses will spend most of their time if their feeder is on concrete?

6.) Minimize mud by installing a runoff system. Good idea, barns should have rain gutters and a drainage system underground. She mentions diverting this water into a vegetation area to filter it...hm, this sounds like the salmon protection agenda....

7.) Minimize mud by planting a vegetative buffer. There's the salmon agenda. I'm also from the Pacific Northwest, and I value our salmon, but this article is about mud management. She says to plant 25 feet of lawn, woods, or wildflowers to filter the water that comes off your horse paddock, so that nearby streams have clean water. We would like to ask her how planting a garden next to our paddock reduces mud in our paddock.

8.) Minimize mud by equipping yourself for efficiency. Invest in ergonomic manure forks and outfit yourself in waterproof clothing. Your boots should have good traction. Give it up, you live in the wrong area. Get some better boots. Haha.


Ah, here it is a mention of fish - in the sidebar! The perils of mud: Scratches (mud fever), West Nile virus, dirt ingestion, thrush, rainrot, abscesses, and many problems for fish and other aquatic life.

I'm not against Horses for Clean Water at all, I just had to laugh when my man found flaws in most of her mud management tips from his 1.5 year experience living in the country.

We have trout, and it is in our best interest to conform to HCW ideals. We don't let our horse get close to the water here, even though half of the creek belongs to us, and I'm sure he'd prefer to drink creek water. (I liked this photo better upside down.)

Oh, one more thing --- it would have been nice if she mentioned geotiles *instead of concrete.* Geotiles do not create runoff problems because they allow water/urine to pass through them. Geotiles are totally salmon friendly. Maybe I should let her know about this option.

14 comments:

juliette said...

Don't get me started on magazines these days. They are all flyers! It is a colorful way to restate the same ideas every month - or every other month. No wonder subscriptions are so cheap now (at least over here in the US). Your water is gorgeous and I think you are way good for not letting Baasha down there - I would be very naughty and let my boys romp and swim and drink there. I couldn't help it, I am afraid. That is so funny that you posted the photo upside down. It does look great!

Sonya said...

love that last pic! ok here is a link to a store online here where u can get some mexican items http://www.mexworld.nl/index.php

You can see the tortilla press..Im tired of rolling them out..lol this is the cheapest place I have found since moving here..they will ship to germany aswell. I dont think I will be close to you. I am heading to Osnabruck..maybe we can get together this summer or something. I shall bring root beer! if you buy root beer extract back home u can make it yourself over here with fizzy water :)

You should grow some pumpkins and make puree with it!

Mrs. Mom said...

I had to giggle Lytha, at the Minimize Mud title... ;) All I could think was "Hmm... wonder if Lytha is still fretting over Keeley kicking off her boots while sitting on her couch?"

EvenSong said...

Actually, Lytha, the "keeping manure picked up" idea is good for *long term* mud management. Think about it: what is it that "dirt" has, that "sand" doesn't? Organic material! That's why I won't add shavings or hog fuel (which can also freeze into nasty pointy pieces) to my arena for footing--eventually it breaks down and makes things muddier. Give me sand (and if I was rich, some of the shaved rubber/fibar stuff), thank you.
I do agree, tho, that quite a few of her ideas are for when one *designs* their horse property. But I have taken some of that into account as I improved my place--sacrifice paddocks and drainage and run-off and such. But I DO love your geotiles--wish I could incorporate them as well.

Unknown said...

Tough times in publishing. I keep hoping they'll hold on because I am not ready for an all pixel world. I don't even care if they are repetitive. I know, I'm pathetic.

I have so much to catch up on - the christmas lights looks wonderful. M favorite part of the year is lights!

Is the roof secured now? It really looks lovely, but I'm now completely intimidated by the process. I better find land with a barn! LOL

lytha said...

Juliette, are subscriptions cheap? *lol* I have no idea! I think you might let your boys romp in the creek, but not our ponds, because they're very deep and I think a horse could easily drown. It's one of my worst fears living here - finding my horse drowned. But he instinctively avoids those ponds because they are so low, in the crevice between two hills. Thanks, that picture makes me dizzy to look at - and why is there algae in the sky!?

Sonya, Thanks for the help. I will bring back some root beer syrup - putting it on my little list now. Osnabrueck is really far away, sad to say.

Mrs Mom, I was fretting over Keeley's muddy boots, and the mud that follows me into my entryway, what I would *hate* to have to refer to as a "mud room"!

Evensong, you're right - manure contributes to mud and makes it a pollutant. I've boarded in places where the manure gets mixed in with deep mud and there is no way on earth to remove it, you just have to sigh and let it go, and hope there are no creeks/ponds around. You said her ideas are for when you plan a property, and that is exactly what my man said tonight - she isn't talking about coping with mud, she's talking about preventing it. But options to deal with it is what most people seek this time of year. I guess I was hoping for this perspective. I don't know if you saw the article, but it had a photo of sawdust/shavings. That is not such a hot idea for fighting mud - it just adds to it. Sand would be awesome, but you and I live in the wrong part of our countries to get cheap sand.

Breathe, they are repetitive, but I don't care either cuz I love to get it in my mailbox every month. And I've been reading it long enough that I'm sick of the repetition, but thankfully Equus has case studies and medical articles that seem to be current. I have to say no, our roof is not yet secure, only half of it. Agh. I had a dream last night it blew away, but it's still there. Also, I must have missed this - are you shopping for your own horse property?!??!

AareneX said...

Oh, wouldn't I just give for unlimited $$$ to buy geotiles. I'd have them *everywhere* (including the kids' bedrooms...)!

We were able to do *some* planning to avoid mud when we moved here, but a lot of what we have now is finance-driven. Hogsfuel does break down...but for 2 or 3 years, it elevates the horses above the mud/water, and it's cheap and readily available here, so I use it (and I want MORE of it, too!).

Theoretically, in 2 or 3 years, we'll have money to to scrape out some of the rotted hogsfuel (it's excellent compost at that point, so we can dump it in the garden) and pour on more gravel and then add some geotiles. At least we've got a heavy gravel base inside the barn-to-be. The ladies at the gravel yard know me by name, now!

You are totally right about geotiles being better than concrete!

White Horse Pilgrim said...

I have good boots and waterprrof clothing so my field shouldn't be muddy!

But on reflection I have a few ideas of my own.

- Buy a horse with big feet so that the weight spreads out further. (OK, being silly here.)

- Buy an elven horse because, like elves, they tread lightly. (Good in theory.)

- Trying to be serious, feed in a different part of the field each day. (At our place the barn help just heaves hay over the gate into the mud.)

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Sounds like the magazine should hire their own writers who write from the horses' point of view instead.
I've always wanted to own a nice pair of mud boots, but there's really no point.
We've lived on our property for over 3 years and I can count on one hand where we've had any mud at all. Between the lack of humidity, the lack of rain, and our rock hard, dry ground, mud doesn't have a chance.

~Lisa

ps Love that reflection photo!


word verif: forketi

A fancy Italian manure fork. lol!

AareneX said...

Hey lytha, I wanna go live with Lisa in the mud-free world.

Wanna come with me?

--Aarene-X in the frozen world...tomorrow's forecast calls for temps up to 40F and MUD AT LAST!!!

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

"You said her ideas are for when you plan a property, and that is exactly what my man said tonight - she isn't talking about coping with mud, she's talking about preventing it."

Those were exactly my thoughts! What, everyone is supposed to go buy a new farm, more acreage or whatever so they can follow the suggestions?? (smacks head with hand - DUH - I think I just did that!!). Anyway, Equus, Practical Horseman and others used to be such great publications. They have really gone on a downhill slide the last few years. I never read Equus anymore but still have my Practical Horseman subscription, I'm trying to be an optimist that they will make it back to their glory days!

allhorsestuff said...

Man, this has been just the thing for fun reading!!
Funniest of titles...and, they make it seem so easy.yea.right.

One Great thing my new barn owners have done (I have to live vicariously through smart property owners, not having my own yet) is plan for less mud ....
by building the stable 200 feet away from the property line...so the stalls all have 150 ft runs.
So, in the wet winters, you know so well, there is a every other day turnout. So out Of 7 fields, 2 are used, to spare the others for spring summer.
Gates are graveled, and the stall paddocks sand.

Well thanks for the post...so far, there's only one place mud free...Lisa's. A miracle of New Mexico.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, hugs!! That reflection pic is fantastically cool

Rising Rainbow said...

The "wet side of the mountains," tee hee! Sounds like another place you used to live.

I know it's our Thanksgiving but thinking of you because it really is your Thanksgiving Day too at heart, I'm guessing.

Funder said...

Oooooh, I hate "solve your problems" articles that don't actually give solutions! Yesterday I read an online piece about how paint is bad for septic systems (duh) and the only solution she gave was "take your paintbrushes to your Mom's if she's on city sewer." Really? That's your advice?

Anyway. Mud. Lisa, did you know that if you neglect your desert sand pasture long enough, you too can have mud? Last winter I boarded with a lady who kept 3-4 horses on 15 acres. But she NEVER picked up poop, or even scraped the pasture down seasonally, so this 50' semicircle around the gate was a 6" deep sea of mud. It was so gross...