08.18.07
Peastone Gravel and Paddock Paradise Use
After using peastone gravel since last November, I believe it IS helping to maintain our barefoot horses’ hooves (PEASTONE GRAVEL for Barefoot Horses.) Over the winter they went three months without a trim and then didn’t need much taken off. Since spring they have been getting trimmed every two months. We do a small amount of shaping with a rasp in between trims. The two youngsters, who have never worn shoes, have outstanding wide triangular frogs over about one-third of their foot bottoms.
Arabian mare Momma Willy on track… perimeter fence can also be seen next to trees on upper end. The center is reserved for limited controlled grazing.
Two-year-old Glendale, who shows more of the Arabian characteristics of his mother, has hoof walls that are really strong and hard like hers. Brother Gilford at four, who physically looks more like their percheron sire, tends to get hoof flaring and shallow vertical surface cracks. He has also had ongoing issues with splits starting in center toes of his front hooves, which the side flaring perpetuates. We try to keep his breakover rounded aggressively and we also use protective hoof boots (EasyCare Boas) on his front feet when we work him. We have this summer begun a serious diet with him (GRAZING MUZZLE); by keeping his weight down we hope to ease his hoof flaring and splitting issues.
Picking pea gravel frequently is a bit of a challenge, but it needs to be kept clean to remain effective longer. I tried to clean it by hosing it down but that was marginally effective; if I had a high-pressure hose it might be much more useful. As it was, hosing does hugely reduce the urine smell, but it does not really wash out debris, though it does wash it down into the base of the gravel a bit. I found I needed to add a couple inches more new peastone on top of my base in mid-summer.
The peastone has proved VERY useful in gateways which are seasonally muddy; by throwing gravel into the gateways on top of the mud, AND ditching below them for runoff, my gateways now have fairly decent footing instead of becoming sloppy soup whenever it rains a lot. This has helped quite a lot to slow down my mare’s Scratches outbreaks this summer.
All three on track, Willy, Gil (black) and Glendale in the distance. They tend to keep moving along track and often it is clockwise.
The track I made a la Jaime Jackson’s Paddock Paradise (PADDOCK PARADISE POST) has proved a very convenient way to manage the pasture AND give our horse family a bit more exercise. I have the center partitioned into halves which I can rotate the horses through as needed, and the perimeter track is now a hard-packed and useful place for them to self-exercise. There is still enough grass on the track for them to think they are getting something to eat, meanwhile traveling around it at a healthy pace. Frequently they even gallop around it for various reasons of their own, such as getting themselves separated from each other, trying to escape a swarm of bugs, or running back to the barn.
The nature of the perimeter track is such that once they are on it, they HAVE to travel further to get somewhere else OR to get back off of it, such as to get to water or to return to the barn. So if they want to go somewhere in a hurry, they sort of turn into race horses! This is a cool thing to watch!
Willy gallops off track back to barn, followed by Glendale, with Gilford bringing up the rear! Peaches then comes to me after escorting horses to barn.
At least, Glendale and his mom Willy turn into race horses; older brother Gilford has moved to the bottom of their pecking order, being the least energetic and strong-willed of the three, and he always brings up the rear when they take off, usually trotting while Glen and Will gallop off ahead. It is amusing that younger brother Glendale, by the time he was a year and a half, had discovered he could push his big brother around. Now Glen even toys with trying to push his mother around, but mom Willy mare is still his boss when she wants to be, although she will let him gallop in front of her at times– and he can out-gallop her too!
So I will continue to recommend you try out peastone gravel AND a paddock paradise track for your own horses– they have been worth the effort for me, and are paying off in healthier and very happy horses living a more natural lifestyle.
See all the updated blog info on using peastone gravel for horsekeeping… and be sure to look for other folks’ COMMENTS at the end of these posts.
Horse Gal said,
August 23, 2007 at 11:51 am
Connie,
As usual, I love your latest blog. It is SO informational and I look forward to every new one that you do. Thank you SO much for all the knowledge you share with your readers. It’s so appreciated. I had to mention something I noticed in your video on your latest blog of The Herd racing back to the barn…Phillie and Glendale appear to go way off the track and make a wide arc as they are about to head into that last field below the barn. I’m wondering if you think Phillie did that because she’s had problems with that small corner before (something bothers her there) and if Glendale went off the track because Momma did!! Yet, Gilford did not…he stayed right on track. I got the biggest kick out of watching them!! I’d be interest in your thoughts on why you think Momma and Glen took the exact same route (monkey see, monkey do??) yet, Gilford stayed exactly on track.
petArtist Cmoses said,
August 24, 2007 at 9:57 am
Very observant HorseGal… Willy often shies at going thru that small gate, for reasons known only to her. Glen followed her, since they are attached at the hip and ankle. I’m pretty sure of 2 reasons why Gilford stayed on the track, first he is not as leery of visual things (less like an arabian) and second he is just not agile and quick enough to make that fast a detour! Little Glen as you can see has his mom’s balance and agility. Gil moves a bit more percheron-y!!
Equine blog roundup « Bridlepath said,
August 28, 2007 at 10:14 pm
[...] petArtistWithPeaches muses on the joys of peastone gravel… [...]
risingrainbow said,
August 30, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I’ve been hearing more and more about the use of pea stone gravel. Will have to do some research to see if it will be helpful on my farm.
petArtist Cmoses said,
August 30, 2007 at 5:19 pm
I looked at your blog, funny how your horse looks EXACTLY like my mare!!
Katie said,
December 10, 2007 at 1:16 pm
We use pea gravel and also a circuit. Our horses like it and we are able to keep them at home without having to have tons of acreage to do it. Really great. I am so grateful to Jaime for bringing this idea forward.
connie moses said,
December 10, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Katie
Thanks for your comment. Here in NH there is snow on the pea gravel AND the circuit track now. I am finding the gravel needs to be maintained, and will soon write an article about our thoughts and efforts on that.
The gravel under our shed roof is becoming saturated with urine and filling in with hay leavings and decomposing manure, though we do pick out the manure. It just happens. We are talking now about scraping out all the gravel next spring (after it thaws) and replacing it with fresh gravel. This is the maintenance we are discussing. Having it in gateways is a good option for us, it doesn’t collect manure, but even that has to get new gravel added occasionally because it gets drug away over time.
How do you take care of yours?
katie said,
December 11, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Hi Connie,
We do not feed any hay near the gravel so it does not get messy. When hay does drop there, I get it up right away before it can inhabit the gravel. My daughter thinks I am crazy, but so far so good. The manure is fairly easy to pick up and for some reason they do not poop on the gravel very much. We also keep it in the gateways, and have to replenish from time to time. At our other track (previous location) the gravel was a mess because of the reasons you said, but the guy had put in stone that was too big to muck. It was a disaster.
Thanks, Katie
connie moses said,
December 11, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I think when we replenish/replace ours I will stop feeding them on it, and try to figure how to stop them from pooping on it. We put it into an area where they already had the habit of pooping, unfortunately. Since they do it mostly all in one corner though, maybe I can just not peastone that corner…
happy trails!
connie moses said,
January 30, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Email received in Nov. 07,..
Hi Connie
I found your blog on using peastone gravel for barefoot horses which has been really valuable to us. We are about to embark on a similar journey to you and would welcome your advice or at least share some of your most recent experience!
We have 4 acres of clay based paddock which we would like to turn into paradise for our three horses. There are two open field shelters and an area in between which we would like to cover in pea gravel. In addition we will put a track around the outside in an effort to keep them moving and also put pea gravel around the water trough and in heavily used areas.
It seems from your blog that you have put your pea gravel directly on top of the mud. I was wondering if we should put a porous membrane underneath the pea gravel as we thought the gravel may get squashed into the mud and make a bit of a mess? (We live in Derbyshire, England so our weather can be pretty wet, particularly from now through to spring)
Any thoughts or further experience you have would be gratefully received!
Best regards
Louise & Chris Trevatt
MY REPLY:
I did put pea gravel right in the mud in our gateways, where it does squish into the mud but it stabilizes it, firms it up, and really minimizes the deep frozen hoof-holes we get in the wintertime (and the deep water-filled holes in the summer mud). It’s a great way to use the gravel.
Our springs are excessively muddy here (ie. “Mud Season”) due to the ground thawing, snow melt and rain having nowhere to go because the ground is still frozen deeper down. The gravel has been great in the muddiest spots. I would think a membrane could help as well, it certainly wouldn’t hurt, but we don’t have one.
Our paddock paradise “track” proved very effective in the summer to limit grass access and keep them moving. It also allowed the horses to make their own hard-packed path around the track which was good for their hooves. We find it useful here in the WINTER now, when we turn out the horses INSIDE the track but the track perimeter fence keeps them OUT of the trees around the edges of the pasture, which they will chew the bark off of if they can reach them!
I’m maintaining an ongoing discussion recently on the blog, updating the pea gravel/paradise experiences and others’ comments, please visit!
http://portraitswithhorses.com/blog/index.php?s=pea+gravel