01.21.08
Anyone use pea gravel in horse stalls?
This question came from a blog reader, along with my reply. Please comment or Email me if you know something about pea stone use inside stalls!!
New comment on post #410 Pea stone gravel for barefoot horses
I am very interested in the pea gravel idea. So interested I wish to replace the wood shavings with pea gravel. But my boyfriend is very skeptical. He doesn’t believe there won’t be a smell even if there is good drainage. We live in an area where winters are very, very cold (-20 deg Celsius) sometimes, and since we intend on building open stalls so that the horses will have the opportunity to go in the barn as they wish. he is afraid that the urine will freeze on the pea gravel and when the weather is warmer, then there will be a terrible smell. I believe that the horses will warm the place thus the urine will not freeze on the rocks but rather flow downward into the drain which will not be frozen since it is inside the barn.
Do you know of anyone who has pea gravel in their stalls? Also, do you know of anyone who is using pea gravel and lives in an area where winters are like mine. I would love to chat with them for more info.
MY REPLY:
Jocelyne
I’m guessing you live in Canada. We live in central New Hampshire and it can get as cold as zero F. rarely colder, but typically is in the twenties F. in winter.
I do not know anyone using pea gravel in their stalls, but I will hazard an opinion based on our experience with it outside under the run-in shed roof. Our gravel collects sediment buildup, consisting of manure pieces, hay fines, and dirt brought in by the horses hooves, and eventually it fills in, so that ours will need to be dug out/scraped off and refreshed every year or two. If raising the ground level wasn’t a problem, we could just keep adding fresh gravel on top of the old as needed.
If your stalls, by having drains, are able to be rinsed down by hosing so that sediment doesn’t build up, I don’t think the gravel itself would retain any odor. However, that would mean that some sediment would get washed down your drains by the hosing. It might even need pressure-hosing. Even some of the pea gravel might get washed down your drains unless there’s a suitable screen barrier.
Do your stalls have concrete floors, or solid floors (not dirt or clay) so that they could be hosed??? If hosing worked for you, I think the gravel could work in your stalls, but keeping it free of sediment would be the key issue. Just picking out the manure is not enough, because the manure gets broken up and ground down in and it’s impossible to pick it all out.
Our gravel does not smell in the winter because it is definitely frozen outside. In the summer I lime it a little (which also adds to the sediment) and I have hosed it once or twice, but hosing does not wash out my sediment because there’s no place for it to go. Our gravel is on a clay base. Although urine has collected a LOT into the sediment, I do not notice any odor even in the summer, probably because of the lime.
Good luck, I will throw your question out on my blog and see if anyone else has tried the peastone in stalls. Let us know what happens!
See all blog info about pea stone gravel for horsekeeping… and be sure to look for other folks’ COMMENTS at the end of these posts.
risingrainbow said,
January 22, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Interesting discussion to me since we are having more and more problems getting shavings for bedding here. I don’t think it will be long and we will be having to figure out other things to do for our stalls.