02.04.07
Pea stone gravel for barefoot horses
While learning about barefoot horse keeping, I heard about pea stone gravel being used to improve hoof condition. My internet searches on pea stone didn’t turn up much info, but I found out that a nearby lameness rehab center uses pea stone.
FYI– Pea gravel by definition is rounded, smoothed stone of 3/8 - 1/2 inch diameter. Many gravel suppliers will have it available by the ton or truckload… get enough to have extra left over. Local NH costs were about $10/cu.yard in fall of 2006.
Our pea gravel installed under 12×20 shed roof at barn. (Snow depth has raised ground level.)
Sue Wood at Wakewood Farm lameness center in Plymouth, N.H. was very helpful with information. Sue told me that pea stone gravel was a great conditioning aid for horses’ feet. It stimulates the frog (increasing blood circulation), massages and toughens the sole, and helps keep the hoof wall short. She said it must feel good because their horses competed over who would get to stand in it– like getting a foot massage.
If pea stone benefits the recovering foundered and laminitic horses at Wakewood Center, I figured it would be helpful for my three barefooters so last November we acquired some and started putting it around the barn. We installed it under a 12×20 foot shed roof shelter, on top of a clay base with pressure-treated 4×4’s retaining the gravel on the sides. Sue told me it should be at least 4 inches deep, another person said 6 inches. Ours at present is 3-4 inches deep.
Our youngsters first discover the pea gravel in November. Note how deep his hooves sink in, and the PT 4×4 retaining the gravel.
Sue also advised not to put it on clay, but that was what we had. Our clay base was hard-packed and slightly sloped so we hope it will drain OK. Sue suggested a large enough area that one horse couldn’t hog it all, so 12×20 seemed a good size for our three guys. We also have put some peastone in 3 gateways, where it helps stabilize mud, plus some around the water trough.
Pea stone gravel now that snow has blown in on it; surface is still slightly loose.
The theory of using pea gravel in horse turnouts is to give hooves more varied and rougher footing to toughen up their feet naturally, approaching the conditions which keep wild horses’ hooves strong and tough and self-maintaining. Peastone is being praised by Pete Ramey, a barefoot trimming practitioner. Jaime Jackson promotes its use (a la his book Paddock Paradise,) and Jackson suggests that hard-packed dirt areas can also be healthy for horses’ feet.
Yearling having his hay dinner on the gravel; note how carefully he is picking up a sprig of hay.
We feed our horses their hay on the pea gravel; they do stand in it at other times, although they have not sought it out or fought over it, but our horses do not hang out around the barn very often because they have the freedom to roam 24/7. (See story Horse turnout 24/7 in NE winter.)
When I first started feeding hay on it, I did wonder whether they might be likely to swallow some stones. I have observed them eating and have never heard any crunching. Besides, I have seen them drop shavings out of their mouths regularly when sifting hay out of it, and they eat around shavings in their grain as well, so I tell myself they’re not apt to eat stones. And if they wanted to, they could pick rocks off the ground most anywhere, so I keep putting their hay on the gravel. You should use your own judgment.
Our 3/8-inch pea gravel is not difficult to pick manure out of (the gravel falls easily through the fork) except when it gets trampeled and ground in, so it’s best to pick it daily or more often. With ours, hay fines and manure fragments are certainly starting to get worked in. I have limed urine spots. Now that we’re in a deep freeze, the lower 2-3 inches of gravel have frozen up pretty solid. This makes me think our gravel should be deeper to stay looser on top. It does ice up from snow cover, though some surface gravel remains loose; it works well for filling in deep hoofprints and ruts, ie. in those muddy gateways.
Our three (mom in front, two sons in the stall) are compatible enough to leave their stalls open as run-ins.
After the spring thaw we intend to try cleaning our gravel bed by hosing it down to rinse out the debris or at least wash it to the bottom of the bed. Hopefully there’s enough slope on our packed clay base that water will drain. I think I won’t lime it anymore because that’s just adding in more particulate matter. Time will tell what the long term effects will be on our barefoot horses, I’ll keep you posted.
NOTE: The gravel company will calculate your needs based on square footage times depth. Buy extra to keep on hand for replacing wastage, a truckload may be more cost effective. Be sure not to store your pile where snow plows will have to clear or pile snow!
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.
BLOG LINK ADD-IN to Amazon store:
See Jaime Jackson’s book that started it all, Paddock Paradise.
For related stories, see:
barefoot
turnout
paddock paradise
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Connie Moses– Blog: petArtistWithPeaches
website: PortraitsWithHorses.com (horse and pet portraits)
Jocelyne Boudreau said,
January 20, 2008 at 9:55 pm
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 the 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.
Jennifer said,
January 27, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Hi,
I have two barefoot horses and put pea gravel in and in front of their run in barn this summer. At first it was FANTASTIC! Their hooves looked great, no stones were getting caught in them, they stayed cleaner. Then the sediment started to build up. I picked out manure and excess hay every day but it just built up little by little. This winter it has gotten much worse. We have had temps down to 0 F and at that temp the gravel is frozen solid and the urine freezes too. In fact the manure and hay get frozen to it as well. It has done a great job to eliminate the mud and deep hoof prints that ultimately used to freeze just outside the barn. I am anxious to see how it is in the spring/summer since I have only had it a half year. I can’t see myself sifting and rinsing 5 cubic yards of pea stone. That would be a lot of work.
Hope this helps,
Jennifer
connie moses said,
January 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm
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. 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!
PS!!
I had a further though about the idea of gravelling your stalls… I sure don’t think the horses would lie down in it. You said they would be run-in stalls but the ponies sure will need SOME place comfy to lie down once in a while. Our guys nap in the snow in winter when they find a sunny spot, and they lie down on shavings in their run-in stalls almost every night. I have NEVER seen any of them lying on peastone, even when it was deep.
Also, my hubby feels that gravel in the stalls would be a poor choice, just because so difficult to keep clean (free of sediment). He’s convinced you’d need to scrape it up into piles then pressure-hose it, and often! It is extremely heavy, way too heavy for ME to shovel around all over the place! HOPE THIS HELPS!
Joanne said,
February 9, 2011 at 11:15 am
We used gravel (I think it is technically a little bigger than pea stone) in our paddock last summer. It works great. This is our first winter and it is covered in snow so hard to tell what is happening. The horses have a run in stall with rubber floor mats and shavings and 1 of our girls prefers to lie down in the snow, and in the summer she lies flat out on the gravel. Seems it would be uncomfortable but she seems to like it. We have been really pleased so far - will see what the spring holds. Our farrier (they are barefoot) loves the set up and says their feet are in GREAT condition.
petArtist Cmoses said,
February 9, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Glad you are having success, we are big fans! Larger rounded stone called river stone works well too for traffic areas.