Dealing With Pooling Urine and Frozen Winter Horse Paddocks – The Horse

Winter is here, and you and your horse live in a climate where managing paddocks and confinement areas presents challenges. Sure, you pick up manure each day and have footing to combat erosion and mud, but even with good daily manure removal, sometimes doing chores is extremely challenging. The paddock becomes slick and icy, and pee spots become disgusting frozen pools of urine. What can be done to make winter horse life easier?

Before we look at some helpful strategies, let’s review the basic tenants of mud management and drainage for horse paddocks.

If possible, locate your horse’s confinement area in a higher, well-drained area so water moves away and doesn’t accumulate in paddocks or buildings. Also, make sure any nearby hills or surfaces are not funneling runoff in your direction. If so, a water bar, swale, or dry well could help redirect the flow.

Your barns, shelters, and outbuildings need well-functioning rain gutters and downspouts free of debris, leaks, or breaks. These divert rainwater away from high-traffic areas, substantially reducing the amount of winter mud created in your paddocks. Watch for ice dams in gutters during winter, and break them up as they start to occur.

Footing

Your confinement area’s footing should be well-draining, especially in winter and during the rainy season. Chose something like ½-inch or 5/8-inch “washed” crushed rock. Washed rock, sometimes called “clear,” means this material is all the same size and is without fines or smaller particles. Fines cut down on pore space between pieces of gravel, thereby reducing drainage; the smaller the pore space, the poorer the drainage. Sand footing is in the poor drainage category, as it has very small pore space, so it might not be an adequate, well-draining footing for a winter paddock. Note: Any rock product 1 inch or larger is generally uncomfortable for a horse to stand on. In addition, material with a very large pore space can make picking manure difficult, and small pieces of organics left behind create a layer of mud, which clogs drainage.