Muddy Horse Paddock Footing Fixes

barn riding arena and any natural waterways. If possible the locations of gates drinking water sources and feeding areas should be in the areas of highest elevation.
Diverting Drainage If a paddock is less than ideally located in a lowlying area accumulation of surface runoff water is all but guaranteed unless you can divert it. A French drain is a trench that is dug into the ground and filled in with gravel sometimes drainage pipe is laid in and then covered with gravel fill. Surface runoff water flows onto the gravel and trickles down into the trench where it flows away and is emptied at a distance from the paddock area. 
Forms of Footing The most common types of paddock footing are hogfuel wood chips or shreds sand and gravel each with its advantages and disadvantages. Hogfuel provides a good stable surface but as an organic material the wood chips are subject to decomposition and over time will break down into fine particles that will contribute to mud unless removed and replaced with new hogfuel. Sand and gravel have the advantage of not breaking down like wood products do. Coarse washed sand is comfortable and drains well but horses should never be fed on sand as ingestion can result in sand colic. Gravel provides solid footing and excellent drainage although your horse will be uncomfortable standing on screened gravel larger than 58inch. While an expensive option gravel footing can be limited to high traffic areas if budget is a concern.
Manure Management Picking out the paddocks frequently prevents the manure from being trampled into the footing and mixing with the topsoil thus minimizing the amount of mud that forms in the paddocks. 
Rerouting Rainwater Divert clean rainwater away from the paddocks by installing rain gutters and downspouts on the barn shelters and