Anyone elses yard icy?

[sunnylynn11]

YO had a complaint today from one of the liveries that he hasnt put rock salt down, some of the yard (outside the stables) is concrete but the main paths leading to the fields are shingle type stuff.
This livery has complained that she cant put her horse out cause its too slippery on the main paths . (I put mine out OK, so did several others)
Just wondered does anyone else have an ice free yard? Does your YO salt the yard?

[Trouble]

Ours is like an ice rink. There is a bag of rock salt and we're all trying to do a bit, but it's still pretty bad.

Snip isn't doing too badly on it as he's barefoot, but the shod horses are skating all over the place, makes me cringe to see them!

[rosie]

Yes - I have just posted about horse being rescued today, as fell on ice.

[sunnylynn11]

Well I did think it was a strange thing to complain about, YO is normally pretty helpful & does what he can but cant really do much about the ice?. I told him to tell her to s*d off and find another yard where perhaps they dont get ice.
I'd hate to be a YO.

[KoLaTo]

My yard is under an inch of snow with hard packed ice underneath........ and no we don't have salt of any description to put down on it but hey thats DIY for you - LOL

[highlanderpony2002]

We have salt to put down but no YO so we do it ourselves. I did loads yesterday as the farrier was supposed to be coming he is actually coming on Friday so I will do it again then

[boz]

its so dry down here we have no ice on the yard. Our yard is concrete and all our paths are stones/ gravel So the paths are absolutely fine. The yard is fine unless some lunatic livery tips their buckets onto the yard rather than into the drain. I do have bags of salt/grit around the place and will put that on any icy patches that develop but everyone has to take responsibility for ensuring as little water is spilt as possible. I make sure that I grit a path from the yard to the paths as soon as any ice is spotted

[Trouble]

My friend and I also spent some time tonight scratching the surface of the ice with prongs of a fork to try and 'rough it up' a bit so even if it stays frozen it won't be so smooth.

[Azrael]

The strip of concrete outside out stables has a layer of slippery ice on it, there's plenty of other bits of ice around but all on surfaces that still manage to have some grip do they're at least fine in walk on them. We don't have any grit to put down at the moment. Fortunatly mine seem to realise its slippery and are happy to do as they're told and walk carefully in and stop and get their balance again if they slip a bit.

[emi]

Track from the yard to the schools is horrific, horses slipping all over the place, especially those with back shoes. I think YO may have gritted it now but it's too late - it's already really slippy. It's an accident waiting to happen, either a person or a horse will slip over soon!

[hazelhorse]

Boz, I recognise the sentiments there! I spent hours defrosting the pipes and filling a large butt with water for when the pipes re-froze, then salting the yard and scraping up the ice as it melted (ice formed because a couple of people had emptied buckets). To find that some kind livery, not that anyone knew who, had used half the water butt to sloosh out buckets all over the yard meaning that there was a fresh half inch of ice on the previously clear yard and not enough water for everyone to fill their water buckets, so more had to be carried up from the just about de-frosted tap on the other yard 150 yards away.

[ms]

Ours has been pretty icy, but one of our liveries bf's works for the council so we've got a couple of bags of salt and grit to put down, and its worked a treat.Stables are american barn indoor type so no ice there. Everyone seems to be quite vigilant about not spilling/wasting water atm.

[boz]

And why oh why do people insist on leaving the feed room door wide open despite the fact it is freezing - so feeds freeze overnight, they also leave the yard kitchen door wide open and empty the kettle so that the kitchen taps freeze and I can't even boil the kettle full of water I leave in there as they have used it. and what is wrong with leaving the half full bucket of water in the stable and simply pouring in another, oh no - they have to throw that away and get new. it won't harm the horse to have water that is over a day old and It's such fun to watch the water run over the yard and create an ice slide.

[jill]

We don't swepp any of the concrete in this weather - if it is frozen at least it isn't smooth and slippery, bits of hay and bedding give it some grip.