Thread: question about soak away septic and horses.

I wouldnt graze them over it, as horses are silly with their sensitive digestive systems. But i do not see why you cannot ride over it? If it is good, green grass it is perfect to ride on! Horses are animals that are supposed to do all sorts of movements on all sorts of terrain so do not see them falling over being ridden on green grass LOL! Is nice footings for them!

A soak away is just that.. The septic tank would be the area of concern for walking on/riding over if it has not been fitted properly. A soak away is a piece of 100mm (or so) PVC pipe with lots of holes drilled in it to allow the water to seep/get out, and it should be deep enough not to be crushed by an animal or vehicle.. Ours is also in our paddock... There are animals in there from time to time, and there are vehicles in there completely sideways with the boot hard into it many times!!!! It's still there, still goes green in a 30' long by 5' wide strip every summer and the dogs/sheep/neighbours kids on quads etc are all still fine. In theory, as long as you empty the septic tank regularly it should be doing its job, and that soak away water should be fine.

I'll back sitec.

I've fallen into 2 septic tanks (both had cracked lids and other damage) getting ready to do crane work after ground work had been done..

There's 2 styles of soak away, one is a concrete drum drilled like a washing machine thats filled up with aggregate that is then hooked up to the tank to get the majority of wet stuff gone.

The next is just the long cross drilled pipe/hose.

The former could cause problems if its had internal subsidence the latter not so much.

At our place, we have a tank which is about 5mts from the house, then from that runs about 50+mts of slotted 4" (?) pipe. This pipe sits in a trench which has about 6-10" of stones in the bottom of it to help with drainage, and the whole lot is buried about maybe 2'.
We have run horses, sheep and cattle in this small paddock and never had any issues at all. All the stock hit this strip hard when they first get into the paddock after its had a spell, I'm assuming to get "the good stuff" before everyone else gets it.

I wouldn't personally worry (IMO), as been said previously, they are deep and entrenched.
I remember we lived in a house when I was a kid that didn't have a soak away, just a septic holding tank. My dad used to empty it regularly using a petrol driven pump. We didn't use the pump for anything else. He used to connect the out flow of the pump to a flappy type raised sprinkler and spray it into the paddocks!. Grass and clover and veges were always lush and vigorous! I did learn to wash the produce thoroughly.

Ralph

Yeah Im not worried about the horse eating the grass at all as all it is is fertilised really...

we have a septic tank thats in the field the top of it is actually visable but Ian seems to think there would be some sort of plastic half pipe in the ground.

he said he has trolled the internet and everyone has said no dont do it due to risk of the horse falling in...

Our trenches are the half round black plastic arches that are about 500mm high and are buried about 300mm below the surface in sandy soil. I have driven the Defender across them many times without them collapsing. I can't imagine a horses hoof imparting a lot more force on them than a truck tyre, even considering the possible dynamic load.

The percolation tunnels for the sub- surface septic disposal should be installed in the trench as per local gov rules and if it is so you will not have any problem with it.
In some of the local councils in Qld like the ex Childers trees and small shrubs should be plant on the top of the trench.