Will a pond help?

[mswiggi]

Here's the deal our property is on the wet side, by late spring/early summer and fall it's dry (we live in upstate ny), and no this is not wet land....but times like now everything is wet and soggy. I have 2 horse on ~2 acres, to make matters worst this isn't lush pasture, it's scrubby brush and trees. We are in the process of clearing. They are basically in a mud pit.

We are going to have a bull dozen come in and clear the property and we are thinking on digging a pond....do you think it will help drain some of the property?

[bigjon]

put it in a low spot and it should help

[TnAndy]

Water tends to run down hill. Use that in your plans.

[fishhead]

It might help but you probably won't know until you get it dug and the rains come.

[siletz]

It depends if it's a flat piece of property or not. We live on the rainy side of Oregon and when they built our house, they put a pond in the backyard to try to help with the drainage. But, the yard is flat so the water just pools up where it is without draining to the pond. But if your property is on a hill and you can get some ditches dug connecting the muddy spots to the pond then I think it could help.

[Fennick]

Put in a pond. If that doesn't help you may need to dig ditches around the perimeter of your property so it's like a moat surrounding the property. That is how standing water and high water tables in polders are drained and polders are hundreds or thousands of acres so if your property is only 2 acres it should work for you. There is a polder near where I live that is several thousand acres and every farm in that polder area has ditches dug around the perimeters of their properties to stop them getting soggy with standing water.

[swamp man]

It depends on several factors. Will the surrounding area be pitched towards the pond? How well does the ground perk?......some soil structures let water run through, others hold water just like a bucket. A lot just depends on plain ol' luck.....rainy year or a dry year? At best, the plan is "iffy". With two horses on it, no, it isn't going to dry up, at least not for long. It would take a lot of fill and a lot of work, but you'd be better off to raise the entire area, seed it, and keep the horses off of it while the grass grows in.

[evan]

You could tile the area and drain it to the pond

[Xplorer]

I know what you mean. Our property is located in Bradford county (just below NY state line) & is a quagmire right now. Wonder if a pond would help me also. Let us know if it works, so I can make plans.

[wy_white_wolf]

It's mud now because it isn't draining? What's going to make the property drain to the pond?

I think getting rid of the scrub and getting some grass to hold the soil together will help more than a pond. Instead of a dozer can you burn it off? Now would be the time to try.

WWW

[fishhead]

I've seen property go from dry enough to walk on to wetland after the trees were cut. It became so wet that trees couldn't regenerate and the land turned to permanent wetland.

Another local piece of property flooded when the neighbor clearcut all the trees.

It would take years but I think some properties could be dried up by planting trees so they could suck the water out of the ground.

[where I want to]

It depends on what's upslope of you. If there's a lot of water coming from above you, then the miniscule amount that a pond that is not acres in size will hold will not do much. Making sure what falls on your roof is ditched off in a hurry would do more.
Not that a pond isn't a pleasant thing anyway.
Grass will help to hold the soil but 2 acres, unless you have vigorous growing grass, which is unlikely in the winter and early spring in NY, then the horse will have done a lot of churning before it dries. I would think you probably need a sacrifice lot for them. A place that they trash when the ground is soggy but they can go out when it's drier or frozen.