Muddy paddock

Not sure it's right section to post, but...

How you prevent (if do :) ) the paddock from being muddy? I have mats around the hay feeder, but all around the mats and in front of the gate it's just MUDDY really deep. Is it a good idea to compact the stone dust in area? My concern is stone dust can give colics...

I have linestone screenings in my lot. Its not the fine dust lime its more a kitty litter consistancy. I could see there being problems when we first put it down. I was afraid the dust could be harmful. I kept the horses out till it got rained on a few times, even watering it in with a hose in places. Its like mush the first few times it gets wet too, so best to keep the horses off it till its packed well. It has really solved our mud problems. We didn't put it everywere just in the spots were mud was a problem, at the round bale, water tank, stalls and walk ways.
Edit: We are planning on having more brought in this summer and building up the area were we keep the round bale. I think a top dress of some pea gravel might make the packing go faster.

Vida, thanks! Is it linestone or liMestone? I found bunch of liMestone on google, but not much of linestone.. :) I'll look into it. We have to do something as it gets worse...

BTW, little off topic here.... I remember you mentioned you got the boots. I don't remember the model.. Was it simple boot or easy boot you were talking about?

Sorry my brain must have been still asleep when I posted that. Its limestone. Its fairly inexpensive by the ton, the hauling cost more than the stone.
We got the easyboot epics. The only complaint so far is the cable can break. We got a bunch of extra cables and my husband came up with some sort of modification that makes them hold better. Don't ask me...its must be a guy thing You really have to put some torque on them to break them and the replacements are cheap so not that big of a deal.

I see... I was asking because last weekend I went to the local guy (he helps horsey people just for the sake of it :) VERY nice guy!), and he basically shown me different kind of boots: how they look like, problems, and how to put them on horse. Old Mac's OMG! They look horrible! (comparable to the pics on the Internet). And take 5 mins to put one boot on... Anyway... He's very much into easyboot. However the old model and epic indeed have problems with strings. But the endurance riders told him about recent model easyboot bare, and it doesn't have strings and it's thicker on bottom and different bottom design (more look like hoof). I plan on trying a pair later in Spring (valleyvet.com has good deals on it). BTW, he also said boa are even worse than Old macs, and Swiss is great but EXTREMELY hard to fit the right size.