Rubber Mats

[Miss_Fortune]

We just finished buiding the stalls for my horses. We blockedof a part of the garage & built them in there. Where we built them though is on top of a slightly raised area. There a layer of wood & then concrete. Would rubber mats work to help keep the urine & other fluids off the wood? I am also planning on putting shavings down to absorb whatever. Also where could I buy some mats? If they arent worth it does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Lorna

 

[Miniv]

Rubber Mats are ALWAYS worth it!!!

And I think they are important in your situation because of the concrete. Straight concrete can be hard on a horse's legs and feet.

You can get them at Ranch Supply stores.......and we have also picked up used ones at Ranch Auctions and Country Estate Sales. Keep you eyes and ears open for those sales.

MA

 

[Hosscrazy]

My stall also have concrete floors, so I have rubber mats in each stall, then shavings on top of the rubber mats. Definitely a good investment!

I called around to the different boarding stables in my area to see if they had any left over mats and I ended up finding one place that had just recently put rubber mats in their stalls, and had a whole stack of left overs they were trying to get rid of. I think I paid $25 per mat (and this was brand new!)

Good luck,

Liz R.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

I have concrete and my stalls are all matted too, then I put shavings over the mats. They are well worth there pices, they help protect the horses legs from standing on the concrete, you will also use less bedding, and are wonderful for arthritic horses. I bought mine from a stable that was going out of business, and had a few new ones left over and the rest I purchases from Fleet Farm. Well worth the investment! Corinne

 

[heartofwisdom]

I agree. I use the mats over the ground then shavings on top. Makes cleaning much easier. I use a nice think layer of shavings because I don't want my babies to lay on the mat themselves. The shavings soak up all the urine.

Just FYI, the mats are very heavy and extremely hard to cut.

 

[schutzandwhinnies]

In my opinion the mats are the best way to go for cleaning purposes and for proactive reasons in joints and they last forever. We set our stall foundations up with a 2% grade just enough so that when we clean them down the water goes straight down in one direction. We grade the dirt, lay down the 5/8 minus also at a grade and then the mats on top. We bought the mat "kits" They are 12x12 and are interlocking so they don't move on you and the water goes right on by. I really like them. It is about $325 for the 12x12 interlocking kit. I found out I like the smooth mats better than the recycled ones with the bumps as it stops your tools from a smooth scrape across the mats. I agree they are very hard to cut. My husband had to use one of those exacto knives, but it was worth it. Oh yah, we found an easy way to clean that is not so time consuming or back breaking. We make up our soapy water with just a tad of bleach water in it and we pour a bit on the mats and we use our pushbroom as a scrubber and then rinse with the hose. It works great :bgrin and cuts the once a week job time in half not having to be on your hands and knees with a couple scrub brushes. It takes my daughter and I (one with the pushbroom and the other with the hose) about 15 to get it all scrubbed and dried. A good and fast drying tool that we like to use is a rubber sqeagie thing. It looks a lot like the thing you use to clean your windows, but it is 2 foot wide and hooks up to a mop handle, so that only takes about 5 minutes to sqeagie all the water off. :bgrin And it's all ready for the shavings :aktion033: My neighbors have mats in their barn and they don't use shavings so the horses pee outside. They don't like when it splashes up on them so they go outside to pee :new_shocked: our mare will come all the way back up to her stall to pee in her shavings, maybe now that it's getting warm we should skip the shavings too. Anyway I don't think you will be disapointed in the mats.