stall flooring and bedding

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mydaddysjag

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
2,290
Reaction score
6
Location
Western Pennsylvania
We are putting up a shed row barn that is 12x24, an 8x12 feed/bedding room, and then a stall. I only even keep geldings, so if needed, the remaining 12x16 can be split into another 8x12. My horse will be out through the day, and in at night. Where our field and pasture tends to stay wet through the early spring, so we are trying to do everything possible to keep it dry. Of course, we have a low budget as well, making it hard to get everything we want done in the time we have (one week to complete the project)

We already installed a french drain and gravel around the base of the barn, the barn is a few inches above the rest of the ground, and my stalls have about 3" of 2b gravel in them. I am going to put stall mats over that. Now Im reading that I should have put limestone or sand under the mats, but honestly, Im not sure I'll have the money to purchase either by next weekend. Is it going to hurt my horse to stand on mats over packed gravel until we get money to get some sand for under them? They are thick rubber stall mats.

I have also been reading that pelleted bedding helps keep stalls drier than sawdust or shavings. Does anyone prefer the pellets over the sawdust? Is it comfortable for the horses to stand on? Should I use pellets, with a thin layer of shavings on top?

Sorry for so many questions, I just dont want to make mistakes that are costly to fix that can be avoided by doing it right in the first place.
 
Forgot to mention, I am thinking about the pellets because I dont have much storage space, and they would take up less room than "bales" of shavings, and I was told that the manure pile will be smaller since you dont remove as much bedding when cleaning stalls.
 
There are many options better and cheaper than shavings. Sawdust is cheap and dusty so I wouldn't use that. In my outside shelters I use coco shreds which are very cheap as I only need to add half a bag a month after the initial bedding. Also if it does get wet from too much rain you can just spread it out and it will dry. I have a grey mare that is nearly white and she stays so clean it is amazing! The only bad thing is that it looks like dirt which not everyone likes as it does make the barn a bit dark.

As long as your mats are thick I don't think it will be a problem if it is only temperary.

Good luck
 
We have stall mats over stone dust in most places, but also over sand in the "old" barn and over gravel in the newest run-in. I don't see any huge differences.

For bedding, I LOVE the pelleted bedding for minis. I use shavings for the big horse in the run-in, but everyone else has pellets. They take a bit of getting used to - you MUST wet them or they are like ball bearings! They break down into sawdust. We never strip our stalls, but just remove the poop and wet spots, mix the remaining bedding and add some more hydrated pellets. Sometimes we need to add a lot (like in the mares area if several are in heat!) but many days we just add a few handfuls to freshen things up. I am sure there are other techniques, but this works really well for us. In the winter, we do have to keep our supply inside so that we can keep a batch hydrated without freezing, but we just transfer them to the barn in buckets.

Different brands hydrate differently - for some brands you can add the pellets to the bedding in the stall dry and they will break down. The brand we have now doesn't seem to want to break down as easily, so we need to wet them first. We use a big muck bucket.

Another caution: We never use pellets for wood stoves or any that the supplier can't say are only pine/softwood. It doesn't take much black walnut bark/sawdust to kill a horse.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
What I have available locally is the "equine fresh" brand from tractor supply, and theyre actually $1 off a bag until sunday. I might go get a few bags. For wetting them, I wont have water at the barn, but was thinking I should be able to use a large flower watering can to wet them once they are in the stall.
 
I have gravel too then sand then mats on top of some of my stalls. Works fine. I also use Tractor Supply pellets and shavings both. Pellets down first then shavings on top of them and the watering can will work but don't overdo the water it will dispurse soon as the horses get in there. The only thing I think is that you did not raise your floor up nearly high enough where in the wet season you may be in big trouble with water coming in. Its going to settle and end up land level. When you can I'd be building those stalls up super high when you can. Take a deep breath and breathe. Rome wasn't built in a day and we had to spend three years getting my barn the way I finally needed it to be so we wouldn't go in debt over it. Patience and it will come. Its going to be fine.
 
We do use wood stove pellets, but only those clearly labelled 100% pine or fir and no propellents added. Of course, here in the NW, land of the Douglas Fir, that's all you're likely to find.

But do be certain they say on the bag what kind of wood is used and that there are no additives.
 
We love our bedding horse pellets buy it by the skid.

Would never think of going back to shavings or straw..

Only use straw for a week when foals are born.
 
Marty, Ill try to measure, I think the "pad" the barn is being built on is either 6" or 8" above the other ground level, sloped up so noone "falls out" of the barn, then have I think about 4" of 2b gravel in the stalls. We dug down a few feet around the entire perimeter of the barn and installed a french drain system, surrounded by gravel, that goes over into a ditch that surrounds the property. We're also looking to intall some gutters to try to get the water away from the barn. How much higher should it be?
 
Our barn pad was actually five feet and we left it for a year and it settled at 4 1/2 feet. I don't know for sure how much grave and sand we used but I tend to go over board on some things. I've had barns flood in the past and that is no fun. We smashed our gravel down by going over it with a tractor a lot and then kept adding more until the piles ran out. Then we smashed the sand down in the gravel too and added more on top after that too. We referbished every year for a while and we really should do it again before my stalls get low. One idea for you would be to keep sandbags for an emergency you never know until it happens.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I use a combination of bagged shavings and pellets.. i put the pellets down first then layer with the shavings. I love this combo! i have stall mats to.
 
I dislike the pellets due to the dust!!! There was always dust on the rails and walls and windows. I use Paper shavings - about 1/4 bag will do my 8 x8 stalls. They are easy to pick and cost much less than pellets. And are much less work. One bag is 35#, does about 3-4 stalls, and lasts for 7-10 days over mats.
 
Where do you buy your paper shavings? Around here all I know of it "crimped paper" its sold in little bags for hamsters and dyed bright colors/
 

Latest posts

Back
Top