shavings bedding? - rubber matting?

[CurlyWurlyRach]

My mare is currently out 24/7 but will shortly be coming in for winter nights.
she is stabled on deep littered straw currently and eats it. eats alot of it.so im planning to move her onto shavings. Do i need rubber matting under the shavings? (it looks quite expensive....)

[*millie*]

nope, a lot of horses at my yard just have shavings but they need a deep bed to be comfy :)

[atillathefun]

I have got rubber matting it cost me £135 but it has saved me so much money and time over the couple of years I have had it.
As Millie n Pride says you dont have to have rubber matting but you will need to put a nice deep bed in.

ETA I use about 4" of Easi Bed on mine but you dont have to use that much.

[doris]

Shavings are expensive so most people will put down rubber matting so that you only use a small amount of shavings and only put shavings down on half the floor if the stable is large. I personally don't like to see horses stabled on just rubber matting with no shavings.
After the initial outlay on the matting, you will soon recoup the money by not having to use so much shavings.

[holiday]

No you dont need rubber matting under shavings, although you can cut the amount of shavings used by doing so. Both are expensive so you have to weigh up the pros and cons by doing so, either a smaller shavings bed and mats or a deeper bed and no mats, i also think it depends on how dirty your horse is to how many shavings you use, but you definately dont need mats to go under your bed!!!!!!! It does help to cushion against elbow and knee and hock injuries under straw or shavings!!!!

[jenren!!]

Why dont you try hemp? Or another type of bedding? I find shavings quite faffy to muck out, and are not fun if your horse is mucky either. If you're gonna use shavings you dont need rubber matting and wouldnt...but im not a fan of it so thats just my opinion.

[jovi_y2k2]

not a huge fan of rubber matting either unless theres a proper bed on it which kinda defeats the object! star was on rubber matting at my old yard with just a sprinkling of shavings on top and when he went to pee he didnt like it too much because it was splashing on his front legs!! the bigger geldings were ok because they could stretch out further! i ended up buying him some stable socks to keep his legs clean

[Trewsers]

Somebody else asked about rubber matting on another thread and I think I said I didn't like it - last yard we were on the wee just soaked in between the mats and it goes horrid. Our two are on sawdust type bedding - its quite soft and deep so I don't bother with mats.