Rubber Matting - Pro's, Cons, does it save bedding? Tell me ALL!

[laceyfreckle]

OK, I know nothing about stable matting. I can remember when shavings were the new 'in' thing to use lol.

Anyway, basically my ponies live out but do come in at bad nights. I would love them to stay in at night during winter but I don't have enough storage for used manure for that, as I have to persuade people to take it away for allotments and such like and my YO doesn't like too much stored on site.

They also come in to be fed and also if I am riding or working with one the other is left in the stable with hay.

I have been using straw which I find smells and is really bulky with a big manure heap. I have used shavings in the past and if I had rubber matting would probably use it with shavings.

Does rubber matting save on bedding? I know its meant to but does it really? During the hot summer and horrid night I like to leave one stable open as a field shelter would having rubber matting down mean I won't need a full bed to use like that, I find a full bed messy and wasteful when they're going in and out.

Is the matting on its own ok for them to lie on?

Does it smell?

What type is best?

Does it mean a smaller manure heap?

Any other info appreciated!!

The stables I have have a even floor but it does slope very slightly towards the door.

 

[Trewsers]

I think I am probably the only person in the horse world who HATES rubber matting! When I was on a yard I had it - and it stunk like the Dickens after a while! It probably had something to do with the bad drainage in the stables - but Joe and Storm's boxes reeked! YO hated us cleaning the mats - so we could only take them out and hose them down once in a blue moon. Anyway, I found wee and poop and shavings and straw simply got stuck down the "join" part.
When I moved yards they didn't provide them, and I was glad as I much preferred just having bedding down.
When we moved our pair home however, we ended up with big thick black mats in our field shelters - it was the sensible thing to have down really, as otherwise the bedding that we put in would just disappear amongst the mud and grass. Have to say in the field shelter they did work quite well, probably as drainage wasn't a problem like it was in the stable.
Don't have them now - we just have a mix of Nedz Bedz (love that stuff!) and straw nice and deep. I believe if you have rubber mats you don't need as much bedding - and they'll probably work for you if yours are just coming in at night on bad nights.
What I didn't like to see on one yard we were on as people putting rubber mats down with hardly any bedding at all and leaving the horse in 24/7 - seemed so mean and spartan looking!!!

 

[Claire1605]

I have rubber matting for all 3 of mine. I use a wood based bed and get through about 1 1/2 bags a week between the 3 of them.

Rubber is amazing.

Just sprinkle a light sprinkling of bedding at the back of the stable in a square shape enough for them to wee and poo on and thats it.

They lie down on the mats in front of the bed so they dont get wet and dirty.

Just sweep the lot out in the morning.

Mats don't smell and as long as you have good drainage, you wont need to lift them very often at all to wash out underneath.

In the past 2 1/2 years I have only washed the matting above once. Have not needed to lift them at all so far.

Defo recommend. Our muck heap barely exists! What we do have soon rots down to nothing and we just spread that on the field.

 

[Lemme]

We have had equimats for a number of years and they are brilliant - only 1 in this year as others are out 24/7 but yes they do save on bedding.

We mat 2/3rds of stable and 1/3 has shavings bed on it. usually a bale and a half to bed up, with the shetland then he only has a top up of 1/4 bale shavings a week, skip out during the day and wet out at weekend when I top up. 1 bale a month.
When the bigger one is in we use 1/2 a bale a week unless for any reason in all day then we may push to a full bale, but shes a Mare and very messy bless her!

if all 3 are in we use about 1 1/2 to 2 bales a week- before we had the matting we would use that in one stable.

If I was using as a field shelter in summer then don't think I would bother putting anything on the matting unless you where closing them in on a night.

 

[nicolaj]

I have mixed feelings about rubber matting.

Something I haven't got as the bed on the bedding we use is quite nice, she must like it as she lies on it.

Unless the stable has good drainage they can really begin to smell as all the wee just gets trapped underneath the mats. The type of mats than just butt up against each other are horrible, the bedding a poo tends to get trapped in the joins. Some types of mats are also very heavy and it is a two person job to move them to clean.

I think the ones that have the jigsaw edges that join together seem better and I think are lighter to move, therefore easier to clean.

People who have rubber matting also tend to put down as much bedding, so kind of defeats the object!

A big mat in a field shelter is probably a good idea though.

 

[Monika]

Hi.
I have Equimat interlocking green ones for my mare and black ones for my filly.
They are expensive to buy but they will pay off as less bedding is needed.
They are easy to maintain -just put bed up and sweep and they will dry quickly. They do not smell as concrete would. They can be used witout bedding and I feel they are better for horses joints and will prevent horses getting cold from the ground.

 

[Stormin]

I invested in rubber mats for my stables a couple of years back. Bear in mind that my horses are at home and wanting to keep good relations with my neighbours, I cannot allow myself to create a muck-heap mountain.

My rubber mats that are puzzle-cut, each mat measures about 115cmx77cms, 2 cms thick and weighs 22.5kgs. They're heavy enough to stay in place but "light" enough to be removed for annual spring clean underneath (because I am quite partial on hygiene )

Does rubber matting save on bedding? I know its meant to but does it really?

Definitely yes (for me anyways). I used to use between 2 and 3 bales a week for 2 horses (one likes to pee for Europe ). Now I use 1 bale per week for both stables.

During the hot summer and horrid night I like to leave one stable open as a field shelter would having rubber matting down mean I won't need a full bed to use like that, I find a full bed messy and wasteful when they're going in and out.

Absolutely. I don't have a full bed anymore but have a shavings patch in the middle of the stable for the boys to pee on (being geldings) and to lie down on (to keep them away from the walls thus reducing the possibility of becoming cast - it works for me anyways !).
Yours might still manage to drag shavings out with the going to and fro but definitely less will be lost than with a full bed.

Is the matting on its own ok for them to lie on?

Based on the principle that horses are not nesting animals and that they're quite happy to lie on the short grass/sun dried mud in a field, then the answer is yes. However, most of us over-protective owners like the thought of a more inviting softer layer to lie on hence an amount of bedding on the mats.

Does it smell?

No more than a traditional stable under the same stable management system. Ideally I would say that you have to have a decent (ie hard) and slightly sloping floor under your rubber mats to avoid pee puddles and other such problems. Otherwise, if you keep your stable clean, no reason for it to smell more than another.

What type is best?

Alot depends on availability, budget and personal preference.

Does it mean a smaller manure heap?

Again definitely yes for me. Muck heap has reduced by a factor of 2-3.

 

[bitsnpieces]

I really can't stand rubber matting, you have to take them up fairly regularly for thorough cleaning (and they are heavy) as gunk gets underneath and absolutely reaks!

Having said that I don't have the best experience of it, the yard I learnt to ride on and worked at for some time employed a fair few people whose standard of mucking out wasn't quite up to scratch so there were really bad puddles under the mat. also where the beds were messy it just stuck to the mats and in between them. I also found it took them ages to dry if you had a wet horse.

 

[laceyfreckle]

I think I will be getting some, at least for one stable to see how it goes.

The stables have a concrete floor and do have a slight slope leading to the door, so not too worried about wee building up under the mat.

My main considerations I think is I really do need to use less bedding and therefore have a smaller manure heap (my yard is in someone elses back garden, albeit a lovely large estate).

It sounds like the matting would help with this

 

[Skippys Mum]

I use the EVA cow comfort mats and I love them. There is no smell (and my stables have no drainage). I have mats over the whole stable and a layer of sawdust about 3/4 inches thick on the back 3rd. Its a doddle to muck out and the muck heap is considerably smaller.

 

[juliecwuk]

i bought some cheap matting off ebay, they were really good though! I used to put a small patch of paper bedding at the back and the mares were always pretty tidy. I have since moved and only have one stable so i sold them to my sister. Her gelding is excellent with them, again small patch of shavings, and her stable has a really steep angle to it so it drains really really well.

this is the person i bought mine off, worked out around £125 for a medium sized stable (think it was about 11ft x 11ft):

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHEAPEST-EASi...tZUK_Horse_Wear_Equipment?hash=item20afad017d