Advice needed for stables matting and shavings

[Shahrih]

Hi all,
I hope you are all well and enjoying your equines. I certainly am, she has come on in leaps and bounds in 6 months. I am considering putting her on shavings, due to sensitive skin, eating her straw, always stained (she is skew bald) and a recurring problem with mites. She is stabled in a block of two and the other horses stable drains into hers and therefore double the trouble when it comes to mucking out. She currently has rubber matting on the floor only. If I was to change her to shavings, what you advise I do with regard to matting, how thick should it be? Should it cover the whole stable? Worried that drainage will be compromised if I do put shavings in whole stable. Also would you advise thin rubber matting along the back of the stable, as I know it leaks. Basically the whole stable could do with an overhaul. And does anyone know of a good/reliable/cheap company that sells rubber matting. Thank you for reading long pits and look forward to hearing your advice.

 

[Honey08]

I'm not sure what you're asking - I read it that you have rubber mats anyway? If so, I would leave them as they are and use shavings over the top.. The rubber mats should have channels underneath that allow drainage (or dots underneath if upside down). Some people only have mats for half the stable, but I prefer them over the whole stable.

It sounds as though the stable is a nuisance with everything draining into your stable and the leaks at the back. Can you not sort it/ask for it to be? It would save you money on bedding..

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

i would only use eva mats which can lift out and clean ........ others are smelly, i use shavings to remove wet.
poor design to drain from one to another, I,d ask that they put down shavings to stop this

 

[applecart14]

I moved yards in the spring after 9 years on the same yard and my rubber mats when eventually lifted (for the first time in 9 years) did not smell too bad at all.
There was very little underneath them, and I used to have a bed approx 6" deep of shavings. I also banked up the sides well to about 2ft 3" or so and never took them down so they were solid underneath.

I get my shavings free so in that respect I am very lucky but the mats I used were not sealed and were pefectly good.
At the yard I'm at now we have a soil floor so we can't use mats and I do miss them, but not as much as I thought I would to be honest.