best mud mats

Follysmum said:
Do you have to keep putting sand down on top of the mats? Especially when it keeps raining.

A friend has some for her barefoot oldies and she says they are so slippy and wishes she hadn’t bothered.

Am in 2 minds about purchasing any.
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Ours have no shoes and haven't slipped AFAIK. We did put sand on top when they were first laid but none since. Our soil is sandy though. Hard standing is just outside the front window, so we probably would know if one of them had fallen.
 
blitznbobs said:
Does any one know how the WF racing mats compare in price to the mud control slabs? cos they look easier to lay!
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Thanks for all replies, really helpful. I still haven’t decided but I now have a lot more info!

As far as I can tell the mud control slabs are marginally more expensive but wf racing don’t have a delivery price on their website so can’t totally compare the two. For the area I’m looking at, wf racing are £4800 for 168sq m and mud control are £5670 for 175sq m. Jelka are £4793 for about 150 sq m.
 
Am I reading it right, Jelka mats weigh 29kgs? If so that would rule them out for me. I can cope easily with 7kg mud control mats.

So 1 Jelka mat = 4 mud control mats. That will be how they stay in place so well despite not interlocking. Makes a big difference from a handling point of view.
 
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I had a pallet of the WF Racing mats and they have been fab. They are heavy (20+kg) I don’t think I could have laid them all on my own, but with a second person it was fine. They can be tricky to spot together but again with two people we made it work. They are also quite grippy, my youngster regularly goes charging onto them and can come to an abrupt halt even with a thin layer of mud on top. I’m really glad I chose them over the other options, they worked out cheaper than MC and even the delivery was cheaper for me
 
I’ve worked out the price per m2 for mud control and WF racing and the WF racing are more expensive per m2. So how are people saying they are cheaper? Yes they are cheaper per pallet, but there is less on a pallet of WF racing than MC
 
Love my mud control mats. I will move them after winter as ive decided there is a better formation for them... if you only want a narrow track they would work out cheaper as u could do a path one mat wide for pony or wheelbarrow. I tried topping with sand but it disappeared into the mud below the mats and got washed off in the rain. I put down used savings which work well, my mats go round a right angle so needed something to stop large elephant type shod horse slipping if retried to canter or trot round corner.

I might put some down temporarily for tractor to access muck heap in field.

They also look smart.
 
zoon said:
I’ve worked out the price per m2 for mud control and WF racing and the WF racing are more expensive per m2. So how are people saying they are cheaper? Yes they are cheaper per pallet, but there is less on a pallet of WF racing than MC
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I also worked out MC cheaper overall per square meter covered.
 
Follysmum said:
Do you have to keep putting sand down on top of the mats? Especially when it keeps raining.

A friend has some for her barefoot oldies and she says they are so slippy and wishes she hadn’t bothered.

Am in 2 minds about purchasing any.
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I have 40 in my gateway - the mud is calf deep. The sand has washed through but grass is/wa growing through the holes.

We have had 2 fall on the mats - both times this was during new (very zoomy) introductions to the herd and not any other time that we've seen. One was barefoot, one was shod, on both occasions they were going at full pelt, about to come to a screeching stop and hadn't clocked the mats at the gate. I've noticed while poo picking that their zoomies avoid the gateway now and circle off before then. We now stand on the mats when a new horse goes in, as well as trying to stagger the introductions, which stops this happening.

I'm Dun said:
The mud control lady is an ex HHOer and the loveliest kindest person.
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I didn't know this! She really is so helpful.

The WF racing mats would be great to see in situ, but their weight puts me off. I can manage mud slabs.
 
zoon said:
I’ve worked out the price per m2 for mud control and WF racing and the WF racing are more expensive per m2. So how are people saying they are cheaper? Yes they are cheaper per pallet, but there is less on a pallet of WF racing than MC
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We bought when they were a bit cheaper than they currently are & had a group discount.. the cost per square meter was only slightly higher however when the cost of delivery was factored in it evened out. As I didn’t need to fill a specific space the lesser amount on a single pallet from WF worked out perfectly for me :)
 
Just come across this thread and looking into getting a few for an area near a gate way. Are these 3 options the most effective and commonly used ones?
Has anyone got experience of the jelka mat?
 
I've only used mud slabs and highly recommend.

They aren't cheap but do what they say. Sometimes you can get 2nd hand mats slightly cheaper on the mudslab group page. Including delivery (pallet of 140) my slabs on a shred load the other month worked out at £9 per slab. Second hand they seem to range from 7.50 to 8.50

Mudslab just posted that prices are going up in January but they don't know what it'll be yet. So if you were interested probably pays to move quite quickly
 
I used mud mats but sold them when i moved house. They were a life saver in my heavy clay fields altough the mud did still go through them in the worst of last winter but it meant the horses had a bit of an island to stand on
there's a facebook group for second hand mud mats, might be a bit cheaper than buying them new. https://www.facebook.com/groups/331753556457599
 
Errin Paddywack said:
We have mud mats and they are brilliant, not too heavy to handle either at 7kgs each. Jelka are 29kgs according to their web site so need someone strong handling them.
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We have had our earth yard covered in mud control mats and this week have found another benefit; when ice and snow melt, the water goes straight down the holes and soaks away - no slush and no re-freezing.
 
loz9 said:
I have the mudcontrol mats & really rate them. They've been a lifesaver this year & even with the grass starting to poke through my 4 are still spending lots of time on them. Yes they're expensive (we did an area just short of 20x20m, but I have a very grumpy mare & wanted plenty of space) but they've been worth every penny. I think they've been down about 4yrs now.

Edited to add a photo if it helps visualise the area. The 2 closer ponies are 14.1ish, the 2 further back around 15.2. The gate is 12ft. The wheelbarrow is a standard b&q one 😂
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how many are here?
 
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