Do you still give your horse a big bed on mats?

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rubyrumba

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All my stables have got rubber mats but i still give them a really big bed with huge banks, i just don't cover the whole floor. My friend today thought i was mad. Two of them are yearlings though and love to sleep in their stablea and use the banks as a pillow!
 
I used to but now she's on livery her bed is smaller but it does the job and she's perfectly fine
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I think it depends on why you have the mats tbh. If they are down to stop a horse knocking itself then a big bed is ok. if they are down to help with respiratory problems then I would say no to a deep bed.
 
Yes, not massive but a good covering, shes grey and stays so much cleaner with a good shavings bed. I use Snowflake Supreme and 2-3 bales of that per week provide ample. Rugs stay cleaner too.
 
Yep! all 3 do. We tried minimal bedding and it was SO dirty, rugs were filthy and stinky.
Harvey likes to use his bankings as pillows and would break himself while hes buggering about in the night. Winnie would most likely do herself an injury if she didnt.. and Bonnie is just a hell of a lot cleaner on a full bed.
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Yep - i am one of those rubber mats and a bed so deep they horses get up looking like they have just hatched.

Two of mine are big horses, and both lie down to sleep every night, they dont if they only have a thin bed. I am really lucky i have absolutley huge stables, 4.5 mts x 6.6 mts, and they lie down at the back and eat and poo at the front. Once the bed has been built up (they are about 18" deep now") i only top up one bale of shavings a week.
 
Ellie has mats at the front of her stable, but we still bed right up to the door. She has 4ft high straw banks and a bed deep enough in the middle that if you drop the pitchfork prong-down, you cant hear it make contact with the floor
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Bedding is one of my controversial topics. I cannot abide the thought of a horse on just mats alone - no offence intended to anyone who doesnt use any bedding but I just think it is a lazy form of horsemanship tbh
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Personally speaking, I'd never have a horse on anything less than the bed Ellie has now - but I will say that half my yard think I am bonkers for giving her so much straw!
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Mats and a deep bed for Orkan. I don't think he really lies down but I like to think that should he want to its all there for him! He is pretty clean and only poos on the rubber mats to the side of his bed - good boy
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Glad i am not the only one! Both the babies snuggle right up to the banks in a corner and their whole neck is along the bank, so cute and obviously very comfy. I lie on it myself and i must admit i could sleep there too, it is that comfy! All the dogs agree too!
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When I had rubber mats I still had a proper bed down. Briefly tried a thin bed but he is very wet so ended up with stinking rugs, hence I ended up sitnking taking them off/grooming etc which was a really bad combo with the car heating
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Didn't last long!!
 
Nope! The whole point of me buying mats was so I could cut down on bedding. My mare does get shavings on top of the mats but not a huge layer and the rest of the bale is banked round the sides.

ETS I am lucky in that she pees in one corner and her droppings are always in the same spot at the back. I put more shavings on the wet corner and so no stinky horse in the morning!
 
both my stables are 3/4 matted- i have cobbled floors so can't put full mats down, its too uneven! they have full straw beds down- 3ft banks and straw to knee height.

mine haven't got mats for specific reasons- mainly to cushion them slightly as they lay down alot.
 
I thought the comment that someone posted about big beds "defeating the object of mats" was curious. Rubber mats are a flooring NOT a bed so why not have proper beds on top of them. You wouldn't just put a "sprnkling" of bedding on top of concrete so why do it with mats? Just because they are softer underfoot doesn't make them absorbent. Bedding is to sop up urine and droppings as well as being comfortable to lie in and anyone who says that a horse is not a nesting animal only needs to look where they lie for preference in a field. For mine it's always the long grass or in the hay!
 
I use straw on rubber mats, the mats are only there to stop her getting down to the concrete and scrapping her hocks. I have proper banks but put less on the base than I would with just concrete but it still a proper covering.

I can understand why people have huge straw beds but I cant help but wonder if its good for their legs. Horses dont think ' I must pick my feet up to step over the straw' and usually end up dragging the straw round with their feet. Surely this just puts added strain on their legs
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tried all methods. straw, shavings, paper, equimax, matting the winner straw.

I now have matting at the front as she paws alot, and a big straw bed. she is much cleaner with a big bed its as if she respects it.

with the matting i was having to hose out the stable twice a week and i stank really bad so ended up having to change my clothes every time i went to yard even if I just went in to give her hay and water (went to work a few times a bit pongy lol)

so as for time saving straw works for me. I would take a whole wheel barrow of poo out with just matting down and now I only take half a barrow out (only go through a bale a week to top up) and best of all I can put haylage up for her and still go to work without stinking.
 
Beds are for humans! Horses lie down in fields and are quite comfortable. I think humans have a tendency to humanise horses! The rubber mats are great for keeping them off the cold hard concrete and shavings and straw etc is there to absorb urine etc and not provide a substitute duvet!
 
Couldn't agree more!

Our stables are large and fully rubber matted. I put a thin bed of elephant grass in the back half with no banks. Oddly enough, one of my youngsters lies on the matting and not the bed! Another used to get himself cast but since I have stopped putting banks in he hasn't ben cast once. I guess they are all individuals!
 
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Good grief no... defeats the objects of mats. Sprinkle of shavings for me... horse lies down on them no problem. Besides he has RAO so better for him.

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Depends what you want mats for though - It is not always for ease of mucking out - I primarily have them because my horse has a spavin and I have the extra-cushioned Equimats for support.

I am on livery but he has a smallish bed, because I cannot stand soaking wet stinking rugs or repeated stable stains on white legs/body, especially when I have bought decent rugs and not only do they get treated badly but I also have to run to the cleaners

Apparently with the Equimats the company says that the horse cannot get cast, even with no bedding ....
 
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