How much bedding do you use on rubber matting?

S

silverstar

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 July 2007
Messages
1,527
Visit site
My horse is in 24/7 at the moment and Im just wondering how much bedding to use. Ive been putting down a bale a day at the moment. So how much bedding do you use on a stable with rubber mats?
 
We use shavings, and literally just a sprinkle, because you've got rubber matting i wouldnt say you need to put as much down as you are!
 
Blimey, with prices of shavings at the moment I could never afford to put down that many.
I started off with 6 bags and I deep litter Mon-Fri and do a big muck out saturday and Sunday. I use 1 bag every other week. I've only tried this method so far when she's been out for at least 12 hours a day.
Winter could be a different story but even then in the past I've only ever used 1-2 per week.
 
My horse is only out of his stable for about a 3-4 hour turnout each day, but as I like his bed to be thick and clean he still gets 3-4 bales per week even with rubber matting. Depends on your budget and how much you spoil your horse - I don't think there is a hard and fast rule I just like my horse to have a big comfortable bed. However his stable is 10ft x 16ft which does make a difference. It took 10 bales to make the bed in the first place.
 
Our yard puts down between 2 to 3 bales per week onto full rubber matting. I don't adhere to the thought that says you only need a sprinkle of shavings as the horse is not as comfortable and is lying down in muck.
 
My girl has straw on thick rubber mats. I bank it up and lay it double thick. She loves it and rolls every time she comes in even with me in there!:D

What my girl wants, my girl gets and I just follow orders:D:D;)
 
I'd been wondering about this too. All ours usually live out 24/7 and we just keep the stables open as a field shelter. Now Noah is on box rest after his bone spavin surgery so is in all the time... having to muck out a stable is a bit of a shock, not done it since pony club really. We had some rubber matting put down in his stable but I'd never dealt with it before so not sure how much bedding to use. Have been using a bale maybe every few days but he is extremely messy (will only eat his hay off the floor and swirls it all around into his bed).
 
Last edited:
AS much as I wouold put down if bedding the horse on concrete.

Somewhere over the years people have developed a misguided idea that rubber mats replace the bedding.

The rubber provides a non slip, cushioned surface so that the horse is not standing on concrete all day.

The bedding keeps the horse clean, prevents his feet standing in urine and dung that will cause damage to his feet, and to protect him from draughts.

If he is in 24/7 then he really does need a lovely comfy bed to lie down on. There are many horses that will not pee on rubber as it splashes and also will not lie down.
 
NAS gets a bale of shavings once a week sometimes I can eel it out until the next week, depends on how vigilant I have been skipping him out.

I agree a little bit of bedding on rubber mats isn't appealing ESP if you have a grey horse.

The key to my bed now is it's just deep enough to let the wet settle on the bottom and then I can just remove the worse of it every other day.

With a thin bed it's got to be so fthin you take the whole lot out everyday. My friend has a straw bed and she keeps it thin but tries to muck it out like normal... it's a right mess...
 
I have rubber mats and still use a standard bed. I would never use just a sprinkling because despite people saying that horses aren't nesting animals all my horses would choose to sleep on the bed, not just on the rubber mats alone.

Also, bedding soaks up the wet from poo and wee so the horse isnt standing in a puddle. A sprinkling is not enough imo especially as some horses wont wee unless they have a thicker bed.

Mats are just to absorb some concussion from the concrete and make the floor non slip, they are not to replace bedding
 
Evelyn said:
AS much as I wouold put down if bedding the horse on concrete.

Somewhere over the years people have developed a misguided idea that rubber mats replace the bedding.

The rubber provides a non slip, cushioned surface so that the horse is not standing on concrete all day.

The bedding keeps the horse clean, prevents his feet standing in urine and dung that will cause damage to his feet, and to protect him from draughts.

If he is in 24/7 then he really does need a lovely comfy bed to lie down on. There are many horses that will not pee on rubber as it splashes and also will not lie down.
Click to expand...

<<THIS!>>

I bed down exactly like without rubber matting, it isn't a bed, its just a non slip surface for them to stop scuffing hocks etc, they still need a big bed IMO.
 
OP you don't say what kind of bedding you use. If you're on straw I would say one bale a day is good. I keep mine on rubber matting and use the same amount of straw I would use if they weren't on rubber mats.
 
Agree whole-heartedly with pony person, teddyt and Evelyn. Rubber mats are a flooring, they are NOT a bed and where on earth this ridiculous notion of just putting down a sprinkling of shavings came from, goodness only knows. Bedding is to sop up the "bodily fluids" and a sprinkling won't do that. Would you like to have to lie in your own mess?????
 
I used to get through a bale of good shavings a week. I put a full depth bed of half the size that I would use without mats. I absolutely loathe stabling horses on mats with a sprinkle of shavings:


no horse would choose to lie on a rubber mat if you gave him the option of a bed. If you doubt me on this one, try it, put half a bed in a corner of your stable and watch where your horse lies down. No, they DON'T lie on flat hard fields if they have a choice, they dig a hole for their bellies and lie in that. Check any big field with horses in and you'll find the bare holes.

no horse would choose to lie in a pool of his own piss.

people and dogs of people and rugs and horses stabled this way STINK

Did I mention, I don't agree with keeping horses on mats without a bed :) ?
 
I like a nice thick bed of straw for my lot, even though I've put rubber mats down. A thin layer and not only do their rugs stink, and they get washed more often at £9 per wash.They are not happy to lie down and the mares didn't like the pee splashing up their legs.
If your horse has to be 24/7 a nice thick bed is what he needs.
 
A bale a day?? That must cost an arm and a leg :O My very messy mare gets a 1/3 of a stable of bed (A strip across the back). its about 1-2cm's deep and I keep most of the clean stuff in the banks and drag them a little bit each day.
 
Damnation I'm with you. Pony is very messy however much bedding I put in. So the sprinkle I use is about the same size & depth you use.

Pony is very happy, doesn't stink & neither do me or my dogs!
 
tinap555 said:
Damnation I'm with you. Pony is very messy however much bedding I put in. So the sprinkle I use is about the same size & depth you use.

Pony is very happy, doesn't stink & neither do me or my dogs!
Click to expand...

2 cm is not a sprinkle it's nearly an inch, which is probably why you don't smell so much. But before you pat yourself on the back about your happy pony, I challenge you to give her a 4 inch/10cm deep bed in one part of her stable and a 2cm bed in the rest and then report back to us later in the week about where she chose to lie down.

I am always amazed at the picture which one of the mat manufacturers uses to advertise their product. It's of a pony curled up in the corner of a matted stable - trying desperately to lie on the only piece of bedding available, right in the corner.
 
I use almost a full bed too. My mare is very wet and her stable would be a lake without it. However the mats do allow be to start the bed a bit further back as I don't need to worry that she is stood on concrete by the door if that makes sense. She still has a full size bed, just not right up to the door and hay bar. My mare is wet, but I still only use 1bag of shavings every 3 days (probably works out to one bale of shavings a week)
 
Evelyn said:
AS much as I wouold put down if bedding the horse on concrete.

Somewhere over the years people have developed a misguided idea that rubber mats replace the bedding.

The rubber provides a non slip, cushioned surface so that the horse is not standing on concrete all day.

The bedding keeps the horse clean, prevents his feet standing in urine and dung that will cause damage to his feet, and to protect him from draughts.

If he is in 24/7 then he really does need a lovely comfy bed to lie down on. There are many horses that will not pee on rubber as it splashes and also will not lie down.
Click to expand...

Hummm, not strictly true, I have thick soft EVA rubber mats in my stable (like the gym mats you get at school) so they are lovely and cushioned to stand on, my horse is rather messy so he gets a square of bedding at the back of the stable, big enough to wee in and lie down (although the whole stable is soft enough for him to live down anywhere).

If I was to fill his stable with shavings it would be carnage, he’d be stood in wet pooey shavings no matter where he was in the box and it would cost me a fortune.

As it is I’m using 0.5-1 bales of shavings a week.
 
cptrayes said:
2 cm is not a sprinkle it's nearly an inch, which is probably why you don't smell so much. But before you pat yourself on the back about your happy pony, I challenge you to give her a 4 inch/10cm deep bed in one part of her stable and a 2cm bed in the rest and then report back to us later in the week about where she chose to lie down.
Click to expand...

For 1: 2cm is a sprinkle to me

2: Please don't patronise me regarding patting myself on the back! The thread was started as a general question on what people do, so i replied, then more or less got told i stink for not doing it someone elses way!

3. I'm not going to waste money that could be better spent elsewhere on extra bedding that he is just going to drag all round the box. Yes he has had a bigger bed before but was reduced.

3. I will be patronising now, the pony is a he.
 
i think it depend i can understand some people putting less down as a pony on our yard is ridiculously messy and will dirty as much bedding as he can so he gets decent banks and a straw bed as cheaper long term
my boy lies down as soon as he is in until the moment he leaves, literally throws himself on the floor so he get a bit straw bed with massive banks as hes a bit special and soppy! however for standard rubber matting i do think a normal bed should go down for day OR night in but not full time i would put 3 bales a week if u can afford it more for 24/7
 
IMO it depends on the mats you have! The thick EVA 'spongy' mats are much more comfortable for them to lay down on than proper tyre rubber mattiner! I use approx one bale of shavings a fortnight for my youngster.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top