Mats moving in lorry

[Cowpony]

Dear HHOers I need your collective wisdom to tell me if I've missed a solution and which will work best. I've got a new lorry and took my horse out in it for the second time today. Last time we went out with a bigger horse so he travelled on the right and mine travelled on the left. She has got into the habit of parking her bum in the corner and leaning back. She travels fine, never any problems. But when we got to the other end she had rucked up the mats and pushed them forwards, exposing about a foot of the metal floor under her back feet. Bigger horse travelled fine, mats didn't move. But he stands square and doesn't lean.

Today we went out on our own, so she travelled on the right. On the way home we started hearing a bit of scrabbling, although the camera didn't show her moving around. When we got home and opened the ramp she'd done the same thing again but exposed more of the floor and had clearly had trouble with grip. There are scratches all over the floor in an area about a foot from the back wall.

The mats arent the super lightweight ones. I need to use quite a lot of strength to move them around. But they aren't the really heavy stable mats either. On the right hand side there is one mat and then a piece about 2 feet wide to fill the space between the end of the full mat and the tack locker, which fills the space forward of the breast bar. On the left there is a full mat and then a piece about 4 feet long, which runs underneath the breast bar to the wall dividing the horse area from the living.

So I think my options are:
1. Glue the mats to the floor. I'm not keen on this because of I need to do anything to the floor I'll have to rip up the mat and spend a lot of time scraping the bits off
2. Get a metal strip screwed into the floor where the mats join. A bit like you have at home in doorways.
3. Get heavier mats. My lorry is a 6.5t and has masses of payload so I'm not worried about the extra weight.

What other solutions are there? What do you recommend?

Martini cocktails all round for getting this far!

 

[Red-1]

Mine has the lightweight EVA mats in, but they are about an inch thick and fit like jigsaw pieces on the edge so don't separate. They are sturdy enough not to have moved for any of mine.

Dead easy to remove to clean and dry underneath.

 

[Cowpony]

Thanks Red-1. I'd just be afraid that if they are lightweight she'd push them up by bracing her back legs forward. She clearly exerts a lot of pressure!

 

[Red-1]

I would not know how yours would be, but because they are joined up tight to each other and butt up to each wall, they would struggle to move at all.

I even have some offcuts to wedge into the back to stop wee getting down the back, they really do fit that tightly.

 

[Cowpony]

Interesting, thank you. May be worth a shot.

 

[Leo Walker]

The obvious solution is to screw them down. Easy enough to take them up to check underneath, but also secure enough not to slide about.

 

[PurBee]

I’d screw them down with round-headed screws and a washer underneath the screw-head.

Second thoughts have me wondering how thick the steel floor you’d screw into?

If horse is scrabbling around there’s a chance the screws would wiggle loose...so maybe use round-head bolts....but that requires 2 people..one scrabbling under the trailer floor to fix the nut, while someone inside fits the bolt and holds it. Still want a good sized washer underneath the bolt head.

Id be reticent to drill holes in the floor though as that introduces moisture under the mat and promotes rust.

So id slather loads of external silicone sealant on the underneath bolt and nut to make a waterproof seal.

 

[Iris1995]

I would try giving the mare more room, if you can move the partition, to let her find her balance and then you might not need to do anything with the mats.

 

[Leo Walker]

I'd like to change my answer please ?? Use carpet/rug tape! That should hold them in place but be fairly easy to lift the up still if needs be. Its not expensive either so cheap and easy to replace if needs be

 

[Cowpony]

Thanks all. Some really interesting ideas there! Might try the carpet tape first and then move onto bolts if that doesn't work