Mud/grass mats

[soloequestrian]

Following on from my thread about a base for my field shelter I want to find out a bit more about experiences with mud control mats. I'm not even sure of the terms i.e. the difference between grass mats and mud control mats. I've had a quick look at 'Mudcontrol' and 'Jelka' and they look as if they would work out around the same cost. I think I'd prefer the ones with holes in. Any recommendations for either of those or other brands?
The shelter is about 4m x 8m and doesn't have a roof. The ring feeder goes in there with their haylage. It has some hardcore in the base already but over the years has got a bit muddy too. I will give it a good scrape out with the tractor before putting mats down - the mud is really a combination of mud, poo and haylage that I can't skip out because it forms one great big mat. It doesn't get deep though - pastern rather than fetlock level. I was thinking about putting in drainage but now wondering if it's worth trying the mats on their own to begin with - if they don't work like that I'm thinking I could take them up and put drainage underneath then put them back.
Feeling a bit excited because drains and hardcore was going to be thousands and this might let me do the job for a lot less! Any advice welcome!

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I have no experience of the Jelka mats but highly recommend the Mud Control Mats brand. They sit on top of the mud, if you pour a bucket of water over them it drains away instantly. In our shelter, which is a permanent building, we have a hardcore base with MCM on top, we put bedding in the shelter. For the hard-standing apron, the mats are directly onto the bare ground. The only drawback for us has been that because we don't have access for a big wagon, we have to have them delivered to a neighbour and then bring them round - ,but the neighbour brings them on his tractor and trailer.

 

[soloequestrian]

Thanks! I assume they will take having a tractor driven over them? I need to put bales in with the tractor (which is tiny as tractors go!).

 

[honetpot]

Thanks! I assume they will take having a tractor driven over them? I need to put bales in with the tractor (which is tiny as tractors go!).

We have a Dexter tractor, and I have a strip where the MC tiles are just laid on to with no fixing or sand, and the tractor can go over them, they are made to stand weight, over 5 tonne sqm

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[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Thanks! I assume they will take having a tractor driven over them? I need to put bales in with the tractor (which is tiny as tractors go!).

Oh yes! We like them so much that we have our them as our yard surface. The yard slopes towards the gate while one side is slightly higher than the other, many, many years ago, before we lived here, it was gravelled, the gravel mostly washed away, leaving bare earth. We had it scraped and crush put down but that wasn't entirely successful, so we had it covered in mcm. We have hay delivered on a big John Deere that only just fits between the gatepost and the mats don't move. We park and more importantly, turn our cars on it. We love the surface as we no longer get mud from the yard on our boots and dog paws all through the kitchen.

 

[MNMyShiningStars]

We have mud control mats on one half of our yard area and do rate them, but the shod horses do find them slippy unless there is a decent amount of sand or other topping on them.
Normal grass mats are useless. We were given 2 by a friend and they disappeared under the very small amount of mud we had at the gateway we put them in where only one shetland and one small cob use it.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Oh yes! We like them so much that we have our them as our yard surface. The yard slopes towards the gate while one side is slightly higher than the other, many, many years ago, before we lived here, it was gravelled, the gravel mostly washed away, leaving bare earth. We had it scraped and crush put down but that wasn't entirely successful, so we had it covered in mcm. We have hay delivered on a big John Deere that only just fits between the gatepost and the mats don't move. We park and more importantly, turn our cars on it. We love the surface as we no longer get mud from the yard on our boots and dog paws all through the kitchen.

Just to add; although they are not cheap, our yard surface has cost literally 10th of the price we were quoted for having a posh SUDS-compliant surface put down.

 

[Birker2020]

We had them at retirement.

Photos show them at different points in the year. You can see in even the deepest mud they held up to the job well, with 92 hooves up and down them twice daily.

Photo 1 and photo 6 the same area, Summer and Winter comparison.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I believe Jelka mats are bigger so much heavier. MCM are very easy to handle even for an oldie like me. Look at mudcontrol on facebook. https://www.facebook.com/mudcontrol/. They are recommended for lorries, tractors etc to drive over.

 

[FFAQ]

Mud control mats are the best thing I ever bought for my horses. If I could, I would do the whole field in them! I haven't tried jelka yet because they are heavier due to their size. I can put MCM down on my own. I have moved yards twice since buying my first batch, and they are fine to dig up and move.

 

[whirlwind]

Mud control mats would suit you perfect for this, we mainly have them outside but one shelter was getting a bit soggy so has them in there, I tend to keep some shavings on them just to reduce the slip plus I like them to have a bed but you could sweep them with a broom if you wanted to even in the middle of winter when it was a bog before.

A few pictures at different times of year

 

[soloequestrian]

That's a really good point about the weight, thank you - I think the mud control mats are winning!