PLEASE HELP - surface for walker

[stoneybroke]

Thanks for the great advice on walkers. That bit of the purchase is now in-hand but I am more confused than ever what to do about the surface. Horses will all be unshod, youngsters and mares etc. Budget is limited so I now need to make the flooring choice and find the best solution for young joints coupled with not enough funds.

Really I would like a surface and have been recommended sand and fibre but am worried about tracking, how much manual raking will be required and the walking in of muck. I cannot afford pavers/rubber bricks so it really is a surface or mats.

All experiences gratefully received

 

[kerilli]

when i did mine i had roughened concrete with a v slight drainage slope, and put surface (fibresand) on top, but it did track fairly badly and i had to bin the lot of it every few months because it got so full of muck. i ended up just putting shod horses on it, on the concrete, and sweeping it clean regularly... but in your position i'd have a look at Fieldguard's rubber matting, i've found theirs to be excellent quality.

 

[Mince Pie]

I would go for a well draining dirt surface. I'm not too happy thinking about the stress that a prolonged 20m circle on grippy rubber would have on a horses joints, at least a surface has some give.

 

[TheMule]

We have rubber bricks on ours and it's brilliant- I would always go for rubber as it takes the concussion away but is easy to sweep

 

[Equestrianfriends]

deffo rubber!

 

[Vickijay]

We have rubber bricks on ours and it's brilliant- I would always go for rubber as it takes the concussion away but is easy to sweep

This ^^^ and you can replace single bricks when they get old

 

[foraday]

Rubber all the way and sweep daily!

Simples

 

[MegaBeast]

Ours has rubber matting - couldn't tell you what make but it's got very slight drainage channels running the length of each piece.

 

[amage]

We have chopped ruber on ours and it is fabulous. We used to have sand/fibre mix but it tracked and unless we kept it very well watered it was dusty, but if it was well watered it made white legs filthy (small detail day to day but we like to put runners on in the morn before they race). The rubber is fabulous and lovely to walk on. It's been in two months and been raked 3 times....we did the other surface daily!

 

[Kiribati_uk]

Yard I helped at in ireland doing tb yearlings/breakers, use to use straw ontop of concrete was fab, 8 horse walker and one big bale(not the huge 1) woild last about 3months and the walker was in constant use 6am till well after 7pm, didnt get rutted and great for when they have a fit!!!! The walker did have roof on as well.

 

[popsdosh]

We have rubber bricks on ours and it's brilliant- I would always go for rubber as it takes the concussion away but is easy to sweep

It is also the quickest way to screw up horses joints im afraid as there is no slip for the foot

 

[stoneybroke]

AMAGE the chopped rubber sounds interesting - on stone or concerete or rhin layer of sand underneath...what did you have? what worries me most is that the horse's footfall should have a little forward slip/give to minimise concusion - deffo leaning towards a surgace but the fibresand sounds hard work.

Ever more confused AND skint!

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

my walker has a concrete base (quite rough) with rubber chips on it. yes it does track and we run round the edges with a shovel after every couple of uses (takes 3 to 4 mins max) and pooh pick it as req. cos the rubber chips are loose there is give for the horses movement. any surface on a walker has to be maintained regularly, as the clever/lazy ones will walk to the inside, and the less intelligent take the longer outside track. Done regularly maintaining the surface doesnt take long at all.

 

[Mince Pie]

I've worked on loads of yards with horsewalkers which are used all day every day, if you do it daily then cleaning them out is a 10 minute job.