Right you lovely rubber matty people

[Scoopy]

I have lovely rubber matting now...............................................................

My question is, how much bedding do you use in the middle, at the mo i have high banks and a little cover in the middle, this is straw, am i being a nasty mummy, it just so easy to sweep out ?

Comments please

 

[Tempi]

Bloss has a small amount of shavings at the back - she does have the extra thick equimatts tho. Archie will have the same when he goes into his new stable next week.

Bloss lies down on her matting at night so i guess it must be comfy!! (i can tell as she always has sh!t stains on her in the morning!!)

 

[Scoopy]

Well as far as i know he is laying down as my rug is green and smells of pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Sags_Deer]

put an old nz over top of night rugs then they wont smell and nz easier to wash

 

[Dogbetty141]

I would suggest that now you are on rubber matting that you should change to shavings as my friend was on straw and put rubber matting down and it rotted away as straw doesn't soak up a much of the wee were as shavings do.

I have matting down and just have a thin bed at the back with small bankings but my horse has never got cast in his 2yrs ive had him and b4 that, so it depends on what your horse is like.

I do put more down in the winter though to keep him cozy.

 

[Hattikins]

we use megazorb in one back corner in the summer so they can wee somewhere! and they still liedown on the matting so it seems to be comfy

and in the winter we have a thinnish layer megazorb in the back half of the box so its more comfortable for them

 

[Scoopy]

Well i have not had that problem yet, the straw is doing a grand job, and the stable is always aired and dried before i lay the bed back down

 

[Theresa_F]

I use stablelite matting which is very thick and designed to have no bed.

I personally to use about 3 - 4" of dixons dustless and shavings mixed 50 -50 over the back half of the stable - Cairo is a very big lad and needs plenty of room to lie down. I found he does not get very dirty rugs - no more than on a conventional bed by doing this.

Takes 10 mins max to muck out and I use 1/2 bale of each type a week in winter. It is a good compromise, especially when in an indoor barn where it is difficult to hose out regularly - no smell or wee draining out.

 

[mrussell]

Ive just gone onto rape straw (similar to hemp but cheaper), fab stuff, and Im putting it down at 6 inches for the main bed which is about half of the stable floor, with banks round the edges.

 

[dwi]

why would the mats rot if you use straw? I know people who don't use any bedding at all and their mats don't rot so how would straw make it worse?

I'm not having a go, just curius, I got lovely new mats yesterday and she has straw on top, I don't want to damage them

 

[TGM]

Depends on a lot of factors - how long the horse is in for, how wet/mucky the horse is and the quality of the matting. From a comfort point of view, if you have a very good quality matting (like Fieldguard M2s) then you shouldn't need bedding for comfort purposes, as the mats are very springy and comfy to lie down on.

If you have cheap thin mats then you may find that you need extra bedding for cushioning purposes.

If your horse is quite wet and mucky, or is confined to the stable a lot then you will find that adding bedding will help prevent sludgy matting. If your horse is a tidy individual then you may find a pee patch in one corner will serve the purpose very adequately.

As for urine rotting mats, this shouldn't happen with good quality matting.

 

[Tia]

My stables are banked with a lot of shavings and the floor has a light sprinkling of shavings on it - bit like dusting a cake with icing sugar.

 

[MagicMelon]

I dont bank at all (but I have nice wood down to the floor round the edges so its not like their up aganst cold brick). I just put a square of shavings to one side for them to pee on (so it doesnt splash!). All mine are fine with that, they lie on the matting no problem. And means I can just brush up all the crap and make the square nice again. Very quick and easy to muck out. But then my horses dont come in every night! Its open to the field so they can use it as a shelter (so it does get very messy on muddy days!) but occassionally one comes in for a show or something.