Rubber mats and a very dirty horse!

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Gorgeous George

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The stable I have already had rubber matting in it when I arrived, it costs me £5 extra a month, but I thought great save money on bedding. The trouble is that George appears to be in training for when pooing and weeing becomes an olympic sport (he would win gold!) So I seem to be having to put down a really thick bed so he isn't lying in loads of poo and wee and to stop it all flooding out of the door into the barn (YO doesn't like this) so I wonder if anyone had any tips?
 
You could try a super absorbant hemp bed? I know your problem well.....
personaly I use a full straw bed with rubber- I don't want a dirty and smelly horse
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MY horse is a minger and was on straw with fubber matting (as straw is free at my yard). Changed to shavings mixed with the occasional bale of Bedmax as has a tendon injury and in box a lot more and have to say my life has changed!! Will be sticking to shavings mixture even though have to pay as I smell less, easier to maintain, stable much cleaner and no more pee running out the door (yes I used to have that too). Good luck!
 
Personally....take the mats out, deep litter the shavings and only take the wee out every now and then. IMHO shavings should be left wet (you need to put plenty of dry on top obviously) to make a good compact base.

My horse could wee for England and is truly disgusting. I can't have him on mats as he turns the stable into a sea, so I deep litter him when on shavings now. Take all poo out every day, sift through layers to get to wet, bang it down with some new on top, then pull bed back on top again. you should get a nice compact base quickly, and it will soak up all the wee. I use 1 bale a week this way, when I do a full muck out daily I put at least one bale a day in
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Yuk, I hate deep littered beds.

We have rubber matting, put a layer of shavings over the top and then a full straw bed. I know it doesn't save any time, but the horses don't smell and the shavings catches the wee really well.
 
My horse could also wee for Britain - I use mats with easibed (I'm not sure its the best, but its the only bedding the YO will buy in) - the wee was running under the partition into the stable next door (making me very unpopular!!!)... so I have sealed the mats and put a long thin piece of wood under the edge of the mats where they join the partition to lift the edge to contain it! I have walls and a patch of bedding in the middle where he pees and "downhill" from there so it all gets absorbed... it was trial and error at first and looks like some sort of modern art now, but it seems to work!!!!!

Hoping to move yard soon though, so will probably have trial and error again to start off with untill I work out where the wee flows!!!!!
 
I am pondering changing from shavings to rubber mats so this thread helpful to me! I have 16.2 that poos and wees for England. I use 2 - 3 bales shavings in the winter, which is v expensive and also hard work. If I changed to rubber mats I would still need to put quite a lot of shavings down, also stable doesnt have drainage so would use non porous mats.One other reaason is that he has arthritis so thought it might be kinder for him to stand on. Should I use rubber or would I be better caryign on with the shawings, my stable is 11 x 16 so would cost about £240 to mat
 
Cairo being a Clydesdale on SS diet and ad lib hay can create a huge amount of poo and pee.

Secret - when you put him in the stable train him to pee in a bucket - makes a big difference. Cairo can do a gallon at a time!

I use a mixture of dixons dustless chopped straw and shavings - 50 - 50 and have a bed over back half of the stable about 3 - 4" deep. I still can muck out quickly and don't have pee coming out the front.

Another great bedding is megazorb - is it the most absorbant stuff you can get. I used it on Chancer when he was a pony troll in the stable. Put down a bed about 4 - 6" deep on the mats and let it settle. Skip out poo daily and dig the wet out every couple of weeks. Keep topping up every week. Saved my back and bank account lots.
 
I tried catching his pee in a bucket and he got all shy and stopped mid flow!!! He doesnt normally go if anyone is watching at all (or if there is food available - stomach is number 1 priority - I dont think he wees at all in the field cos it takes up eating time!!!)!

Would be interested to hear any tips on training him to pee on command though Theresa!!! PM me if its easier!
 
I was advised when I bought my boy never to keep him on rubber matting, as apparently he thought it was great fun to make a big mess of wee and poo then slide around in it and roll! He's still disgusting no matter what you put him on, but agree that getting him to wee in a bucket helps (but he won't if there is food around or if he knows you are watching! bloody awkward animal!)
 
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