rubber mats and pee

[pnap]

For those of you that use rubber mats how often do you lift them and disenfect the floor and wash the mats down? I've only recently got a couple (Jack tends to dig a hole in the middle of his bed) and I've been washing them down every 2nd day - is this excessive cause I did think they were supposed to be low maintenance. I have a straw bed on top of them and he's fully mucked out every day.

 

[alicep]

i only do mine once a week to let the floor dry.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Providing your stable has the correct fall on the floor you should only need to lift & clean underneath possibly twice a year! That's all I do & there is no horrible odours etc.

 

[AmyMay]

I anticipate only lifting my mats once a year. They are good quality, interlocking mats, that don't allow the wee to go through to the floor. I also bed down on shavings, which I think are more absorbant than straw.

I do lift all bedding at least once a week and spray with a disinfectant.

 

[Dressagebabe]

I have used them for well over 10yrs now, I put a small layer of sawdust underneath the mats to soak up any urine that goes beneath them but I only lift them every 3 months!! we designed our stables with drainage holes out the back of the boxes and so don't find them very wet beneath. I do still use a lot of deep bedding as I cant bring myself to restricting the depth because they are on matting and I too use straw.

 

[Cop-Pop]

I wash and disinfect 2 - 3 times a year but I 'slop' them down once a month as I have a mare so her wee smells more.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Lots of times peeps raise the mats and say see its really smelly - but it only smells once they took the mats up as its the urine + air that makes the smell. Let well alone if drainage is ok. My boy has had his in for 8 years and they need lifting once a year if that and his stable is beautifully clean and sweet smelling. He has been on shavings and straw and fine on both.

My little Haffie mare on the other hand, is such a minger that she cant have mats at all, need floor to dry out every day.....

 

[JanetGeorge]

Best way to keep smell from accumulating is to use Green Gloop - just add a slurp in a quarter bucket of water and slosh it over the middle of the floor after banking bedding up. It creeps down any cracks and neutralises any urine smell - and adds a really nice pine smell to the stable.

 

[VRIN]

I don't lift my mats ... can recommend aquamax bedding... I put the neat pellets down which expand into shavings as they get wet.. works really well and my stable has never been drier...

 

[sundance]

mine have been down for about 3 years and i have never lifted them.....box is fully matted and i have never seen any pee drain out. My old pony used to pee as his favourite hobby, put newspaper underneath and used to put shake and vac in with his shavings every now and again to everyones amusement!! have to say that i do bury the mats, couldnt use just mats

 

[Natassia]

I lift mine and sweep the urine and easibed that has got between the mats out every day...its a pain and I am definitely going to get something done to my stable this summer when he is living out. My stable surface really isn't ideal for mats, I just got them because they keep his stable warm and comfortable - he has arthritis in his pastern and he had mats in his stable at his previous home. They are good mats and not the cheap kind but they don't interlock and because of the stable surface they move away from each other gradually and bedding and urine gets trapped underneath. Its a pain - they're meant to make my life easier and it takes me 40 mins to muck out! I probably don't need to do underneath them every day but I'm in the habit of doing it now, but if someone else mucks out for me I don't expect them to do it!

 

[sundance]

you seem to be going to a lot of trouble. If you fully matt the stable it would be a lot easier I am sure, just a lot of money in the begining. Mine dont move at all, they cant. I get all the wet out every day and then I just put the bed straight back down, admitedly my horse isnt that wet, worst bit is wet seeping in from the stable next door, but that just goes into the banks and i leave them alone

 

[Baileyhoss]

i used to use easibed and rubber mats, it was rubbish, had to lift the mats every week or else pee would start coming out at the door underneath them, v v stinky!

however, changed to fluffy shavings this year and it's much better. pee is absorbed before it soaks through. they have been in since november and not had to lift them yet. will lift them after turnout in april and scrub the mats and floor.

 

[sundance]

I dont think that rubber mats and easibed are a good mix, we have to use easibed on the yard that i am at. The easibed rep said not to use much with mats but cant stand decent bed. Shavings and mats are the best mix

 

[Taboo1968]

QR there is a lady on our yard who uses shake and vac all the time!! Makes the barn smell lovely!

 

[LCobby]

Straw is a 'drainiing' type bedding,so will leave mats wet

Shavings will absorb the wet if you put bedding down where they tend to wee.

I lift my mats only once a year for spring clean of stable
Thye are the interlocking Equimats, not designed as a 'draining' mat.

half to one bale of shavings per week per horse, 5-10mins to fully do each stable, wiht a half bed.
really time and bedding saving

 

[Natassia]

Sundance - I do have the mats covering all of my stable, but I had to cut 1 of them to fit. There are no gaps because I pull them together but because the surface of my stale is uneven I get little puddles forming underneath which I sweep out every day.
I might change and use shavings instead, I have been sprinkling shavings on top of my easibed to make it look whiter (I know I sound mad!) and the bed has definitely become drier as a result, so maybe I will start doing a 1/2 easibed and 1/2 shavings mix...I do like easibed and its much cheaper than shavings at the moment. I use about 1 bale a week. If I'm at the yard twice a day I leave the bed up to air during the day bit if I'm only there once I leave it about 1/2 an hour while I do other things.
The only good thing is that my arms are getting v toned cos I'm lifting the mats all the time!

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
QR there is a lady on our yard who uses shake and vac all the time!! Makes the barn smell lovely!

[/ QUOTE ]
Brilliant idea!!