rubber mats, need shavings too?

N

niagaraduval

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 June 2008
Messages
3,033
Location
Picardie France
Visit site
I'm thinking about using rubber mats as i currently pay £12 a standard bale for shavings
blush.gif


Do i still need shavings with rubber matting? or can i use just rubber matting? or maybe rubber matting with a sprinkle of shavings?
 
£12 a bale!! where are you to pay twice as much?? I would use at least enough to soak up wee and prevent splashback on the neds legs.
 
Ditto Mister Jay....I always put down a nice shavings bed at the back of the stables on top of the mats so my boy has got somewhere soft and comfy to lay his head of a cold, dark winters night!!
smile.gif


I get my shavings for free from a local joinery firm who always have huge bags of the stuff. Can pick from either a pine or mahogany bed sometimes depending on the bags.!!!!

Might be worth phoning around your local joiners to see if you can get the same deal.
 
Ohh to be honest I started with minimal bed with rubber mats five years ago and then quickly went back to full bed with the mats. The stink of urine on rugs and poo stains was awful, I also think it is much more comfortable for my horses than matting alone.

£12.00 seems very excessive, I live in Norway where everything is double the price compared to the UK and mine costs just £9.00 a bale with transport and it has been heat treated to remove dust (it is imported from Sweden by a Norwegian company), however I do buy for a whole season at a time which always saves me greatly. I really think you should shop around for it as it sounds far too steep to me!
 
£12/bale!
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
Poor you. Can you not find something a bit cheaper? Mind you, that's probably a VERY stupid comment as I am quite sure you would have already, if you could where you are.

So, yes, it is quite okay to use a small amount of shavings on your mats instead of a whole bed. Many, many people do including those running top yards. I tend to create a pee-patch in a back corner for mares and a more wide-spread central sprinkle-patch for geldings. Just to encourage them to go and not to get their feet splashed. The rugs/horse will be inevitably be smellier when it lays down but I've not found any of my horses put off laying on mats. It was me who looked rather horrified at the nasty 'hard mat floor', after my years of lovely lush beds with thick banks all round. Horses don't seem to mind though.

I do hope you manage to find a cheaper source of bedding though. £12 does seem most unfair regardles of however many bales you use in a week!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Why don't you put straw down instead??

[/ QUOTE ]

Because Niagara has a lung problem, he got it about a month ago, he has to be on turnout 24/7 and if he does have to be stabled, it's shavings and wet hay!
 
[ QUOTE ]
£12/bale!
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
shocked.gif
Poor you. Can you not find something a bit cheaper? Mind you, that's probably a VERY stupid comment as I am quite sure you would have already, if you could where you are.

So, yes, it is quite okay to use a small amount of shavings on your mats instead of a whole bed. Many, many people do including those running top yards. I tend to create a pee-patch in a back corner for mares and a more wide-spread central sprinkle-patch for geldings. Just to encourage them to go and not to get their feet splashed. The rugs/horse will be inevitably be smellier when it lays down but I've not found any of my horses put off laying on mats. It was me who looked rather horrified at the nasty 'hard mat floor', after my years of lovely lush beds with thick banks all round. Horses don't seem to mind though.

I do hope you manage to find a cheaper source of bedding though. £12 does seem most unfair regardles of however many bales you use in a week!


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes £12 is ridiculous! We use 3 bales a week..
I think rubber matting could be my only option!
 
A small amount of straw probably won't harm. Shaving can be quite dusty as well. And really what you are looking for is enough bedding to soak up any liquid.

Where are you based to be spending so much on shavings? Have you considered hemp bedding instead which is around £7.00 a bale??
 
£12 a bale?
crazy.gif
blush.gif
mad.gif
Someone is taking the micky at that price. I don't know where abouts you are but surely if you shop around you can reduce that price. I pay either £5.50 or £6.00 a bale depending on the shavings from a nearby feed store.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ditto Mister Jay....I always put down a nice shavings bed at the back of the stables on top of the mats so my boy has got somewhere soft and comfy to lay his head of a cold, dark winters night!!
smile.gif


I get my shavings for free from a local joinery firm who always have huge bags of the stuff. Can pick from either a pine or mahogany bed sometimes depending on the bags.!!!!

Might be worth phoning around your local joiners to see if you can get the same deal.


[/ QUOTE ]


I have looked into that but have been highly turned against it, because of the dust, Niagara is on shavings as even the smallest bit of dust could kill him, he had pneumonia about 3 weeks ago. We are all surprised he's still here with us. After 10 shots everyday he's finally started to pick up, just a little, we have to spray his field when it's hot because of the dust. I can't scrape my brushes near him, shake ou hay or straw for the other horses near him either.
 
[ QUOTE ]
£12 a bale?
crazy.gif
blush.gif
mad.gif
Someone is taking the micky at that price. I don't know where abouts you are but surely if you shop around you can reduce that price. I pay either £5.50 or £6.00 a bale depending on the shavings from a nearby feed store.

[/ QUOTE ]


I'll start looking straight away! i can no longer afford to keep him on shavings that's why I'm looking into rubber matting.
crazy.gif
 
I bit the bullet last year and bought rubber matting - for similar reasons to you (four bales of shavings a week!).

I payed around £350 to fit my stable out and am expecting to reap the benefits particularly this winter. I still think that I'll be putting down around 2 bales a week because he's a big horse and quite messy. But the labour will be halved, as will my shavings bill.
 
A small amount of shavings is fine - just to soak up the wee - people seem to forget horses are not 'nesting' creatures and don't need a bed - look how happy they are to lie down in the field, often when the gorund is hard as concrete!

I have a thin shavings bed in my horse's stable over matting, and keep him in turn out rugs all the time as these don't soak up wee/poo when he lies down as stable rugs would. Works just fine.
 
If "even the smallest bit of dust could kill him" then I'd use shredded paper or cardboard as shavings are still quite dusty.
 
£12 a bale! Thats daylight robbery! Its about £7 a bale over here and ours get transported from the Uk.
Maybe try something like aquamax? Alot more expensive to start off with but people love it because they don't go through so much. Mainly be because it is more ansorbant than shavings so you don't take as much out.
On rubber mats I had a smaller bed for my mare. She just trashed the nice big beds I used to do for her..
 
[ QUOTE ]
If "even the smallest bit of dust could kill him" then I'd use shredded paper or cardboard as shavings are still quite dusty.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hear hear!!

However well dust extracted shavings are they break down to a dust when in use.

I use Finacard cardboard bedding, mucks out just like shavings & is from £3 + VAT a bale - I use 1 bale every 10 days as a bed on top of rubber.

My bed is about half / third of that you would need without mats, can't have a totally minimal bed as got coloured horse that lays in his wee!! YUK
 
£12 each - where are you Mars?

I use rubber mats but still have a large bed with banks cos I like them.
laugh.gif
I use 1 a week in summer and 2 in winter.
smile.gif
 
I use easibed, which is £7 a bale, on good quality rubber matting (kraiburg). Much less dusty than shavings, I put a normal depth bed over the back half of the stable because if its too thin the top gets wet and the ammonia wee smell is just as bad for breathing problems!
 
go for it. my mare was getting through 3 bales of easi bed a week at £6 a bale , so i bought some eva mats off ebay and its fantastic--eva is lighter than rubber so can be picked up and moved/ washed etc. i use aout a full bucket of shavings a day for her to wee on--just where she likes to go. she poos on the other side of mats, and is very happy in it, and it has saved me money and time!!!!!!!!!
re £12 a bale--could try easi-bed. it is meant to be dust free and if you google easibed it comes up with people who will deliver in bulk for about £5 per bale. sure you could do the same with shavings too.
mats are great--i was very hesitant about buying them, but now 100% happy.
 
Yes, I would always have a full bed even with rubber matting. Rubber matting is a flooring NOT a bed. . . . . .

It's been interesting to see the posts saying that horses are not "nesting" creatures. How come, then, that if they have a choice, they will always lie on something soft? In the field mine lie down in the longest, and therefore, softest, grass; lie in the hay that's put out for them and will only lie down in the stable in bedding, not on the rubber mats?

I know shavings have gone up recently but £12??????
 
Wow I'd expect gold bars in a £12 bale of shavings!!!!
crazy.gif


Try cardboard I've used this and the dust is minimal. Works better than the paper option as well. Lovely warm bed in winter too.

As for the rubber mats I come from the view that they are a flooring not bedding and I put them down to stop capped hocks etc. No matter how deep your bed horses always seem to get through to the concrete. Full bed on top that's what I do.

Good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top