Rubber mats seem to be like marmite. Do you love or hate them?

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Mole1

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Well after a lot of research into possibly getting mats for next winter I think I've found the ones I want. But after reading sooo many peoples experiences of rubber mats people seem to love or hate them. Just wondered which camp you fall into? :)
 
I think it depends on the stable/situation.
I currently have mats over dirt floors which were levelled carefully with road planings then fitted tightly. Its perfect and there is no way i could have no mats on a dirt floor as mucking out would be hard but the wee drains away so its never ever smelly. Mats in stables with concrete floors that dont drain (my last livery yard!) are pretty foul and i'd probably not do that again.
The yard my daughter works on has mats that are sealed so no wet can get underneath and they are brilliant. That's what i'd choose if money were no option!
 
I put them in my stable because my mare digs and rolls and I was paranoid she'd scrape a hock or something. I also like them from a warmth point of view - in really cold weather the buckets don't freeze as quickly if standing on it. But I do think they're smellier, especially with straw. And I hate the way people only do half beds or just scatter a bit of shavings. I still give the horse a full, decent bed. I've also got a few in gateways or walkways, and they are good there, better than grass mats.
 
I have really big stables and I use them on the areas that don't have bedding on. I definitely think that they are a great covering for concrete.

I wouldn't be without them. If I were to use bedding on top of mats then I would want either liquid rubber or very well fitted with no gaps at all.
 
I have one stable with equimats and 4 without. I love the mats and would happily have them in all 5 if finances would allow :D

It's taken some time to work out how best to use them, am one of those awful people who just have half a bed Honey08 ;) have found a thin covering of Aquamax down to 3/4 of stable is best, the horse spreads it all about anyway and it's enough to soak up wet :) trick is to take everything wet out every day which keeps it fresh and nice rather than mix it in a with a full bed :)
 
I have the heavy duty rubber ones that are bobbly on top. I they rub my horses hocks when he lies down so I gave him a big deep bed so totally pointless having them!
 
I love mine, but they are good quality Fieldguard M2 mats with the little legs underneath, and the floors of my stables are slightly sloped to allow drainage. The little legs make the mats very springy so you don't need a full bed for comfort purposes, so I just put in a quarter bed of wood pellets so the horses don't splash their legs and it also soaks up any residual urine. As mentioned above, they do seem to keep the stables warmer and I find the water buckets don't freeze when on mats.

However, I have seen people use very thin, hard rubber mats with no bedding and I don't feel they are suitable to be used in that way. I've also mucked out a friend's stable with uneven floors and poor drainage where the urine congregated under the mats in the middle of the stable, which was pretty horrible.

So it depends on the mats, and the set-up and the way they are used!
 
Love mine, just cheapish EVA cow mats, 20mm ones though, with a half shavings bed, they never get stinky, save me a fortune on bedding and are dead easy to lift once a year when I spring-clean my stable. Had them about 8 years, and they're still in great condition, wouldn't be without them.
 
I've never liked them, until now, when I have a free draining surface underneath. I built my emergency stable in an old lunging pen, which has a sand surface, and have used field mats, rather than non-holey ones. Yes, bedding gets stuck in the holes, but the bed is really dry, and all I have to do is lift a mat, and all the crud falls out, and can be raked out easily.
 
I have them as all the boxes at the yard where I keep my boy has them. I like that they are there but I still put a thick bed on top. However, they weren't laid that well and therefore the joins are less than perfect which is annoying when I catch an edge when scooping out wet shavings. Don't think I could go back to concrete floor again though as Sam does tend to scrape the middle of his bed up no matter how thick I make it. If I was doing a floor myself I'd probably go for the sort that I have in my little lorry that have interlocking edges.
 
they get disgustingly filthy and stink underneath and are very heavy to lift and clean under. I got rid of mine. You still need bedding or the horse pees and then lies in it or lies in its muck anyway.
 
I like mine, still have a normal sized straw bed (well ok its a massive bouncy castle of a bed to be honest!) on top so don't think they've saved me any money, just like the fact my girl never has to stand or lay on bare concrete
Don't find it smelly, just needs extra sweeping if any damp bits of bedding/hay are caught between the bobbles
 
I hate them the bedding gets stuck underneath they move around they are heavy and stink I sold mine years ago, both my horses have huge thick beds almost up to the door and they each have a small mat in front of the door where the bedding stops I much prefer it, I would never have mats again I would only have the liquid rubber.
 
Our set up is on concreate and I have mats over 1/3 and have left concreate at the back which I then cover with shavings and bring the bed forward to cover half of the stable. I use plenty of bedding to make sure no one harms themselves on the concreate but do find where wee is on the concreate when the bed is lifted it dries quicker and leaves less smell that having a whole stable of mats.

I've also used mats on a dirt floor and it was great as any wee that drained between the joins disappeared into the eart.
 
The important thing is drainage. I resisted for years because my stable floors are totally level but I had to rethink when a horse on box rest needed not to have damp around his feet, as in an absorbent bed. The wee did pool underneath to begin with but at a suggestion on here we drilled drain holes in the concrete floors and they have worked well ever since. I do use a covering of bedding (rape straw) but it is never sodden like it used to be.
 
Love them, the best stable we had at a livery yard had liquid rubber on the floor, smooth, cushioned and no lifting required. Never had it in any other yard but have had mats we bought. I bought the thickest we could, yes they are bloody heavy to lift if it needs cleaning out, and they have to be tightly fitted, but I was fed up of our horse scraping her hocks, which she always seemed to do just before a competition :(

Must admit if we were ever in a position to have it again a liquid rubber floor would definitely be done.
 
Hate them they stink and make the horse and rugs stink unless you have a huge absorbent bed on top which kind of defeats the object. I have a latex allergy so they make my throat sore and breathing difficult but it is the smell I cant stand. The are good for warmth and cushioning though if you can get round the smell
 
I love them if they fit properly! The yard I worked on last, we spent a huge amount of time relaying mats that had shifted and it was an absolute nightmare!
 
If fitted properly so the wee can't pool underneath, they are great! You don't have to worry about the horse scraping hocks/slipping and if you want to, you can use a bit less bedding. However, I hate hate hate those ones that people just chuck in the stable and don't get fitted/joined. The pee ends up pooling underneath them along with mucky shavings so I find it a huge effort to keep the stable clean - definitely doesn't save me any time or effort!
 
I have fieldguard mats and love them. I have had them for over 20 years in every stable. They are light to take up and clean, the surface is dry as the wee goes down through the joints, they do not smell, the horses lie down and I use only a tiny sprinkling of shavings, ie no bed as such.

They have saved me a fortune on shavings and the horses always have a warm dry bed. The downside to them is that they need to be properly laid. I concreted all floors to have the correct fall before laying them and installed drains and they fit tight to the stable walls. It takes only a minute to sweep the entire stable floor clean each day.

They are a bit more expensive that ordinary mats but, having tried both, I find them far better.
 
I have rubber mats fitted by a company who fit them properly so all sealed, no wee can get underneath and you can't move them. Wouldn't use moveable ones
 
I also bed up properly on the mats, can not stand a sprinkle off bedding its not encouraging a horse to lie down and wee splashes up their legs, rugs etc- disgusting! Properly lied beds should still be used
 
I have EVA and love them but I do still have a proper bed on top of either wood pellets and straw or just shavings. I use from a warmth/ protection point of view and not to reduce bedding cost or speed up mucking out
 
Absolutely hate loathe detest them, they seem to be an excuse to do some half arsed attempt at a bed which annoys me immensely. I also can't deal with the thought of all the pee underneath them - I would have to wash them constantly. The stables and rugs also seem to stink of pee, which is also a reason why I hate shavings.

Our stables have concrete floors, they are fully banked to about 5ft with straw - I'm an advocate of big straw beds with big banks which get turned over every day.

The matting/minimal bedding trend makes my teeth itch and my nostrils tickle.
 
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