Rubber Matting - advice on stable mats please

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cyberhorse

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We are due to move to a new yard at the end of the month and need to look at rubber matting for the stables. I have looked at a few types and there seem to be a few variations. There are the jigsaw type edged mats which are thinner but interlock (approx £25), the bubble top 17mm 6x4 (approx £32) and the hammer top 18mm 6x4 (approx £38). One of the horses has a couple of rubber mats currently and is fine, the other has tried one in the doorway section in the past and he just dug about and got his bed under it constantly. Just wondering when doing a whole floor which type is best for a persistent digger? Is there enough difference between types to justify the price difference?
 
I have Quattro cow mats, 34mm thick, very lightweight and easy to cut with Stanley knife. Most of them have come from dairy farms and are a bit ragged round the edges but they've been trimmed to fit and they never move.
 
I have the 17mm bubble top ones. Love them.
Although have never tried any others.
The interlocking ones do look pretty good and would probably prevent the problem I have now where they've shifted a bit and I have bedding stuck in the gaps. They need moving and disinfecting anyway so that should be sorted soon.

In terms of him digging at it, could it just be because it was by the door or that it's something new. You may find once the stable is all done he might not bother with them
 
Thanks for the advice. Not sure whether to go heavy weight to stand up to the digger or whther he'll still get them up an then they'll be harder to lift and put back. They will have to be lifted annually for the summer jet washing clean-up so are the 17mm a big pain to move?
 
RubysGold said:
I have the 17mm bubble top ones. Love them.
Click to expand...

Me too. I have two in my trailer as well. The yard I am at don't allow them in the stables as they are dirt floors so they are lying down across the path at the side of the house. They have been jet washed but in the summer when it gets hot, for some strange reason they smell of the sea side, like seaweed smell which isn't unpleasant just rather strange.

When I had them down at the last yard they never moved, and never smelt, even when you lifted them up. When I moved after about 10 years and had never pulled the back ones up during all that time, when we did there was hardly any smell at all. My horse was bedded on free wood shavings all that time, had a deep bed which was mucked out every day down to the matting, so was never deep littered.
 
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