rubber matting - dirty horse

KautoStar1

KautoStar1

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i've recently put rubber matting in my stable and slightly reduced the amount of bedding (straw) but my lad is more filthy than he's ever been. Not just his stable but himself too - he's grey, but at the moment he is constantly yellow stained from head to toe.

The stable floor is slightly sloped so it should drain, but the pee just seems to sit in the pimples of the matting and of course he lies down and it soaks him. Its taking me twice as long to muck out because its so difficult to sweep the matting clean and but its still wet.

Having spent £170 on the mats I'm reluctant to throw them away, but this is driving me mad.

I've not changed the layout of his stable in anyway - buckets, nets etc all in the same place, just put the mats down.

Any ideas on how I can improve this situation because I have a filthy horse and a filthy stable and aside from the extra work, it can't be healthy either.

Thanks
x
 
The problem is that straw is not an absorbant bedding, so if you want less bedding on mats then you need to change to something which is absorbant. Otherwise you need to treat the mats as a softer, warmer form of flooring less likely to cause hock rubs etc and keep the amount of straw the same. Presumably your concrete floor was also still wet when you finished mucking out, so no change there?!
 
Agree with above - you can use a small amount of shavings to soak up the wet which should be easier to clear up as you can just pick them up rather than sweeping the wet. He might still lie down in the wet bit but it will only make him dirty in a patch, not yellow all over! I'm not sure it's possible to keep a grey clean. My little grey is the cleanest horse in the world in his stable, but still gets yellow patches.
 
I use aubiose and shavings on my rubber matting. It's a deep half bed, and my messy grey horse does really well on it. No stable stains, no pooling wee etc.

Straw and rubber matting are just not a great combination.
 
I had this problem when i put my mats down, i have now changed bedding to hemcore but shavings would work awell. If you want to stick to straw why not try a thin layer of shavings with some straw on top:)
 
ah, didn't think of the straw not being so absorbent !!! doh.
However, i've not reduced the bed that much. When it was just concrete it seemed to drain better. The wee and poo just get stuck into the mat's pimples. Sweeping it out is a total nightmare. Someone suggested I drill drain holes into the mats, which seems a good idea.

I am on part livery where the straw is part of the price. If I move to shavings its at my own cost and I can't afford to add to my bills !
 
Sounds odd but the more bedding my dirty (REALLY dirty!) boy had the better he was.

I put rubber mats down and less shavings and it got worse, went back to full bed with the mats and he was better.
 
Those pimpled mats are a nightmare to sweep, as you've found. You could try turning them upside down so that the grooves are on top and therefore easier to sweep. But as others have said, it's still best to have a good layer of bedding with mats.
 
I have really expensive rubber mats bought for my box walking accident prone tb. Now use straw as its so cheap and a full bed on the mats. No probs and the horse is as clean and dry as i could hope for. My neighbour uses mats and a tiny amount of straw. Her horse and its rugs really stink and the stable is really whiffy despite her washing it out every day. Horses wouldn't choose to lie down on a wet and dirty floor. I know which I prefer, straw is cheap but you have to use a full bed even with mats. Or use absorbant bedding on mats, this works well, but too expensive for me.
 
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