rubber matting, recommendations?

ester

ester

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So after 13 years without mum has decided she would like to trial one horse with mats and switch from the straw currently in use.

I am aware not all rubber mats are equal so.... please fire away :). Not terribly inclined towards EVA. Is for one very tidy gelding (mine, well trained obviously) and one wet, messy mare (hers!)
 
I don't know why you aren't keen on EVA, I love mine. Don't have to worry about floor being uncovered, it is shock absorbing enough for them to lie down on, the bedding is just to mop up poo and avoid them splashing their legs. And they are light enough and rigid enough to lift easily, none of that rubber draping itself all over the place. I did check the weight of the plain rubber ones and decided they were too heavy for me to lift.
They all need good drainage underneath though, otherwise the wee just pools - and stinks. I drilled holes in my concrete floors to provide drainage and use the antibacterial powder now and again
 
Mayo cow mats have had mine for about 15 years They are brilliant. Have seen Eva mats that were far too light and lifted. Shod horses just wore holes in them. Mayo all the way for me expensive but last forever
 
I love my EVA mats, a year in they have no signs of wear so far and haven't moved :) plus they seem to have made my oldie super easy to muck out! When we need to replace the others we will be doing so with EVA.
 
I've had EVA in a lorry, have also seen them spread significantly and basically never seen anyone use them successfully in a stable, perhaps I need to visit :p. It is great that it is so light but using non eva mats in a stable they were tight enough that nothing ever went underneath them so they didn't ever need lifting they were like having a solid floor, that wouldn't be the case with EVA?

we do have a sloped concrete base (properly installed 13 years ago) and would probably at least for Frank still maintain plenty of bedding as before for soaking up.

I should add that we usually semi deep litter, I can only manage one week, Mum has been doing a couple lately which is fine for the beds but I physically cannot muck out that much in one go! Storage space and a smaller muck heap as well as mucking out benefits are part of the reason now I have returned the beast so she is back to two.
 
Mine don't seem to let anything underneath but then they haven't shifted (asides from one moving forward as they are not flush to the front of the stable).

All ours are mares, so a shavings bed fully mucked out daily but going under the banks (for wee) at the weekends works well. I throw everything up on the banks during the day.
 
Love my Diamond mats, EVA with a layer of rubber on top so horse has a nice cushioned floor to stand and lie on which is hard wearing. Minimal spread (have been down almost 18 months), certainly nothing a quick trim with a Stanley knife couldn't sort. Light enough for me to lift and carry (mats are 6x4 and I'm 5'2" slimbuild).
 
sorry for brief reply earlier, was on the phone :) I have 2 mares on EVA mats, Millie's are 34mm and must be at least 4 years old, Kira's are 44mm Mayo mats and were second hand so god knows how old they are. Millie's have been moved 5 times now into different stables and are still going strong, though a little hacked about by now so they are more of a jigsaw than nice neat rectangles. I wouldn't have anything else. No issues with spreading other than in a helpful way ;)

I've seen cheap ones go badly wrong. Millie's were c£50 each for reference. Kira's would have been more but everyone says Mayo mats are the gold standard :wink3:

eta mine are now on concrete, but I have had them previously on hardcore base and also uneven flagstones. I just filled in the deeper depressions with a bit of bedding before putting them down.
 
Thanks everyone :) in some ways I think she would prefer something lighter, we have some cow mats down outside the stable (she wasn't trusting the shod horse not to slip as the concrete was getting shiny). Essentially plan is to trial the new set up in one stable once they have had their summer clear out and then she can see if that will help sufficiently or if she decides to pay for some help next winter. I do feel a bit bad for dumping another one on her even though it makes sense and given how much mine needs to see the vet atm :eek3: I just need to find her some good value ones ;).
 
Another vote for Mayo mats. We've done different things for different horses with regard to bedding. Clean horses just have a pile of shavings where they do their business. Messy horses we found a pile in their wee spots plus a thin layer across the whole floor, to take the moisture from the poos worked best. Saw dust was actually best for the messy ones too as it absorbs more and gets kicked about less.
 
i have equimats in eva, some are now 10 yrs old and still going well, rubber is so heavy to lift, you could have eva at back of stable and rubber by door to economise
 
Hi i have had my Fieldguard Rubber matting down for over 20years, in use daily for all that time for a variety of shapes and sizes, apart from the odd patch of staining they still come up like new after washing. I Cant recommend them highly enough.
Worth every penny.
 
so with the mayo mats it specifically says must go on a flat surface, specifically not pitted concrete or it voids the warranty- we have roughened concrete?
 
I have Equimats that are interlocking, they are now in my horsebox but were previously in a stable and were fantastic, would highly recommend these, worth every penny

New ones in the stable are EVA and not interlocking and they shift but for the money (2 for £60 on ebay) they arent bad at all
 
Ours are indoor stables built on a slight slope, so there is natural run-off, if it's too wet in the stable it goes out under the door into a gulley, but actually this never happens unless you're washing the floor so I don't think the wet goes through the joins in the mats at all. I bought India rubber mats from www.philipeaton.co.uk which is local to us, they deliver, fit for a fee. I have to say I really like these mats, they are very thick, and have deep channels on the underside, they are very comfortable and quite springy. They are fitted very snuggly and I don't think much if at all runs underneath them. I have mine on straw on top, and have to say compared to last yard we had straw I am saving masses of time mucking out as the wee tends to congregate at the bottom of the straw on top of the mat, so you pull the dry straw off the top and lift out the wet bottom, very fast! When we were just on concrete it kind of congealed with the dust from the straw and stuck to the floor, so if you were doing a proper muck out there was a fair bit of scraping involved (concrete wasn't too smooth in places).

Although the mats are heavy I'm confident I could easily lift them for cleaning underneath once a year
 
I took my mats out in the autumn after having them for some time and it's the first time for years that I haven't heard the pony cough once. I came to the conclusion that all the wee sitting under them all winter could not be good for his breathing. They were too heavy to move on my own so only got cleaned under once a year.
 
Another vote for Eva matting. Ours moved when we moved house and have gone down in the new stables brilliantly. They both lie on the matting, not their beds and mucking out is so much easier. I do a proper spring clean once a year but as others have said we have good drainage with a slight slope to the door in our stables. Our stables never smell (and I have a champion peeing horse)!
 
My girls are very wet too and I've never had any wet go underneath the mats. if I ever need to lift them, the floor is always dry underneath. As mentioned upthread I think if you get a tight fit with EVA it just doesn't seep through. I have absorbent bedding (pellets) which helps. Millie is very dust sensitive and this works well for us :)
 
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