Rubber matting verus concrete , which is the most hygienic ?

cptrayes said:
I hate the use of mats without a proper thickness of bed, but in my stables, the beds were for the horse to lie on and to soak up urine; nothing to do with draughts.
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Draughts are the biggest cause of a horse getting cold when stabled - go and lie down on your horses bed and feel the draught coming under the door - its wickedly cold - a good deep bed helps to reduce the chill effect.
 
I just have matts at the front of the stables where there's no bed. The back half is bedded down with thick wood pellets and doesn't shift. I lifted the matts in the summer after they had been down a year and there was absolutely nothing underneath them - the best of both worlds!
 
I have my floor matts down and a full shavings bed on the top. I think my bed is the least stinky one! The straw on concrete next to me is grim. They have rape straw which doesn't soak well and the floor honks. My bed doesn't smell as the shavings are highly absorbent and when I lifted my mats to swap stables only one had wet underneath which ironically had urine that had trickled in from the straw bed next door!! I use mats so my boy doesn't stand on hard concrete when he's in which is 12 hours a day so I think mats are better for comfort.

I will admit to hating mats with a skimpy bed on top that barely soaks anything up!
 
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I had an OCD friend in my stable the other day-she admits to gutting her shavings bed daily, god knows how she affords it! She admitted she couldn't smell anything, might be the pellets, dunno, but I have a small bed over mats (unsealed, I do need to refit them as there are gaps). Long term, it does save money, IMO and can be cleaner than just concrete if the stable has decent drainage.
 
I have rubber mats and a full shavings bed on top. It's a lovely, warm bed, no draughts and the mats are much kinder to my horses joints than a concrete floor. I muck out properly everyday - any wet is held within the bedding so it just gets taken out. My stable does not smell.

However, rubber mats used in conjunction with a minimal bed is going to smell - if there isn't enough bedding to soak up and hold the pee then it's got to go somewhere - usually under the mats!
 
Tnavas said:
- go and lie down on your horses bed and feel the draught coming under the door - its wicked.
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Exactly. The bed does not reduce the draught from under the door. I don't bed to stop the draught getting to them. I bed because horses can't be expected to lie on concrete and in my opinion should not be forced to lie on rubber. And to soak up the wee.
 
I used to use mats but still have a very thick shavings bed, I hated them so sold them in the end I now just have a small mat infront of the doors for them to stand on, both beds are very thick so I feel its pointless having them much prefer sweeping clean the concrete much cleaner than stinky mats, I would only have them if i had the sealed ones.
 
My mats are laid on concrete and the underside is ridged which slopes to the door and the mats bind tight together and the floor is always dry and the risk to horses is greatly reduced so is the bedding cost in the summer we lift the mats and power wash the floors and I have not found any problem with smell. The underside of the mats is always wet. If you can afford heavy mats fit them.
 
We have mats with full straw beds on top, the floor slopes so it drains well. I lifted the mats about 4 years ago and there wasn't enough wet underneath to warrant hosing, so left them and haven't looked since! Stables smell no worse than unmatted. I like the rubber because it is insulating, doesn't jar the legs and is easy to sweep or wash clean. Concrete absorbs pee like mad.
 
cptrayes said:
Exactly. The bed does not reduce the draught from under the door. I don't bed to stop the draught getting to them. I bed because horses can't be expected to lie on concrete and in my opinion should not be forced to lie on rubber. And to soak up the wee.
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Originally Posted by Tnavas
- go and lie down on your horses bed and feel the draught coming under the door - its wicked.

Sorry I worded that badly - put down a small bed and lie on it and feel the draught - put down a thick bed and the horse will be far more comfortable.

A human experiment - make a pleat from the quilt just enough so that air can get in and feel how cold that spot can be. I remember my dad - a plumber - dealing with a broken pipe after really cold spell - the pipe had frozen at a point in the wall where two walls met - there was a crack in the exterior brickwork - the draught that came in froze the central heating pipe carrying hot water - the power of a draught!


To reduce smells when the mats are lifted and the floor clean coat the floor with a layer of garden lime - it neutralises the urine smell
 
I have stable comfort installed - they have a website - and they have been down for 10 years.

Its a two part system that you never lift

Part one is like a mattress stuffed with rubber chippings

Part two is a rubber sheet that fits over the mattress and slightly up the wall.

No leaks, no draughts and is equivalent to 4 inches of bedding.

That said I do put more than a sprinkle of bedding down, but not as much as if straight onto concrete.

Absolutely brilliant and wouldn't hesitate to recommend
 
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I have the thick equimats and love them ! not sealed have been down 4 1/2 yrs with light covering of shavings on top. I am really suprised by peoples comments of the smell factor for mats. My friends do deep litter bedding and goodness that smells !
 
Asha said:
That looks amazing, its very expensive as i've 6 stables to do, but I will give them a call and see if they do a bulk discount.

Thanks
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They did when I got it - I did six as well. I got mine via the Belfast office - the UK number is useless!

It is worth the money, as I said mine are on their 10th winter, and the most you will ever need to replace is the top sheet - not the mattress - but mine are still ok
 
Our stable has thick rubber mats (supplied by YO) and rubbish drainage. When we were on straw, the stable stank, was wet through, the mats were squelching etc, no matter how much straw we put down! We switched to laysoft bedding as he developed respiratory problems, and the difference has been amazing! Bone dry stable, no smell, no squelching (eww!) We skip out every day and full muck out of wet every 2-3 days. It's brilliant stuff!!
 
Tiddlypom said:
I initially covers the whole concrete floor of our new stables with rubber matting, but like other posters have said, found that urine got trapped under the mats and stank.

I have rejigged things now in that I have just three 6' x 4' mats in each stable, going widthways back from the door, and I use this part of the stable for feeding and hay. In the rest of the stable, I have shavings over concrete. The smaller stables are 12'x14', so they each have a 12'x6' rubber matted feed area and a 12'x8' shavings bedded sleeping area.

It's not now I intended things to be, but it works pretty well. There is no bare slippery concrete, and I can keep the feed area swept clean.

I used the redundant mats in a field shelter, where they conveniently fitted exactly!
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This is what works for me too. Horses stand on mats by door and where hay is but have a corner of wood shavings, about a quarter of the stable, on concrete where they wee. The shavings do spread about and the horses seem happy to lie down (one rolls every time she comes in!). No wet under mats and no stinky smells.
 
Straw is a drainage bedding - the wee sinks to the bottom allowing the top to stay dry - Shavings absorbs the pee and you can end up with a damp area on top the rest spreads through the bed and then dries off.

The best deep litter beds are sawdust/shavings at floor level with straw on top - any bed that is disturbed exposing the urine to the atmosphere will smell - urine + oxygen creates ammonia.


We either kept the shavings straw deep litter down all winter - only skipping out and they certainly didn't smell.

Or the totally shavings beds were really deep and down indefinitely.
 
The stables I am thinking of were unsealed mats under straw. Dear Lord, it made you weep the ammonia was so strong. I use semi- deep litter shavings under straw (I change the shavings every 3 months, muck out the wet straw and poo every day), and never have any smell issues, it was definitely the mats that were not locked in properly.

I could not understand why the owner persisted tbh.
 
We have heavy rubber mats, 18mm thick, cut to fit the stables, no gaps. On top we use just enough shavings or hemp to absorb the wetness. The minimal bed saves time, money and muck heap volume. The mats insulate the horse from the heat draining effect of concrete and prevent injuries when they lie down. We muck out in the morning, if wet the mats are left to dry during the day and bed is remade before the horse comes in again. Our old stables are draughty - but considerably less draughty than the field.
Never lift the mats and no smell.
 
Santa66 said:
We have heavy rubber mats, 18mm thick, cut to fit the stables, no gaps. On top we use just enough shavings or hemp to absorb the wetness. The minimal bed saves time, money and muck heap volume. The mats insulate the horse from the heat draining effect of concrete and prevent injuries when they lie down. We muck out in the morning, if wet the mats are left to dry during the day and bed is remade before the horse comes in again. Our old stables are draughty - but considerably less draughty than the field.
Never lift the mats and no smell.
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Fields are NOT draughty! A draught is a current of air, especially one intruding into an enclosed space

Fields can be windy, cold and wet but the horse is able to move around to keep warm - something he can't so shut in a stable on a minimal bed
 
EVA mats every time, never heavy smelly / unhygienic rubber, which can also be slippery.
I find a mix of bedding is best, pellets are good for moisture and smell [lack of], shavings are good for solid walls, straw may be cheap but takes ages to muck out and not available everywhere. I like a nice deep safe bed in winter. I don't like horse or pony on concrete, it is tiring for humans, must be tiring for horses.
 
Got matting and I will admit it was the expensive stuff, but has been very clean! Stable is on a slope so the wee runs out anyway. Plus, my horse has enough capped joints as it is, I wouldn't put him on concrete :p
 
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