Rubber matting verus concrete , which is the most hygienic ?

Asha

Asha

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So just wondering what everyones thoughts are on how hygienic rubber matting is ?

My thoughts are that unless you get them properly fitted and sealed, then the wee just goes through the gaps and sits under the mat. Until you lift them out and clean them, and tbh how often do people actually do that ?

So is concrete therefore more hygienic

How many people go to the expense of having them fitted and sealed ?
 
Unless rubber mats are sealed professionally, they collect everything under them - and STINK !!! I speak from having had Shy is a stable next to one with mats in.

No way.
 
im glad im not alone !

Just had some new stables built and considering rubber matting. Love the fact you dont need as many shavings, but the under the mat smell puts me off.

Does the professional sealing actually work ?
 
I think it likely depends on how much bedding you use too, if you have a full bed of something absorbent not much urine is going to be soaking through the mats. All the stables on the yard have them and most have full beds on top and don't seem to be a problem. My stable has a compacted chalk base so has more natural drainage than concrete but under the mats never seems to get wet anyway (despite not having the flattest of floors!
 
I have mats on concrete. I didn't notice a smell when I was on shavings as they soak (I still like a decent bed - only put mats in because my mare digs and rolls and its more about protection than having less bed). When I changed them onto straw I noticed a smell.

If your stables drain properly anyway (as in the concrete slopes v slightly to the front or a drain) then there shouldn't be an issue. I have to say that I don't lift my mats often, but when I do there is nothing stuck under them. So I just hose the stables and make sure that clean water goes under the mats where the wee goes every now and again.

Overall no mats is more hygienic, but hygene is not the only issue.
 
The GreyDonkey was stabled for over a year on properly sealed rubber matting with a full straw bed on top . . . it was hygienic in that nothing got underneath the mats (at all), but because my boy is so dirty and wet, I had to make sure he had a really big bed on top to avoid him being covered in stable stains/his bed turning to soup because the rubber matting wasn't a bit absorbent.

Don't get me wrong, I loved his rubber matting - very, very warm in winter (also went up the walls) . . . but I have found that concrete/stone floors absorb urine better and, if the bed is left up regularly to dry and something absorbent is put down (I use Stable Zone), it is a cleaner/less smelly bed.

Big caveat . . . I make HUGE beds . . . Kal's straw bed is at least a foot and a half thick.

P
 
Pleased I am not the only one who think the matted stables stink. I don't even like shavings because they always look dirty never mind the combined stink of urine and rubber. I have a latex allergy and find it troubling to be within a few yards of rubber mats so probably smell them more than most people but I hate them especially if they are not used with a very deep shavings (grubby) bed.
 
I've got mats on concrete base with a good bed of wood pellets on top. The concrete base falls towards the door and is well channeled, I don't have the mats sealed but they have small "legs" on the underside so there is space underneath for any seepage to drain away. I can also lift a mat and put a hose under to wash it out. Provided I have a good absorbent bed on the rubber, I don't get much problem but I do lift the mats in the summer and give the concrete a good scrub. I've never go back to a concrete floor, rubber's warmer, softer and personally I find this arrangement very quick to muck out and doesn't give me a huge muck heap either.
 
Concrete is the most hygienic but I would still choose mats over this because of the comfort issues of lying/ standing on concrete. I have no doubt there's loads of crap under my mats as they're not sealed but at the end of winter I take out all my deep litter bed and swill under the mats with jeyes :) Strangely enjoy doing this!!
 
I have mats over concrete, my stables don't smell. Yes there will be wet under the mats but it doesn't affect my horses comfort so I don't worry about it.
 
RubysGold said:
I have mats over concrete, my stables don't smell. Yes there will be wet under the mats but it doesn't affect my horses comfort so I don't worry about it.
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maybe you are just used to it I have never been in a rubber floored stable without the stink knocking me over and that is on yards where cleanliness is next to godliness so not just mucky folks
 
I have Eva mats so they are nice and light for lifting and I do this regularly to make sure they stay clean underneath. In my opinion they don't smell and the ponies much prefer to be on them then concrete.
 
The only rubber matting I like is the liquid stuff that creates one giant sheet and is left to set. You can be sure nothing is going to get under it, and no heavy lifting of smelly mats.
 
I have EVA mats on concrete - which slopes down towards the door for drainage. Any wee that seeps under drains down to the door. I put some sawdust under that mat to soak it up and lift it about once a fortnight to removed the sawdust and scrub down. The rest of his stable doesn't get very wet and he has a medium thickness bed (a good few inches of shavings). His rug can smell sometimes, but that's becuase he digs before rolling or lying down so even with a full bed that happened.

Rubber isn't just about hygiene / quicker mucking out for me - it's less slippery on the bits that aren't covered by bedding, warmer and softer underfoot. My boy has a huge stable (18'x14') so to bed that down fully on concrete would need half a forest. The rubber matting means I can just do the back third and if he stands at the front he's not on hard cold concrete or slipping about.
 
annagain said:
I have EVA mats on concrete - which slopes down towards the door for drainage. Any wee that seeps under drains down to the door. I put some sawdust under that mat to soak it up and lift it about once a fortnight to removed the sawdust and scrub down. The rest of his stable doesn't get very wet and he has a medium thickness bed (a good few inches of shavings). His rug can smell sometimes, but that's becuase he digs before rolling or lying down so even with a full bed that happened.

Rubber isn't just about hygiene / quicker mucking out for me - it's less slippery on the bits that aren't covered by bedding, warmer and softer underfoot. My boy has a huge stable (18'x14') so to bed that down fully on concrete would need half a forest. The rubber matting means I can just do the back third and if he stands at the front he's not on hard cold concrete or slipping about.
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crikey thats a huge stable, no wonder you use rubber matting:)
 
When I got my first horse, I inherited properly fitted and sealed rubber matting and it was brilliant. I had a full straw bed on top and had no issues with smell whatsoever. When he had to be PTS the next person in the stable got the matting and they loved it too- think it is still perfect 10 years on.

Generally, I hate rubber matting. Last year I had my horse on livery for a while, and she only had a fairly small bed. The stench was horrible and her rugs were filthy and stinky. I hated mucking it out.

She is now back in my care and has a full straw bed on concrete. I much prefer that. I can't see the point of paying out for sealed matting for a full bed, so haven't.
 
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!
 
I never have had mine sealed and I've had them nine years now. When you lift them up there is very little liquid and the smell of amonia is quite minimal. Think its because the bedding soaks up the wee before it has chance to seep through underneath. Never had a smell coming from underneath. I don't think you do to be honest.

I got mine from a company called Triline and a whole load of us got ours done for next to nothing as they were seconds and had slight scuffs to the mats from where they had been handled. It didn't matter to us as they are covered by bedding anyway.

You can get 18mm thick 6ft x 4ft rubber mats as seconds for £24 each if this helps http://www.horsematshop.co.uk/246-18mm-bubbletop-seconds.html

Me and Dad only had to see my colic prone horse roll and slam his feet into the concrete floor once during a colic do make the decision to do the whole stable in rubber matting the following week.
 
Concrete, definitely. I ummed and aahhed about getting mats for ages but after looking after a friend's horses earlier this year - her stables are fully matted (but not sealed) - no way on earth would I consider having them now. I came home from her place absolutely REEKING (and she's got her horse trained to pee in a bucket so it's not even as if it was that wet or pooling under the mats). Disgusting.
 
am not keen-mine have a strip of matting along the front and the doorway where their hay is (also to cover up the lid to an inspection pit-it used to belong to a mechanic) and the rest of the stable is shavings on concrete. none of mine are mucky though and also none of them are very big, if I had a big/heavy horse I might consider it. IME straw on mats is worst (sorry!). one yard I used to go to clinics at used to make my eyes water it smelled so much-internal stables as well.
 
Thin mats move so will stink. I can't lift mine at all as they are that thick and heavy, but they were expensive. I moved them once in 3 years when I changed stables and it took me all day. It was barely damp underneath one or two of them and it certainly didn't stink. My mare has a good deep bed and high banks because she loves to roll.
 
Mats have to be done right and not on the cheap to work imo!
I have a 12 x 10 stable, the back is covered by 3 6x4 heavy duty rubber mats with ridges underneath so it drains (takes two people to lift them at least!) and there is a 4ft area of concrete at the front that slopes down towards the door and into a drain so drainage is brilliant :)
She has a thick shavings bed on top and even though i deep litter and only get the wet out twice a week there's no smell at all!
Her hay/water is on the concrete and her stable is always clean and doesn't smell
 
Asha said:
im glad im not alone !

Just had some new stables built and considering rubber matting. Love the fact you dont need as many shavings, but the under the mat smell puts me off.

Does the professional sealing actually work ?
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Regardless of rubber matting you still need just as much bedding - the rubber just makes the floor kinder for the horse to stand on. Bedding is there to protect the horse from draughts that come under the door.

Unless the mats have been professionally fitted they are a serious hygiene hazard - the local riding school use them for the horses that come in for the day - they have not been sealed and they smell terrible!

I like the sort that are sprayed on, as the rubber gets into absolutely every nook and cranny.

Personally I find them harder to muck out as the rubber 'holds' everything.
 
I have never noticed any more smell come from a properly bedded and matted stable than a concrete floored one. Why people lift them is beyond me. There may be bugs underneath them? So what, does your horse lie or eat underneath them?
 
Tnavas said:
Regardless of rubber matting you still need just as much bedding - the rubber just makes the floor kinder for the horse to stand on. Bedding is there to protect the horse from draughts that come under the door.
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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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