Rubber stable mats- are they worth it??

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MillionDollar

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So I've decided since that we will be buying 30 internal stables I might aswell buy another 4 for myself. So I will have my own private yard away from the livery yard with 5 stables (I alreday have one that is 25 x 15). The other 4 will be two 14 x 12 and two 12 x 10. I will also be buying bedding now
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although we will make all the straw ourselves, but I might use flax bedding for my lot instead.

So those of you with rubber matting do you think its worth it? Does it save you time and money?
 
You definately save time and it makes life easier in the cold dark mornings. I use less bedding but it's a pain in the @rse having to lift it and wash it out!
 
I love my rubber matting, but I do tend to put a full bed on it. It is just nice to have piece of mind that my horse will never lie on the concrete floor or damage herself. I do find it quicker because if she is standing in for the day I can leave it up and only have to sweep the dropping up and not do another full muck out.
 
Saves so much time! That for me is the biggest saving. I wouldnt say I save much in bedding as most of mine are out all the time, so bedding costs were not extortionate, but if/when they all come in its really manageable around a full time job.

I power wash them in the summer and would agree that that is a pain but I went for lightweight mats (equimats) so not as bad as some!

Some of the mats can smell but equimats dont.
 
I think its a bit of a fallacy that mats save you bedding. In my experience I find it better to concentrate on the horse and human comfort offered by floor and wall mats.

Over the years Ive mucked out countless beds including those with mats under and there really has been very little difference in bedding useage between those who put down a full bed on top (as I do ) and those who restrict the amount of bed to just enough to soak up wee.

Those on very limited amounts of bedding cost you in other ways, grooming time increases and the bill for horse laundry does the same as a horse will end up lying down in puddles of pee and poo overnight.

Unless theres a medical reason to keep mats bear Id be more inclined to have the whole floor matted out (and the walls if you have a biggy to house as I have - saves capped hocks) and as you have a nice large stable planned, bed down the back half as deeply as you would normally.

If you are going to use straw on rubber be prepared to lift mats very frequently as the straw wont be an absorbant substance.
 
Well, we're in the process of changing over, the idea being that it will both save money and effort in the long run by paying for themselves within months with using less bedding. This all started because I was given enough to do my foaling box and Mel decided to put them in her boxes too!
The two boxes I am using atm have it down and I do quite like it. I use 1/4 bale of shavings a day in each one to soak up any wet and clear it out every day, but in the winter I may go back to semi deep as I think it is a lot warmer for them, in the summer this doesn't seem as necessary. The horses seem to lay down more with the rubber than they did before but perhaps that is just because they are bored with this weather!
Perhaps it's this wet weather but I am not convinced that it is cheaper with mares and foals, even a bale of shavings a day is manky by the next morning so at least at £4 a bale, that makes them very dear to my mind, I would prefer them on semi deep (muck out every day, wet if necessary) when at the most, two bales a week would be needed. It's still trial and error here but I have to say if I had been paying for all the mats (to do 8 boxes) then I would probably have stuck at just the foaling box as I have always worried about mares getting down to the concrete floor, even through a brilliant bed during foaling; at least that can't happen now.
There will be lots that love rubber beds. Now, after dreaming about how nice it would be to have them, I'm not convinced (although I do love the lack of effort that's needed to look after them!) that they are money saving at least where mares and foals are concerned, I don't think the system suits them although the safety aspect does.
 
An additional thought Claire....if you are doing straw over rubber make sure you have blunt pronged straw forks or you will end up destroying the mats!
 
absolutely and utterly - have used them for 20+years now (the solid type, tried the porous ones and ripped them all out after about 6 montsh), never lifted the solid ones, have no smell even in the stables that were converted from old bullock sheds with less then perfect floors - only use a tiny bit of bed (paper) in one corner for them to pee on and it works really well.

The only thing I have against them is that greys get a lot more dirty if you dont have a full bed on top of them. Small price to pay imo!
 
Rubber mats, minimum of 17-18mm thick, are great & I use shavings on the top. It's easy to muck out & my horse used to knock his hocks about before the rubber matting was installed. Now there is no problem at all. It also stops the cold coming up through the uninsulated concrete floors aswell.
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Thanks everyone for your comments, think I may be investing in some!
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I will definitely be going with having flax bedding on the mats, as I used to have shavings for my cob who used to have an awful dust allergy. I loved having shavings and miss them
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but the reason for having flax is that it rots down and then we can spread it easily on the farm. TBH i really hate straw for stables, even though i don't have to pay anything for it. I've tried clearing straw out everyday, but it was such a waste, so I now deep litter, only mucking it entirely out twice a year, and then poo pick evryday. It works well but I still miss having shavings and why I will be getting rubber matting.
 
Out of interest if you are building the stables yourself have you considered an earth floor?

All of our are on earth and they are really easy to muck out (max 10 mins!). Where our floors have compacted over 20 years they don't drain as well as they did so might have to pick out wet bedding twice a week (on straw)

If I got a bloke to run a kango over them I would probably reduce this to once a fortnight!
 
Personally I still put a full bed down on rubber matting and it is definately a pain to clean. However I think they're great as it takes the cold edge off the concrete and o does mean in winter i can put minimal bed down in the day as I know he's not stood on concrete. this makes it easier to skip out as don't have to do two full muck outs a day. Definately reccomend it
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My mats only save me bedding because the pee seeps between the mats, so keeping the bedding drier... but I don't think thats how they're supposed to work! Chex is comfier after standing in on mats, than he is on concrete or a thin bed, so I think they're worth it. They're a complete pain to lift and clean though, and they so stink of they're left with the pee sitting under them (better in a well draining stable though)
 
I have rubber mats over an earth floor. Drainage is excellent and I don't need to wash the mats down. We probably use about 2/3 of the amount of normal bedding but my mare who has stiff hocks certainly benefits from the mats. I find them really easy to muck out too.
 
Yes, they're brilliant. Love mine to death. With my stable I can leave the door open directly into my paddocks so its a great shelter as well. With the matts it means they're not standing in on concrete which is good, and they're not slippy or anything. I dont have to put bedding in there either. If Im stabling a horse overnight then I just put down a small square of shavings for them to pee on (some horses dont like it splashing on the floor!). All my horses are perfectly happy to lie on the matts. You can of course put down proper bedding over the whole thing (we cant as we have a big drain along the back so cant clog it up) but you could still use way less than you do usually.

Now I just want to get some for my other stable but its rather large so will cost a bit :P
 
At the yard I'm moving to every stable has liquid matted flooring and matting up the walls. We put a small paper bed in each stable and the mare and foal have a full bed. Its the best for mucking out. I'll be mucking 23 of them out every morning soon so very greatful for the speed aspect!
 
I look after a woman's horses who are on rubber matting with a small bed of "BedDown". Very easy! However, totally unsolicited comment from my excellent farrier last week was "The worse cases of thrush come from horses with rubber matting in their stables and Hemcore (or similar) bedding........
 
I use Equimat rubber matting. I think it is totally worth it as I cannot keep my pony on straw (it gets eaten), and on any other type of bedding, even when 1 ft deep (puts strain on tendons just like mud), she would still get through to the concrete and get capped hock. Rubber mats have saved in the initial volume of bedding required, less bedding, means it also takes me less time to muck out, and no capped hock. It also keeps teh stable a bit warmer, and so far this winter I have only rugged on the coldest of nights when it is sub 0, even with a trace clip as her stable in a barn system, and draught free. Only pain is getting them out for 24 hours on a warm breezy day to disinfect them and the stable floor. Its a smelly job to say the least.
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