Rubber stable mats - how much shavings on top?

C

Cobcuddler

Active Member
Joined
16 November 2012
Messages
42
Visit site
Hello

How much shavings should I be putting on top of rubber stable mats please?

My horse is in at night only and I just put in enough shavings to soak up the wee really, maybe half or two thirds of a barrow full. I sweep the lot out and renew each day.

However, one of the other liveries at the yard I'm at (who deep litters) says I should put down more bedding so my horse doesn't suffer from ammonia fumes all night. Someone else at the yard says what I'm currently doing is fine. :confused:

But thinking about it, regardless of ammonia fumes or not, my horse must be lying in her own wee at night and that can't be good for her can it? (she does have wee marks on her sides in the mornings which I wash off). Or doesn't it matter? She doesn't seem to be suffering in any way or bothered, she's the same rufty tufty hairy she's always been.

What do others do on rubber matting? Does anyone else use a small bed please?
 
I put a proper bed down on top of rubber mats, so shavings in a 12 x 12 stable I would expect to start of with 6 - 8 bales and then top up with one a week.

I hate seeing horses without a proper bed to lie down or roll in.
 
Starzaan said:
I put a proper bed down on top of rubber mats, so shavings in a 12 x 12 stable I would expect to start of with 6 - 8 bales and then top up with one a week.

I hate seeing horses without a proper bed to lie down or roll in.
Click to expand...

Me too! And yes horses do lie in the tiny smelly beds - because they don't have a choice, but if they had a choice between that and a big bed, guess which they choose.. (Sorry OP - didn't mean this to be a lecture!)

But if you only want a bare minimum bed that you take out every day, then I would put enough down that the shavings are soaking the wee up without being soaking wet.. If you know what I mean, then the smell is more absorbed too.
 
Horses are supposed to be quite happy to lie down on rubber mats with minimal bedding - after all, they don't have a deep bed to lie on when they get down in the field.

However... I think minimal beds look and smell minging so I have a full shavings bed on my rubber mats :D
 
Me too...and you'll find that if you put down a big bed, poo pick every day and take the wet out just once a week it will be far more economical, you won't use as much bedding.
 
I have quite a deep bed with high banks in one corner of his stable at the back, so covering about a quarter of his stable, he happily lies down on it and has a good roll. I have his bed like this as he needs his hay fed off the floor, and I find it doesn't get mixed in with the shavings this way, as his bed is to the back and his hay is diagonally to the front. I played around with where and how much bedding to use, until I got to this arrangement, which suits us both.

ETA: I find I'm using half a bail of shavings a week to keep it topped up nicely.
 
Last edited:
I lay a good bed over back 2/3rds of 12 x 12 with banks and top up with a bale a week as required. My starter bed is probably 2-3 bales though, not 6-8.

Guess it depends which shavings you use too. I use Hunters as get more for my money.
 
Bahhumbug said:
I lay a good bed over back 2/3rds of 12 x 12 with banks and top up with a bale a week as required. My starter bed is probably 2-3 bales though, not 6-8.

Guess it depends which shavings you use too. I use Hunters as get more for my money.
Click to expand...

I use a locally produced brand of shavings, which are the reaaaally fine ones as I love how squidgy they are, and they're easy to muck out as they fall through the fork with no trouble at all. I have enormous banks on all my boxes - shavings and paper included, so the majority of that 6-8 is taken up in the banks, with two bales making up the bed.
 
wiglet said:
Horses are supposed to be quite happy to lie down on rubber mats with minimal bedding - after all, they don't have a deep bed to lie on when they get down in the field.
Click to expand...

That is the theory, possibly created by those that make rubber mats, but when my mare had a foal box to herself, I only bedded half the stable, and half just matting, and she ALWAYS chose the shavings to lie on. Horses would lie on concrete if they had nothing else...
 
You should only need a small amount, not a full bed. Horses are not nesting animals ....

I would make sure there is a reasonable covering of a couple of inches though to soak up wee.
 
I have to agree on the ammonia OP.. but it's far worse for horses bedded on straw managed in the same way, as there's nothing to absorb the fumes.. In fact, it is possible that some horses that display COPD symptoms may actually be just very sensitive to the fumes from the ammonia and it comes across to the owner as just a hay thing, because, who would think for a minute that it was the urine that was behind it?
 
Last edited:
wiglet said:
Horses are supposed to be quite happy to lie down on rubber mats with minimal bedding - after all, they don't have a deep bed to lie on when they get down in the field.

However... I think minimal beds look and smell minging so I have a full shavings bed on my rubber mats :D
Click to expand...

Exactly, however they dont choose to lie in droppings or urine (usually) out in a field, either ;)

I have a reasonably good bed on top of the heavy-duty mats - using ComfyBed - I only peel it back & take out the wet once a week, giving the damp patches a 'spritz' of jeys fluid mixed with water, sprayed from a plant spray bottle (from the £1 shop)
No 'minging' stench either in there, but when I re-lay the mats after spring cleaning I put a good amount of jeyes powder across the concrete before putting the mats back in :)
 
I have full rubber & full pellet beds on top that cover 2/3rds of the stable.

Personally I think a sprinkle of bed on mats is disgusting, un-hygienic & un-healthy. As someone else pointed out, not many animals choose to lay in their own dung/wee given the choice!!!

Banks are unnecessary

Even my cows have full beds of straw or sawdust on top of their ultra cushioned cubicle mattresses!!

Have you thought of giving pellets a go? 8-10 bags to start bed & one a week to top-up & much quicker & easier to muck out than any other bedding.
 
My youngster gets a bag of shavings a week on his rubber mats and a new one each week. He's a wee minger though!!!! My older one likes a snuggly bed so get that. yanni just smears the bed up the wall anyway so makes no difference.
depends on the horse. I would put more than just ebnough in though. x
 
Im learning less is more with my boy, the more I put in the more mess he makes. My stable is about 15ft x 12ft and have a relatively thick bed in just less than the back 3rd, there is enough for him to lie down on. He tends to spread the shavings out over night and wee on that rather than on the bed I put down so I just sweep the front out every morning. I started mine with 4 bales and in just over 5 weeks I have topped up with 1 and a half bales.
 
Hmm, OK thanks for all the information everyone.

I'm not sure I could deal with removing the wet only once a week, I'd still be tempted to remove it every day! So I think I'll try a deeper bed in the corner where her wee tends to run to and remove the wet every day but leave the dry, and see how that goes to begin with. ;)
 
Cobcuddler said:
Hmm, OK thanks for all the information everyone.

I'm not sure I could deal with removing the wet only once a week, I'd still be tempted to remove it every day! So I think I'll try a deeper bed in the corner where her wee tends to run to and remove the wet every day but leave the dry, and see how that goes to begin with. ;)
Click to expand...

Believe it or not CC, but I use 2 bales of shavings every two weeks, and give his bed a good go over every weekend, works really well, and this is the depth I keep to (he's on concrete, the matting is by the door which will change next spring as will be forking out for the genuine article)..
Shadow14-10-12065-1.jpg

It's going through a stage atm, where the wet comes up every two days, and if you keep on top of it when you see the 'darker patch' you'll actually end up with a pretty decent bed.. this one is 5 weeks old at this picture, and has just had some fresh on top.Not taking it up leads to impaction of the shavings, and prevents the horse from kicking it up, as it then forms a 'mat' of it's own.
That sort of bed is one that needs taking up every 2 weeks to prevent it from just getting plain yukky, but ideal if your trying to cut down on costs.
 
This really is a trial and error thing
Isn't it!? My 17 yr old mare had always been on straw and it was minging in the stable come morning time. She developed copd last year and was in quite a bad way even tho her hay was steamed. The stable was very wet and stank of wee-as did she and me(!!). I tried her on just about every bedding going but she ate ALL, especially wood based products, so this year I have her on Rapport which is rape plant bedding soaked with citronella. I now find that with just a half inch sprinkle, she is so different! She still manages to sometimes get wee on her thigh or tummy but otherwise the stable is dry and clean with NO ammonia smells! She is like a different horse! So even tho it goes sgainst 40 yrs of lovely deep beds with banks, I now use very little with no banks and it works a treat! It worries me that I have to do it like that but for her it is a vast improvement in every way so I remind myself that as someone previously pointed out on here, horses in the field usually lie down on the driest hardest ground!
 
oldhat said:
This really is a trial and error thing
Isn't it!? My 17 yr old mare had always been on straw and it was minging in the stable come morning time. She developed copd last year and was in quite a bad way even tho her hay was steamed. The stable was very wet and stank of wee-as did she and me(!!). I tried her on just about every bedding going but she ate ALL, especially wood based products, so this year I have her on Rapport which is rape plant bedding soaked with citronella. I now find that with just a half inch sprinkle, she is so different! She still manages to sometimes get wee on her thigh or tummy but otherwise the stable is dry and clean with NO ammonia smells! She is like a different horse! So even tho it goes sgainst 40 yrs of lovely deep beds with banks, I now use very little with no banks and it works a treat! It worries me that I have to do it like that but for her it is a vast improvement in every way so I remind myself that as someone previously pointed out on here, horses in the field usually lie down on the driest hardest ground!
Click to expand...

How is she with her COPD? Has she improved dramatically since taking her off straw?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top