Rubber Stable Matting

[Reform]

I'm thinking about putting rubber stable matting down. Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks.

 

[carthorse]

I bought
http://www.stablecomfort.co.uk/
bit expensive but fabulous and once fitted it is there for a long time ,mine has been down 5 years and still perfect

 

[alicedove]

I cannot offer a vendor. but I can say I have had it for a few years now and would always use rubber matting.

Tim Stockdale advocates it, he says just listen to a horse getting up off the floor on a concrete floor and imagine how that can slightly damage them each time they do it, or lay down, or roll, etc. Also the impact when they shift/walk around in there, because they're always going to get through the bedding no matter how thickly you heap it up.

Also I can muck out in three or four minutes if I want to.

 

[BBs]

I bought some from Cobra which i saw on ebay. I bought it direct from themselves cost me £150 with delivery next day

 

[SteveD]

I wouldnt stable a horse without it these days since converting to it a couple of years ago. The savings in shavings (and the reduction in the height of the muckheap justifies the expense. Go for the thicker rubber though. The stuff I use is dimpled on one side and grooved on the other.

 

[SpottedCat]

I got my stable done by Quattro this summer - love them. They are totally sealed in, so no smell, and are just great! No matetr how much bed I used before, horse always got rubs on his hocks - not on these. Love them and would not go back. Quattro were exceptionally helpful and very good about fitting them etc, really recommend them.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Bets advice is don't buy any matting that is any thinner than 18mm thick. Thinner matting can get damaged & rips under the weight of a horse twisting & turning on it. Additionally when you put it down don't have a join in the door way. Apart from that it's great & helps protect the horse from banging his hocks up when he lays down & gets up.

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

i bought matting a year and a half ago and although it does not get as much use lately, as i now have 24/7 option, i would not want a stable without now though

 

[MagicMelon]

Ive had rubber matting in my stable for about 6 years - brilliant stuff. Cant remember who I got it from though, but they came and fitted it all for me etc.

Highly recommend it though - SO much easier to muck out! I just put a square of shavings down at one side (for them to wee on), they're happy to lie directly on the mats. Its also brilliant for me as my stable opens directly into the field so I leave the door open and its used as a field shelter - again the matting is so practical for this. I have another stable (again, which is open for them to come and go) without matting and its awful! I have to put loads of straw down in it and it is continually wet because if the rain / snows blowing the wrong direction... well you know.

I plan to have it put down in the other one eventually, but its about double the size of a normal stable so will be a bit pricey!

 

[rforsyth1984]

Kraiburg mats are brilliant, I bought them after seeing how good they were for other horses on the yard.

 

[BeckyD]

I totally second that, Quattro were absolutely fabulous, put up with me asking about a dozen nerdy questions about the mats, and now I have my mats I wouldn't swap them for the world.

 

[Reform]

Thanks everyone. I think I need to do some more research. Sounds like sealed rubber flooring is best as there is no drainage and they are internal boxes.

 

[timmyhorse]

I've just put down rubber matting with easi bed. Everyone tells me that its best just to use a thin covering of bedding to absorb the wet but after years of thick straw beds I'm finding it hard to adjust!

My horse doesn't seem to have laid down on the matting yet.

Anyone got any tips for best way to bed on rubber matting or whether it takes horses a while to get used to it?