Stable matting help??

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Charlir666

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So I am thinking of getting some mats for my stable.
It's 12x12 and is concrete at the moment. I'm on straw (as straw is included in my livery). I have used mats before at my other yard (when he was on shavings) and he was really really wet (going through 4-6 bales a week, and that was thinly spread)
Can you use straw with mats?
What are your experiences?
I still need bankings to stop cast but are there any tips you can share?
 
only use mats if you have good stable drainage.all urine wtc accumulates underneath.im not lover of these mats.if i were you i would put a bale of shavings or bliss as a base and then add a good top bed of straw.nice and deep on top and deep litter.then once a week do a full muck out.not a lover of straw so you could deep litter on shavings or bliss.make your eyes water though when u take it up.
 
I don't have good drainage at all.
I've used shavings with him before and was using between 4 and 6 bales a week (he is very wet).
Also deep litter, he mixes the poo in with the wet, so u can't tell what's what. The top layer of bedding is always wet so I feel I'm back to square 1.
 
dont use mats then and you use bale of shavings as a base,add straw ontop and make banks,take out the poo you see daily and just add more straw daily.then once a week take it all up-yes it will smell but with the shvings as a base will absorb alot of the wet.when you empty the bed use any half decent straw and start again-simples!! or turn out more.
 
TBH I bought mats a few years ago and wish I hadn't spent the money. As aintgotnohay says if you have little drainage in the stable they stink, no matter how good you lay them. I now have the ****** job of clearing stables out all the time to clean them out. As im not allowed 24/7 grazing i have no time to dry anything and its a mammoth task, they weigh a tonne!
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Will try a base of either shavings or woodpellets. Trouble is he is on box rest so turnout isn't in the equation at the moment.
I think I'll try everything else then try mats if I'm really stuck. If I put a different base down, will it matter if he mixes it up?
 
DO NOT USE THE MATS-U NEED GOOD DRAINAGE.all the urine will pool underneath and u will have to take them up and clean them and the stable.it will reek.a good well manged deep litter bed shouldnt smell-but will when u take it up.the urine will have no where to go if you use mats.take the advice given and get your horse turned out when u can afterwards.if you muct use mats see if there is stable with good drainage.
 
Mine are all mucked out daily ( cept deep littered lami case ) Only while she is on box rest .
Half my stables have good drainage the other block doesn't urine does collect underneath i wash them out once a year.

My stables don't smell until you lift mats up. They interlock well provide good cushion,
All my stables in use have Equimats mats they are light so easy to lift out and clean when the time comes. Wouldn't have it any other way.
 
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I have no drainage and our clydie mare wees for England.

I use stablelite mats which do allow pee to soak through and take them up every other year. There is no smell until I take them up and what is underneath is a sludge rather than a pool of pee.

However, I do have a 4" deep bed over half the stable and use wood pellets as these are the only bedding I have found that keep her dry. I take out the wet area every three days. I do use a lot more pellets than many people - 3 - 4 15 k bags a week. I buy a ton at a time so this works out to about £10 - £13 a week. I start the bed with 5 bags.

To have her on shavings would be about 3 - 4 bales a week, hours of mucking out. With mats and wood pellets I skip out in 5 minutes, 10 minutes if I am taking out all the wet. Poo stays on top and if mixed in is very easy to sieve out with a shavings fork. YO is happy as muck heap is smaller. Her rugs are dry, no smell and my purse is far happier too. I also keep my cob the same way, though he is far cleaner than her and I use 1 - 2 bags a week.
 
The sludge is not bad, about 1" deep and only at the back of the stable and easily got up with a shovel and then the floor is hosed and disinfected. It is not worth doing this job more than once a year or every other year in my case as my bedding soaks up nearly all the pee. It does not smell that bad either - I find straw beds on concrete where they pee far more unpleasant in smell.

The other secret is to pay two teenagers £30 to take your mats out, pressure wash them both sides, clean the stable and put the lot back. It takes them a about 1 1/2 hours and they are happy to do both my stables over the summer when they are off school, as if they want spread the job over a couple of days.
 
another thing you could do if your horse is really mucky and you can find one is to keep your horse in a stall.i love stalls and think they should be used more than they are.all the urine and poo is only at the back of the stall so easy to muck out.
 
Honestly it is not, but the secret is to avoid a filthy stinky mess under the mats if you have porous ones as I do. This is why I have a half bed on top that soaks up the pee. Whilst I love mats, I do not like to have brown goo draining out the stable making things stink and wet rugs.

I have used mats for the past 15 years, and the only horse that I gave a pee spot to was one of my TBs who box walked. With her I had an outside stable so every morning I swept out the lot, hosed down and then in the evening put down a few buckets of shavings in the middle. There was a drain outside the stable, so this worked. She never laid down in the stable, so rugs were not a problem.

If I had her now, I would have her on a bed of wood pellets as these would stand up to her box walking but shavings and straw were just a mush in the morning. I used to get through 10 bales of straw a week and had to pay double rates for mucking out on the days I was not at the yard as she was so filthy. Mats made a huge difference to my bank balance and my back.
 
I have 2 on mats, before mats they were on straw beds on concrete, the stables were very cold so loads of straw, my big fell boy is a dream he only pee's in one place and poos in another! so he was not too bad, but my mare I think threw everything around at night up the walls/in her water everywhere and she was a nightmare to muck out, she also lay down in everything and practically had to be hosed down in the mornings.
Last year we got mats and I think they are brill.... saved a fortune on bedding, they still have straw beds but not as much and she only goes where the straw is so much cleaner on the mats.We only lifted them this summer and even though they stank not too bad to clean (they are the really heavy mats) the stables are much warmer and better on their feet.
 
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