Stable matting

[dellmisty2004]

We are thinking of putting down stable matting for our extremely dirty 2 year old. He virtually needs the whole lot thrown out every day !!! Does anyone have any experiences with rubber vs PVA matting. The PVA stuff is much lighter, but does it wear as well and is it as cushiony as rubber. Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[ellietaylor10]

I don't know about PVA but one good tip is to make sure that they are Interlocking! I have standard thick rubber mats and Equimats. The Equimats are brilliant, no marks etc and interlock. The cheaper mats have no interlocking, have chunks out of them from horses shoes, and all the sides curled up and compressed thinner because of the weight of the horse. They had to be recut after a few months, and now they don't fit properly. :-(

 

[bobajob]

I don't know about PVA but one good tip is to make sure that they are Interlocking! I have standard thick rubber mats and Equimats. The Equimats are brilliant, no marks etc and interlock. The cheaper mats have no interlocking, have chunks out of them from horses shoes, and all the sides curled up and compressed thinner because of the weight of the horse. They had to be recut after a few months, and now they don't fit properly. :-(

Hi, how long have you had the interlocking mats? Are they easy to put down and do you lift them to clean the floor?
What bedding do you use on top? Thinking of ordering some but unsure which ones.

 

[Ali2]

I'd go for EVA for my own convenience!

I have one on interlocking EVA (from the rubber manufacturing company) and one on solid rubber (from local feed mill). The rubber was quite a bit cheaper than the EVA. The EVA has been down for around 7 years and is nowhere near needing replacing - it's more cushiony that the solid rubber mats and far far easier to lift. The EVA mats do tend to splay a little bit but its not affected their fit in the stable to any great extent. The solid rubber mats are very heavy, they're not interlocking but with them being so heavy they don't move.

I can move the EVAs by myself but it takes my husband and me to drag the solid rubber mats out.

I use pellets and shavings on top of mine.

 

[Reindeer Rider]

I have the green equimats - lightweight interlocking ones. I have had them down 3 years. These are the thickest they do and they are showing no signs of wear.

I lift them every 6 months or longer, but they don't let much moisture through at all. I can lift one mat on my own. I struggle to hold it off the ground as I am only 5ft!

My horse is very wet, and I have tried, chippings, paper, straw and have settled on pellets. She has a section at the back of the stable to stale and do droppings on, which generally she does.

I would recommend these mats without hesitation.

 

[Abbeygale]

I had equimats down for about 12/13 years - and replaced them last year. Granted they had squashed down a bit over time and certainly weren't in 'as new' condition - but I reckon that's pretty good going!!

I replaced them with the equimat black mat last year (largely because one stable is 23' x 12' and was shaping up to £700 for the green mats) and I'm really pleased with them. The black mats are rubber and much heavier. They are also not interlocking and so you do need to fit them wall to wall rather than leaving a gap round the edge like you do with the interlocking green mats. But they are super, horses seem happy and they scrub up well.